We all have habits in business. Some help us move forward, while others quietly hold us back. In this episode of the I Hate Numbers podcast, we explore four common bad business habits and, more importantly, what we can do to break them.

These habits may feel helpful in the short term, especially when cash is tight or pressure is high. However, over time they can damage profitability, confidence, and long-term growth.

Bad Habit One: The Pricing Trap

Underpricing is one of the most common traps business owners fall into, particularly in the early stages. Discounting heavily or working for less than your value often leads to burnout and poor cashflow.

Sustainable businesses price for value, not fear. Getting pricing right allows us to grow, reinvest, and serve clients properly.

Bad Habit Two: Doing Everything Yourself

Trying to do everything alone may feel sensible at first, but it quickly becomes a growth blocker. Time spent on low-value tasks is time taken away from strategy, sales, and leadership.

Delegation is not a loss of control. It is a deliberate decision to focus on what matters most in the business.

Bad Habit Three: Always Choosing the Cheapest Option

Choosing based purely on price rather than value often leads to poor outcomes. Cheap solutions can result in wasted time, repeated work, and missed opportunities.

The right support, systems, and advice pay for themselves over time.

Bad Habit Four: Avoiding Financial Advice

Avoiding professional advice is a habit that quietly costs businesses money. Tax efficiency, cashflow planning, and structure are areas where expert guidance makes a real difference.

Good advice is not an expense. It is an investment in clarity, confidence, and long-term success.

Key Takeaways

Breaking bad habits starts with awareness. Small changes around pricing, delegation, decision-making, and financial support can significantly improve profitability and peace of mind.

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Until next time, plan it, do it, and profit.

We all have habits. We have habits that are good and we have habits that are bad. And the same applies in our business. And in this week's I Hate Numbers podcast, I'm going to be exploring and looking at four particular bad habits, what they are and what we can do to try and break them. Let's crack on.

Now, running a business is not an easy thing to do. With so much on our mind, so much to think about, so much to deal with, it is very easy and very tempting to fall into bad habits that may, in the short term, seem very helpful, but over time it has a negative impact and not just on the bank balance. What I'm concerned with, what I'm interested in is what those habits are, but more particularly how we can wean ourselves away from them

and how we could break them. Now, a habit is just a usual way of behaving. We all have habits and it's easy to prevent bad habits than to break them according to Benjamin Franklin. Let's have a look at bad habit number one, and that's the pricing trap. All of us can hold our hands up to this. It's tempting, especially when you are starting up in business to attract new customers by offering discounts, lowering your prices, or perhaps even doing free work.

Now it feels like an easy way to gain that foothold to gain traction but in reality, this habit can be damaging. It's damaging to your bank balance. It's damaging to the perception your customer's eyes, both current and prospective, and underpricing your services or your products, creates a cycle that's extremely difficult to escape from.

Once your customers are used to paying a particular price, raising them becomes challenging without the real risk of losing that business. Now, that's not to say we shouldn't go in at low prices. Pricing is a very complex arena, but as a general approach here, we need to be aware of its dangers. In terms of perception,

consistently low prices may reflect in your customer's eyes (current and prospective) that you work is less valuable. What you need to do is to start by selling a fair price that represents the value of the work, the value of the transformation you're making, the value of the problem you are solving for that particular client.

Over time, you can increase those rates as your reputation increases, and it'll help you identify those quality clients that you wish to go after. Think about your positioning. Think about your brand. What is it you are offering? Competing on value, not just on discounts, can be a sustainable approach to growth.

What's habit number two? Well, habit number two is our DIY approach - we do everything ourselves. Now I've been in that situation where when I first started 30 years ago, pretty much everything under the sun, I would try to do myself and you know, saving cash. What's wrong with that? Now, starting out, you might feel that you need to do it all.

After all, nobody has more intimate knowledge of your business than you. Isn't that the case? But here's the catch. Trying to handle every single task yourself can actually limit your business's growth. So when you're bogged down with admin, accounting, cough, cough, social media, promotion, marketing, everything in between,

you are diverting the energy away from the task that will truly make an impact and drive your business forward. What's the solution? You need to appreciate the value of your time. Now, you can actually calculate this. If you check out on the I Hate Numbers website, we've got a calculator where you can price your time out, but your time has a value.

