Most of us are in business to make money. And there are as many ways to make money as there are businesses. But there are quite a few ways to lose money, as well.

Here are five sure-fire things to avoid.

5 Ways to Lose Money in Business

1. Try to be all things to all customers.

Spend huge amounts of time doing little things without charging for them just to keep customers happy.

2. Value quantity over quality customers.

Don’t distinguish bad customers from good customers. Add new customers in even if they’re not profitable just to brag about the numbers of customers you have.

3. Don’t bother accounting for all your costs.

Rather than real cost accounting, only consider incremental costs and dismiss your overhead costs on new projects or customers.

4. Lose a little on each sale to “make it up on volume.”

This works especially well in conjunction with #3, above.

5. Create work to keep staff busy.

When you’re overstaffed, invent work to keep staff busy rather than cutting unnecessary jobs. By creating busy work, you allow those few employees to keep their jobs by risking your entire business and everyone’s job.