Leaders Perception Magazine is currently running an interview series called – What Are The Top 5 Mistakes People Make When Starting A New Business?
Today, we had the opportunity to interview Dana Haye-Burke who is a The Vision Builder | Chief Business Strategist & Founder at DHB Vision Strategists.
Interviewee Name: Dana Haye-Burke
Company: DHB Vision Strategists
Dana Haye-Burke’s favourite quote: “Chase the vision, not the money. The money will end up following you.”
— Tony Hsieh
Dana Hayes-Burke is a woman with a vision who built her own consulting and coaching firm, DHB Vision Strategists. Her work helps micro-business owners shift their business from a hustle to a thriving business. She achieves this by providing her clients with a clear vision for their life and business, a clear business model, and profit-producing, cash-flow increasing strategies. She believes that over-planning and under-acting, investing too much in the wrong things, bad pricing strategy, and poor time management are the common errors made by business owners.
Dana Hayes-Burke believes that business owners should not spend too much time perfecting everything rather than taking what they have to the market imperfectly. Starting conversations on public platforms about what they are bringing to the market is essential, as an imperfect start is better than no start at all. She advises not to invest in backend systems and automation before understanding what is truly needed. She suggests finding the working process before automating it. Dana also highlights that entering the market with prices that
The Interview
Thank you so much for joining us today! Tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your backstory?
Dana Haye-Burke : The first thing that I wish to share about myself is that I am a woman with a vision and I have built this vision from scratch. My businesses have been the way that I built my ideal life design. It didn’t start that way, however. Even though owning my own business had been in my heart since my teenage days, like most of you, after completing my degree, I went into the corporate world. My career was advancing quickly. In a few short years, I was Manager with a major company and on track to becoming a Senior Manager. But on that journey, I also observed the lifestyle of the people that I worked with and those who mentored me at work. I recognized something that made me think: while they were seemingly successful in their careers, their life was stressful, and they struggled to find time for the things/people that mattered. Everything apart from their work suffered.
I started to ask myself some questions: what did I want my life to look like? What is truly important to me? What do I want my days to look like? What do I want my impact to be? When I asked myself those questions, I recognized that I needed to get back to my vision. The vision of owning my own company. I started my first business while still employed in my 9-5. In 12 months, I was able to transition to my business full-time. After 4 years, I launched my dream business: my consulting and coaching firm. I recognized that there was a gap that many micro-business owners faced, which was figuring out how to shift their business from a hustle to a thriving business. That’s where my role as The Vision Builder and Chief Business Strategist comes in.
In your opinion, what makes your company stand out? Any examples?
Dana Haye-Burke : The thing that makes us stand out is that we get results. Here’s our unique brand promise – that we deliver every single time:
1. You will have a clear vision for your life and your business. When it comes to micro-businesses, the biggest mistake is building a business that does not give you the life you want. I’m not just talking about money. I am talking about time, flexibility and fulfilment/joy. You should love what you do or at least be able to do what you love from your business income. So, I work with my clients to figure out what they want out of life so that we can make shifts to their business. Recently, I was engaged by a very successful businesswoman to help her get clear on how to take one of her businesses forward. In our time together, the first thing that I helped her to overcome was the lack of clarity on what she personally wanted. She struggled with the business because she struggled with being honest about her vision. Once we cleared that up, everything else started to fall into place.
2. You will have a clear business model. When you don’t have an image of what you are building in the long term, you will struggle to grow your business in the short term. Every client that works with me leaves with a clear business model. And I have worked with clients in over 7 countries.
3. You will have profit-producing, cash-flow increasing strategies that you can implement right away. As I said, we are known for our results.
What are the TOP 5 mistakes people make when starting a new business? Please share advice/examples for all of them.
Dana Haye-Burke : 1. Over-planning and under-acting: most new business owners spend way too much time “perfecting” everything rather than taking what they have to the market imperfectly. The result is no results. Because everything is their notebook and very little is in front of the potential customer. I am sure that some of you reading this interview know exactly what I am talking about – that desire for perfection. But while you are “perfecting”, someone else is selling – personally selling their brand, building their following and garnering interest. My advice is to start with what you have already figured out. Start having conversations on your public platforms about what you are bringing to the market. An imperfect start is a start and movement creates momentum.
2. Investing too much in the wrong things: Business requires money but for most business owners that money is very limited. A lot of business owners invest in backend systems and automation for their business before they even understand what they truly need- only to eventually have to do it all over again. For example, I know of a business owner who spent all her money to trademark her name and to build a website and backend systems. By the time she came to me, she had made $0 in sales revenue. If she spent 1/3 of that investment on positioning herself to create conversations around her business, she would have certainly been further along. Also, it is a dangerous mistake to invest in systems and automation that are unproven to work for your business. Find your working process BEFORE you automate.
3. Bad Pricing Strategy: This is the most common error I see. Business owners try to enter the market with prices they hope will help them make a sale but without considering what will make a profit. If your pricing strategy is flawed, your cash flow will show it. I had a client who was making sales monthly but still couldn’t pay her bills, purchase inventory or pay herself. She’d been in business for over 3 years and came to me for business coaching because she was ready to give up on her business. When we got to her pricing, she realized the problem. She was making sales but at her current prices at the time, with every sale, she was making a loss. Yup! Up to that point, she did not know it, because she didn’t know her numbers and didn’t know how to price for profit.
4. Poor time management: Most business owners have learned how to work on employee time but not on business owner time. The result is that they can’t manage what is required to run the business, particularly all the work needed in the back end. My advice: just like you had working hours for your 9-5 job, give yourself working hours for your business. Running a business is more than just selling. So, even if you don’t currently have clients or customers, there is work to do in your business and work to do on your business. You need both sets of work to succeed.
5. Lack of Vision: Many entrepreneurs start a business because they have an idea or need extra income. Few have a vision of the impact they what to make. Lack of vision often leads to the demise of many businesses. My advice… Find your bigger vision! That’s what will take you through the difficult times of running your business. There are three aspects of your vision that you must keep in sight:
1. The vision of who you are
2. The vision of where you are going and what you are building
3. The vision of why you are building it
Leaders Perception magaizne would like to thank Dana Haye-Burke for the time dedicated to completing this interview and sharing their valuable insights with our readers!
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