The following post was written by Dan Scalco and appeared on Inc.com. I wish I read it when I first started out - I was guilty of all five at one point or another during my formative years.  Enjoy. Edit

Many entrepreneurs are self-taught, so it's no surprise they take a wrong turn from time to time.

While you can't predict every error you'll make, there are some errors that happen more often than others. Read on to learn five of the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make so you can act now, rather than react later.

1) Trying to do too much at once
When you're just starting as a business owner, there is pressure to wear as many hats as possible in order to keep costs down. While taking on everything you can is commendable, it is not a good business strategy. Even when profit has yet to pick up, outsourcing and automating mundane tasks is necessary so you are able to focus on the roles and responsibilities you’re best at.

Here are a few ideas for outsourcing your work:

• Accounting: Leave the finances to professionals. Find a reliable bookkeeper and accountant who has experience working with entrepreneurs and new businesses.
  
• Research: Letting a virtual assistant take over the research aspect of any project can drastically improve your overall productivity.
  
• Editing: If you spend your day writing emails and pitches, like I do, you'll want to make sure you have someone look over your work.
  
• Scheduling: If much of your day is meetings and phone calls, you might be wasting valuable time setting them up. Use a virtual assistant to help keep your calendar in line.
  
• Customer support: Keeping your customers happy is important for reducing your churn rate (retaining customers). However, you don't need to have a full staff handling it. You can outsource it to a company such as Zendesk.

The following article written by David Finkel appeared on Inc.com. How many of us are guilty as charged? How many of our businesses are held back by the owner-reliance trap? Food for thought. Enjoy reading. Edit

After two decades of coaching business owners to succeed, I've come to observe a clear pattern of what causes those business owners to stay stuck in an owner-reliant business and never succeed in scaling their business.

It's the difference between how some entrepreneurs are able to consistently grow their businesses by 50 percent or more per year, year after year, while other business owners struggle just to maintain the status quo, working long hours with no sense of freedom.

This pattern of those entrepreneurs who get stuck in the "self-employment trap" boils down to one of three excuses that they make.

Review the list of these three excuses and see which of them have their claws into you and your company.