As a business owner, your focus should be on the growing the business, on the strategy, identifying where clients are, communicating with them, as well as delivering your service. Areas where your unique skills and competence have the most impact is what you should be focusing on. Delegating, outsourcing tasks such as accounts, bookkeeping, content creation, customer support, frees up your time so you can concentrate what you do best, and it's a great effective use of your time.

In my own business, I have a team, a great team who are there to support the business and do, for example, some of the bookkeeping work. Historically, I would've done all of that myself, but now that's not a good use of my time. So think about in your business, what are those tasks that you're doing that if you look at it and think, actually that doesn't add value.

I'm actually limiting the amount of time I've got available for my own delivery, for gaining new clients and for growing the business. Getting that support helps give you the freedom to focus on the bigger picture goals, helping you grow much faster and more sustainably. If you're wary about whether you can afford to do that or not, start small if needed. Pick one or two tasks

that you can delegate, you can oversee and experience that positive shift in the time that it liberates if nothing else. Once you get into that habit, you can build on it and you'll find that delegation becomes more comfortable and it becomes second nature, as your business grows. It’s about delegation.

It's not about aggregating and walking away. Habit number three, where we always look for the lowest price now in the early days is quite natural. We want to preserve the money in our bank account. We want the best deals and the lowest prices. But prioritising the lowest price over quality will cost you more in the long run. If you are always focused on the cheapest to do something,

so whether that's building your website, whether that's getting advice from Danny down the road, whether that's developing your marketing materials, your communications, and you're going for price above everything else, well ultimately, if it doesn't actually do what you need it to, you are actually wasting your money anyhow.

Low cost solutions will often lead to poor outcomes. This affects your product, your service, and ultimately it has an impact on your reputation. You need to move away from the idea about cost, cost, cost, and think about the investments that you're going to be making and the impact it will have on your business, not just your bank balance

over time. If your customers pick up that idea, that quality is dropping, if the messages aren't landing as they should do, you're going to be losing customers and certainly not gaining them. So all your spending decisions should be based on value, and you need to think that in terms of money well invested, whatever that resource is, from tax advice, marketing, building websites, the staff that you hire, the freelancers you engage with, if it delivers

and it brings you what you need it to, then that's money well invested. Now, your customers are always looking for value and they appreciate it when you prioritise quality. Bad habit number four, not seeking financial advice or not seeking financial support. Now, one of the biggest mistakes that I've seen business owners make is avoiding professional financial advice,

thinking, I can't afford an accountant, for example. I don’t need their tax advice. I've seen many examples where clients have made decisions about seeking that appropriate advice, whether it's business structure, how to spend their money, not doing a plan, and when it comes time to try and unscramble that mistake, it's too late.

Managing your own finances, I think a lot of it can be self-managed. It might seem like a money saver, but if you don't have the expert guidance at the beginning to advise you how to set up, how to set up your accounting systems, how to plan, how to make those appropriate decisions, then you're going to be missing out on opportunities, not just in tax savings, but in other areas of your business as well.

You may be overlooking those important budgeting and cash flow management strategies that will benefit your business. Now, breaking the habit is simple. Look in your network. Look for a trusted financial advisor or accountant (cough, cough). A professional advisor will bring you those insights into your financial strategy.

This will help you identify those risks and uncover the opportunities that you may have missed out on. And as all things, it's about attitude and reframing your mindset. A financial advisor is not an expense, but is an investment. Obviously, the right financial advisor. With their help, you can make better decisions that will save you money and stress over time.

So let's recap the four business habits that we want to try and break if not, shall we say wean ourselves off. It’s the pricing trap, doing things ourselves, that’s you not delegating, you're going to build capacity by having more people coming in, more efficiency. But again, you need to make sure you do this as a quality for money threshold. Always looking for the lowest price.

Those who seek cost all the times effectively, there's no loyalty built up, and you will lose out long-term. It's value that should be the driver, not just cost. And not having that adequate financial advice and financial support. Now, breaking these habits won't just help your business survive. It will also contribute to making it thrive as well.

So folks, what bad habit do you think you have in your business? I'd love to hear that. Until next time, folks, happy habit breaking.