What were the biggest mistakes did you made as a first time entrepreneur?

Opening a business without a team: people you know, like and trust, you must have  a marketing strategy, a mentor and a faith based network. Keep your team small, thinking that if you build it they will come, big mistake, you must advertise, advertise, advertise. I did not build a team around me, which causes burn out, because I am doing everything by myself. It's hard to trust others, I am learning that now, I have been betrayed by close friends and family too much! People in general.

Believing that you will open the doors and the world will beat a path to it. Thinking that you have something so special and of course(!!) everyone will see you for the miracle you are! 

The real issue is not being prepared for marketing, the learning curve and the time it takes to create a name and a brand of your own that others will recognize. Giving yourself the time to become and be recognized for being an expert. 

I would say the big lesson out of all of that is be ready to live for years on little to no income, be prepared to deal with no one showing up, be prepared to get yourself out in the world and have no response. At first. Then, don't lose hope or stop believing in you and your service. It does change. 

I would have to say my biggest mistake was not finding a mentor. Of course, there is a long list for anyone starting a business. We think we can do it ourselves because getting someone else to do it costs money, money which we don't think we have because we are living on practically nothing. Also, expecting it to go great, make money hand over fist because our competitors are already doing it. Not knowing that networking is not a "Hi - I'm so and so - Thanks for the business" the first time we meet the person. It usually takes about 6 months going to the same events so people can get to know you.

Like most first time entrepreneurs/startups, my biggest mistake was believing that I could/should do everything myself to avoid the expense of hiring someone.  It was only after I realized that it was not the best use of my time to be doing things that don't require my knowledge or skills, that I finally learned to delegate. There are services that can handle all of your back office support needs, and free you to be building the business you set out to be.

Being too trusting.

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Underestimating the amount of time to build a customer base. Be prepared for lean times in the very beginning. If you aren't willing to put in hours and hours of work - and to sacrifice some of your downtime with family and friends - then entrepreneurship may not be for you. If you aren't comfortable not knowing if you'll have the money to pay the rent and pay your bills - then entrepreneurship may not be for you. If you aren't comfortable flying without a net - then entrepreneurship may not be for you. 

My biggest mistake was thinking that things would go exactly as planned.  A lot of unexpected situations inevitably popped up.

I have always worked for the Federal Government, private business or AISD's.  I never did try the entrepreneur route.  However, I have friends who have and with out exception they said lack of research in areas like finance, marketing and creating a good business plan were some of the mistakes they made. Additionally, not reaching out to other entrepreneurs who had made it get advice.  

Under-valuing my service.  As an owner-operated copy shop in 2004, it was a good thing to price my copies a penny lower than my competition, but I might have got more money by charging more for my time designing everything from business cards to posters, from one lost-dog flyer to hundreds of sets of booklets for the local university.  Now that people use their computers and phones for such things, I'm trying to diversify the Office service, helping older folks who don't get along with computers.  One thing I did right was that I had a dedicated high-volume customer at the start.  When they went to computer usage instead of paper copies, their volume with me dropped about 95%.

Do the work handed to the client, and trust he would be an honest person and come back to pay next Friday upon receiving the check as promised.

you end up by losing the work, the money, and the client.

was a tough lesson.