How Great Entrepreneurs Learn to Avoid Common Mistakes

As a business owner it takes time to understand mistakes and how to apply the learning that follows. And sometimes those mistakes later turn into the seeds for a successful enterprise. Paul J.H. Schoemaker’s “Brilliant Mistakes,” which theorizes that although some business ideas were at first judged to be conventional mistakes, they later proved to be seen as brilliant ideas.

And indeed, some of these mistakes may later prove to be valuable ideas. But in more cases than not, successful business people learn how to take clear paths and avoid common mistakes that befall more inexperienced entrepreneurs. Here are a few common mistakes avoided by successful business entrepreneurs.

Bob Parsons

Bob Parsons, founder and CEO of GoDaddy, one of the world’s leading web registrars, is another example of a guy who knows how to do things right and avoid business mistakes. He’s shared some of the mistakes he’s seen in a video on his blog about the common areas in which entrepreneurs fail.

Parsons learned how to do things right from one of these common mistakes. He wondered why GoDaddy’s business wasn’t as well known among website owners. That’s when he decided to try advertising for his business. From that first Super Bowl ad with a GoDaddy girl, Parsons has learned quickly from his mistakes and applied lessons learned to keep moving forward.

Donald Trump

Many people like to second guess media businessman and real estate magnate Donald Trump. Although enormously successful in his various businesses, the Donald has made mistakes in the past, particularly in the 1980s when he was far over-leveraged and eventually had to file for bankruptcy protection in 1992.

With a load of debt, Trump almost brought down his organization. His mistake was trying to grow too fast, too soon. But he learned from his mistakes and recovered. He sold off some of his buildings, pared down his debt and started a comeback that was nearly derailed a second time with the real estate housing crisis of 2008-2012.

Today, Trump seems like the archetypal American success story, able to share his rules of success. But without the lessons learned, he’d not be in a position to share these or even be on the national stage.

Warren Buffett

As the principal owner and shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett is seen as the pre-eminent financial investor of all time. Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate that owns businesses in confectionery, retail, railroad, home furnishings, encyclopedias, newspaper publishing and more. According to the Forbes Global 2000, Berkshire Hathaway is the eight largest public company in the world.

But Buffett learned lessons at an early age from mistakes made. As a teenager, Buffett bet on a race at the tracks and lost. He then tried to win back the losses with another bet – which also lost. His week’s earnings were nearly gone. He realized what a mistake he had in not knowing when to quit, made and vowed never to do it again.