As a professional business coach and mentor, I see many small business owners whose lives are ruled by their business – not the other way around. They burn themselves out working outrageously long hours when they could be spending more time at home with their families and friends and taking time out to enjoy life.

So many of them began their business so they could be “the boss” and work their own hours. What happens is their lack of experience turns this around on them and they become slaves to their businesses.

Having started many successful businesses myself, as well as coaching and mentoring other new business owners, I understand more than most just how easy it is to become “stuck” and become trapped in bad habits. It’s easy to say “work smarter, not harder” – but what does that mean exactly? Most small business owners don’t have a clue.

So here are just eight of some of the more common mistakes small business owners make, so you can avoid them and if you are already trapped, what you can do about them:

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How loud can you yell? How outrageous can you be? These are questions marketers have been asking for nearly a century. This paradigm shifted when Doyle Dane Bernbach injected intelligence into advertising in the 1960s with their revolutionary “Lemon” print ad for Volkswagen. For them, it wasn’t about how loud you can yell, it was about how interesting you are. Since the 1960s, there has been a blend of intelligent campaigns, but far outweighed by yelling matches (think Times Square).

With the inception of the web, the thinking that drove real-world advertising shifted to the online space. There was a mix of flashy and intelligent banner ads. But just as Doyle Dane Bernbach shifted attitudes in advertising in the 1960s, we are in a transitional stage in marketing. A new evolution in thinking is emerging in online marketing. It’s not about how flashy your banner ad can be. It’s not about how loud you can yell. It’s about how interesting and remarkable you are. It’s not about saying you’re remarkable. With the influx of peer-to-peer networks, it’s not about you anymore. It’s the value consumers place on your product or brand.

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