2. Not investing in social media.

Social media these days is not what it used to be. You can’t just put up a post and expect the right people to see it, it needs to be targeted and unfortunately it needs money behind it.

This is because there is so much "white noise" out there, large corporations flooding our feeds based on what we’ve clicked and how Facebook or Instagram decides what we should see and when we should see it.

So why put yourself out there? Well, because according to Social Media News, there are currently 17 million monthly active users in Australia on Facebook and 5,000,000 on Instagram – that’s why.

That means that there is a HUGE market out there waiting to learn about anything that will make their life, better, more fulfilling, happier, easier.

I bet your business fits into one of those categories!

Now I know many small businesses, operate and conduct their business successfully, I mean you wouldn't be in business if you didn't. But mistakes are still made. Over the next few weeks I'll bring you the common mistakes small businesses make when running the day-to-day operations of their business.

Doing everything yourself (or worse, having someone else do it that can’t!)

There is a reason why you don’t get your hair dresser to do your taxes, or your accountant to cut & colour your hair (if you have one of those, please let me know!).

It’s because people have their specialities. Experts are experts for a reason and it’s important that you have the right person to do a certain task. One thing I have noticed is when people run a small business, they tend to expect too much from their employees, in areas outside of their fields. Mostly because budgets are tight and people can’t justify an extra head count. Of course, when you run a small business, everyone needs to pitch in, just because you're the COO doesn't mean you can't pack boxes!

But just because someone makes a good secretary, doesn’t make them a great event manager or even your graphic designer being a social media expert. Don’t dilute your talent pool by having your staff complete jobs they are not trained to do, don’t waste your money paying yourself comment on online reviews of your product when you could putting together strategies to build your business into an empire.

If you can’t afford to hire someone, delegate externally to small agency or to someone looking to return to work and is looking for only a few hours a week.

So, what does your business card say? Managing Director? or Jack of all trades, master of none?

Hold tight, we are about to shine the spotlight on something curious...