I was asked to come along and speak to a weekly mastermind group of small business owners at a mate’s place on Monday night. Before showing up I was reflecting on some of the mistakes I’ve made in business along the way, and seen other make.

Here’s three pretty common ones that I shared with the group:

Focussing on growth, not financial independence. I think the focus of your business or practice should be getting you financially independent, within a decade at the most. Growing the business doesn’t necessarily forward that game.
Focussing on turnover, not on take-home (with thanks to Matt Church for that phrase). This links to the first mistake – more revenue to the business doesn’t mean more money in your pocket. And interestingly most of the people in the mastermind group knew what their businesses turned over, but not what they were taking home.
Focussing on looking good, not on lifestyle. When I was running a business coaching business, it looked good. Beautiful office, great team, etc. But I was working six days a week and couldn’t leave for more than a week without everything starting to fall apart. I think it’s important to design your business so it supports the sort of lifestyle you truly want to live.

Love to hear your thoughts – do you agree that these are mistakes? Have you made any of these? You can leave them below (with our brand new Facebook comments plugin – thanks Vic).