How to avoid 'top 10 deadly' business mistakes

New York, N.Y.-Many small business owners are making deadly mistakesthat can cost them customers, and in the case of veterinary practices, clients.

To help prevent these pitfalls, BizMove.com,operator of "The SmallBusiness Knowledge Base" Web site (www.bizmore.com), provides "TheTop 10 Deadly Small Biz Mistakes and How to Avoid Them." The list wasdeveloped for people who are feeling the pull to entrepreneurship now thatmany corporations are forecasting lower profits and economic slow down.

Entrepreneurship was a contributing factor in stabilizing a recessioneconomy in the early 1990s, according to a Small Business Administrationreport. In the report, the U.S. economy was reinvented, "by fosteringand promoting entrepreneurial activity." Small business employmentincreased by 1,880,000 (36.8 percent) over five years between 1990 and 1995.

The top 10 deadly small business mistakes and how to avoid them are:

1. Getting Wedded To an Idea And Sticking With It Too Long. Don'tmarry a single idea. Remember, ideas are the currency of buinesses. Playwith many ideas and see which ones bring money and success.

2. No Marketing Plan. A marketing plan creates the kind of attentionyou need to get in front of the right types of people, companies. It iswhat attracts people to you! There may be as many as 25 ways to market yourbusiness at no or low cost.

3. Not Knowing Your Customers. Changes in your customers' preferencesand your competitors' products and services can leave you in the dust unlessyou get to know your customers or clients well, what they want now and willlikely want in the future, what their buying patterns are, and how you canbe a resource for them even if you don't have the right products or servicesfor them now!

4. Ignoring Your Cash Position. Customers don't respond to evensuperior products in the timeframe that you think they should. You'll needplenty of cash to sustain yourself in the meantime.

5. Ignoring Employees. Motivating, coaching and managing yourstaff is one of your toughest challenges as an entrepreneur/business ownertoday! Without your patience, persistence and "people skills,"your problems can multiply quickly. Morale, productivity and profits caneasily be destroyed!

6. Confusing Likelihood With Reality. The successful entrepreneurlives in a world of likelihood but spends money in the world of reality.

7. No Sales Plan. Without a sales plan, there's no serious wayto gauge the financial growth and progress of your business. You need arealistic map for where the sales will come from, how they'll come and fromwhom.

8. Being a Lone Ranger. You might be the key to everything butyou cannot do everything and grow at the same time. Even modest successcan overwhelm you unless you hire the right staff and delegate duties.

9. No Mastermind. Get an advisory board or a mentor! The boardcan be family or friends that you trust. Ask them to be your board of directorsand objectively review your business plans and results with them.

10. Giving Up. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs failedseveral times before doing extremely well. So, if you're failing, fail.And fail fast. Learn and try again, with this new wisdom. Do not give up.