Whether you're in the throes of starting a business or have already gotten your venture up and running, the last thing you want to be doing is unintentionally harming your chances of success.

With the failure rate of small businesses being 50% within five years of starting up, going the distance has never been more important. But what are the mistakes that are going to cost you dearly in business and force you to become just another statistic in the failed business category?

Not Knowing Your Competition

If you don't know who you are up against, how can you expect to bring customers over to you? You need to know who is already out there doing the same or similar to you and what makes you different from them to entice them over to you.

Learn about your competitors, know what sets them apart, what sets you apart, and where you fit into the market.

Not Checking Software and Integrations

You might be investing in different software or outsourcing parts of the business, thinking you are doing the right things. Still, if you aren't making sure they are working as they need to be or integrated correctly, then you will likely be making things ten times harder than they need to be. You need to be constantly looking at how you are streamlining your operations. If you have made adjustments and changes, you need to ensure everything is running as it needs to be to make your life easier. Check your payment processing integrations are optimail pairings, ensure your SaaS are complementing each other and what you do, and that you're not simply adding software or processes without checking how they operate with what you already have.

Thinking You Know Best

This can be an easy trap to fall into, especially if you are an expert at what you do. But no one can know everything about everything, and thinking you know better than everyone and failing to listen to advice or take feedback on board is a fast-track route to failure. Always be willing to take feedback on board, be open to tips and suggestions on what you can do better, and commit to learning more, learning from others, and improving yourself, your knowledge, your business, and what you do. Failure to do so can lead to you missing things or making missive mistakes you might not be able to come back from.

Neglecting Finances

If you are going into this with poor cash flow and minimum capital, or you are burning through your company finances faster than you can make a profit, then you won't be giving yourself a fair shot at success. Poor cash flow is one of the main reasons why small businesses fail, and as such, if you aren't paying close enough attention to financials, you may as well be working for nothing.

Review your finances monthly, track all of your figures, know where every dollar is being spent and how much you are making each month, and have forecasts in place to ensure you can stay afloat and support growth and longevity.

Sadly, business failure is common; however, by neglecting these areas, you are simply speeding up the time it will take to fail and ruining your chances of running a robust and stable business that can do precisely what you want.