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 Nickie Cobble who is a Founder/COO at OutsourceAid.
Interviewee Name: Nickie Cobble
Company: OutsourceAid
Nickie Cobble’s favourite quote: It doesn’t ever have to be the same after today, so never settle for existence, strive for substance.
Nickie Cobble, the CEO of OutsourceAid, is an experienced entrepreneur who has successfully developed and scaled two businesses focused on helping other entrepreneurs cut their costs and scale more effortlessly. Based on her expertise, Cobble shares the top five mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting a business. These include starting a business without being flexible to the demands of potential customers, pausing progress to perfect the little details, stopping an action before allowing time for results to appear, hiring based solely on a resume, and seeing certain services and products as expenses instead of investments. By avoiding these common pitfalls, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success and growth.
The Interview
Thank you so much for joining us today! Tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your backstory?
Nickie Cobble : I am Nickie Cobble. I attended Florida State University on a full-ride academic scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in under three years with a 4.0 GPA and recognition as Summa Cum Laude. Since then, I have successfully developed and scaled two businesses, both of which are focused on helping other entrepreneurs cut their costs and scale more effortlessly. My personal mission is to continue providing small business owners with the motivation, tools, and advice to grow their business quicker, easier, and with fewer mistakes than necessary.
In your opinion, what makes your company stand out? Any examples?
Nickie Cobble : My main company, OutsourceAid, is unique in that we are essentially match-makers for small businesses and virtual business assistants. Our client, the business owner, will paint us a picture of their “perfect assistant”, explaining their desired skills, experiences, values, availability, and more. Then, we access our pool of pre-screened, highly qualified virtual assistants, select the candidates that match that criteria the closest, re-interview them, and then introduce them to our client so that they can begin taking on responsibilities for their business at a rate 78% lower than U.S. And, because we source solely from the Philippines, all of our candidates speak fluent English and have minimal to no accent – as is commonly requested by our clients! Most of our clients report that their assistant is the best investment their business has made, since it has allowed them to focus on the parts they love about their business and delegate the tasks that drain them; thus, amplifying their rate of scale and overall business valuation by empowering them to work on their business as opposed to in it.
What are the TOP 5 mistakes people make when starting a new business? Please share advice/examples for all of them.
Nickie Cobble : The top 5 mistakes that people make when starting a new business:
1. Starting up a business without being flexible to the demands of your potential customers. This is failing to provide value to your clients/customers due to getting too obsessed with your own vision of how the company should be. The entrepreneur’s original plan/vision for their company will never been the end result, so do not ignore the critiques and suggestions of your friends, family, and potential customers.
2. Pausing progress to perfect the little details. For example, not marketing your business or spreading the word because, in your mind, your website is not perfect yet. One must not prevent current success and sales due to the illusion that perfection has not yet been achieved. That’s simply the mind’s way of procrastinating due to fear. Do not fear less-than-perfect work – that’s inevitable. Fear the failure to ever start.
3. Stopping an action before allowing time for results to appear. If you send out 100 emails per week (first of all, you’re not sending out enough) for 2 weeks and you get no response, that does not justify giving up. It simply suggests that you adjust your tactic, try new phrasing, test a new medium, send out more emails per week. Because success is never over night, it is an accumulation of effort, and if you give up too soon, it’s impossible to reap the rewards.
4. Hiring based solely on their resume. As Jim Collins (and many others put it), you need the “right people in the right seats”. Having the right people does not solely indicate the most experienced person. While being qualified for the job is a necessity, certain tasks can be trained but you can never alter one’s core values or work culture preference.
5. Seeing certain services and products as expenses as opposed to investments. Courses, seminars, virtual assistance, marketing tools, and others are all examples of services/products that come with a charge but bring you a substantial return on your investment. New entrepreneurs often turn down any charges that are not directly essential to the business and, thus, they deny themselves the opportunity to 10x their business by avoiding tools and resources that would undeniably scale their company. Whether its personal development or business tools, one should never overlook the chance to spend a little to make a lot.
Leaders Perception magaizne would like to thank Nickie Cobble for the time dedicated to completing this interview and sharing their valuable insights with our readers!
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