In today’s ultra-competitive business environment, entrepreneurs confront several obstacles. Entrepreneurs, fortunately, now have more resources than ever to address these issues. Many entrepreneurs nowadays are confronted with the following nine issues. Maybe you’ve already encountered a few of them. Read on to find out why each problem arises, as well as answers and workarounds to help you run your business more efficiently and effectively.
Here are 9 challenges of being an entrepreneur:
1. Management of cash flow
While cash flow is critical for small business sustainability, many entrepreneurs find it difficult to pay their bills (much alone themselves) while waiting for checks to come.
Delay invoicing is a regular occurrence in the entrepreneurial sector, and it contributes to the problem. You do a task, issue an invoice, and wait 30 days for payment (hopefully). Meanwhile, you must pay all of your bills, including those of your workers or contractors, as well as your mortgage and groceries. Waiting for payment may make it tough to get by, and if a customer fails to pay, you could lose everything.
While proper budgeting and preparation are important for sustaining financial flow, they will not always keep you from being stressed out by bills. Requiring a down payment for your goods and services is one approach to increase cash flow. Your down payment should cover all project or selling expenditures as well as a profit for you. You may be confident that by requiring a down payment, you will not be stuck paying other people’s expenses; by padding the down payment with profit, you will be able to pay your own.
2. Recruiting workers
Do you know who the most dread job interviews? Entrepreneurs, not prospective applicants, are the ones who are being targeted. Reviewing resumes, sitting through interviews, and weeding out unqualified applicants might take several days of your time. Then all you have to do is hope that you can put together a compelling package to attract and keep the finest individuals on board.
The answer is to be exclusive. In terms of what credentials candidates must have, job tasks, days and hours worked, and salaries and perks paid, far too many help needed advertisements are very unclear. Pre-qualifying prospects through customized assistance needed advertising that are ultra-specific in both what it takes to be recruited at your business and what the day-to-day job includes may save you a lot of time. Approach your job search, in the same manner, you would a customer-centric marketing campaign: with pinpoint precision.
When you’ve narrowed down your list of applicants, schedule a « walking interview, » in which you show them around their workplace. Inquire about the position, as well as the candidates’ previous experiences, expectations, devotion, and long-term objectives. Act like if you’re looking for a partner to help you run and develop your firm, not as if you’re an overlord deciding which of your minions will live to see another day.
To win without risk is to triumph without glory.
3. Organizing time
Entrepreneurs that wear many (and perhaps all) hats, time management may be the most difficult obstacle. You could achieve so much more if only you had more time!
Making time is the answer. Because it, like money, does not grow on trees, you must use it wisely. To get you started, here are a few tips:
Make goal lists: Make a list of your long-term goals, then break them down into annual, monthly, and weekly targets. Your weekly goals will subsequently be divided into day-by-day chores. In this way, all you have to do on any given day to keep on track with your long-term objectives is complete the tasks on your task list.
- Remove any tasks that aren’t aligned with your objectives.
- Delegate any chores that don’t require your immediate attention.
- « Is this the best use of my time right now? » Frequently ask yourself.
4. Task delegation
You know you should delegate or outsource duties, but every time you do, something goes wrong and you have to repeat it all over again.
The approach, for starters, is to hire competent workers (as mentioned above) and outsource contract help. You’ll have to pay a bit extra for it, but the time savings (and subsequent earning possibilities) will more than compensate.
The next step is to be explicit about what you want to be accomplished. It will take a bit longer initially, but set down precise steps that describe exactly what you want your aid to do. Make no assumptions about your aid, and don’t expect them to think for themselves straight away. So, rather than telling them to « List stats on a spreadsheet, » tell them to « Alphabetically list XYZ in the first spreadsheet column, then list statistic A in the next column, and so on. » It may sound excessive, but if you take the time to be detailed the first time, your assistance will get it correctly the second time.
5. Selecting products for sale
You know you could make a fortune if you only knew what products and services to provide. You simply don’t know where to begin when it comes to deciding on a specialty.
The solution is Admit that you’re not very good at spotting lucrative niches and transfer the work to someone who is. Rather than hiring a large, expensive marketing agency, engage a freelance researcher with knowledge in the subject you’re exploring (retail e-commerce, service industry, publishing, etc.).
Request that they do market research and produce a report that includes proposed niches, prospective profit margins, and a thorough SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).
This isn’t to mean that you should let someone else determine your decisions for you; but, if you’re not excellent at spotting niches, it makes sense to get advice from someone who is. You may then decide whether or not you agree with the ideas by analyzing them for yourself. Taking this step now can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches, in the long run, not to mention your whole business and life.
6. Business development plan
You’re not sure how to advertise your products and services the most effectively: print, internet, mobile, advertising, etc. With effective, focused marketing that produces results, you want to optimize your return on investment.
The solution is if you’re not skilled at developing marketing plans or placing advertisements, it’s a smart idea to hire someone who is. All you need at this point is a basic marketing strategy: who is your target market and what marketing actions will you use to encourage purchases? Give your planner a budget and instruct them to come up with a strategy for maximizing earnings within that budget. Experimentation is not advised at this time. After you’ve created a working baseline, you may go ahead and accomplish that.
7. Capital
You want to establish or expand your firm, but you don’t have much money.
The solution is traditional bank loans. Kickstarter campaigns, and self-fueled growth strategies are all viable options for obtaining money. Focus on your early core consumers rather than attempting to build a multibillion-dollar company overnight. Of course, you should always be looking for new clients, but you should also make an effort to impress those you already have. More clients will seek you out as a result of word-of-mouth advertising. Develop tools and business procedures that will enable you to distribute work without losing quality when they do so. Your company will expand slowly and steadily, allowing you to address issues as they arise.
8. Budget constraints
You never seem to have enough money in your budget to advertise your firm to its maximum potential, even though your cash flow is good.
The solution is almost every business owner has budgeting issues at some point. The idea is to organize your marketing efforts with efficiency in mind – spend your money where it matters — and save the rest for operational costs and experimenting with new marketing strategies.
Keep an eye on your finances as well: there may be places where you may save money. Cut expenses unless they are really necessary for your company and/or represent an investment with a predictable return. Poetry this: Find out how lean your company can be. You don’t have to do that, but try cutting whatever you can to see if you can still run your firm (save for what you have to delegate and market with). There’s a sweet spot between your leanest number and your present budget where you may be just as productive while still having money left over to expand.
9. Doubts about one’s abilities
The life of an entrepreneur is not glamorous, at least at first. When something goes wrong or you’re not progressing as quickly as you’d want, it’s all too easy to become disheartened. You may feel like quitting up when self-doubt sets in.
The solution is entrepreneurs must be able to overcome self-doubt. Family and friends who understand and support your ambitions, as well as an advisory board of other entrepreneurs who can provide objective advice on the path of your firm, will be beneficial.
Conclusion
Many obstacles confront entrepreneurs, and books have been published on how to overcome them. Your allies are perseverance and intellect; utilize them to your advantage to keep working toward your objectives. Recognize that you aren’t the only one who has had difficulties. As a result, there are several tools available to assist you in getting through your darkest days as an entrepreneur so that you may reap the enormous benefits of running your successful firm.
