Here's a list of Steve's main points; check out the full post for his thoughts on each one.

1. Selling to the wrong people.

2. Spending too much money.

3. Spending too little money.

4. Putting on a fake front.

5. Assuming a signed contract will be honored.

6. Going against your intuition.

7. Being too formal.

8. Sacrificing your personality quirks.

9. Failing to focus on value creation.

10. Failing to optimize.

I would have to say I've been guilty of every one of these to some degree at some point in my business. I've moved well past most of them, obviously, or I wouldn't still be here as my own boss.

#8 - Sacrificing your personality quirks - has been the area of greatest personal growth for me. In my previous working life, I had more than my fair share of attempts at personality suppression...being told either implicitly or explicitly that I couldn't be myself, that I had to conform to some unspoken rule to become the perfect corporate drone. No wonder I struggled.

And yet I carried that with me into my own business, "toning things down" so I would appear as benign and bland as possible to potential clients.

As I became better focused on what I had to offer, and who my audience I was, I vowed that it was going to be "all me, all the time." No more watered-down Shari. If someone was turned off, they weren't the kind of person I would want to work with. I really put that to the test when I ran screaming from I left CoachVille last year. And it has served me well.

What mistakes did you make when starting your business? Any interesting variations on the above? Anything completely different? I welcome your comments.