The Early Mistakes You Are Still Carrying
From Do More By Doing Less - Time Freedom for Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Solopreneurs by Charles Alexander
February 17, 2026 · 8 min · Season 1 · Episode 97
About this episode
The episode discusses common early mistakes that derail entrepreneurs and offers actionable steps to overcome them.
Why do two-thirds of small businesses fail in the first few years? Show Summary: In this episode, I break down the three patterns I’ve seen since I started coaching in 2007 that quietly derail entrepreneurs and busy professionals. The stats say only about 30 percent make it long term. From my experience, the difference usually comes down to experience, confidence, and planning. These issues start early, but if left unchecked, they follow you forever. The good news is each one is fixable. Takeaways: • A lack of continued experience keeps people repeating the same mistakes year after year. • A lack of confidence often grows from not recognizing what you already know. • A lack of planning turns every week into reactive chaos instead of intentional progress. Action For You To Take: This week, do three simple things. First, identify one skill gap and commit to learning something specific about it. Second, write down ten things you already know how to do well to rebuild confidence. Third, spend ten minutes planning your week around one clear priority. If you want help building a business that works without consuming your life, learn more about working with me at yourcharlesalexander.com.
People in this episode
Host: Charles Alexander
Topics covered
- small business failure
- entrepreneurship mistakes
- confidence building
- planning
- experience
Keywords
- small business
- entrepreneur
- confidence
- planning
- experience
- mistakes
- success
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