Never before has sustaining a business been so challenging as in the modern day. From ever-frequent disruptions caused by technology, a highly saturated market to multi-national behemoths always on the lookout to swallow up any sign of competition, budding entrepreneurs just have a lot to contend with.
Now, that sounds very discouraging. So much so that you might want to scrap your new sensational business idea. But, you shouldn’t. As Henry Ford once famously said – ‘Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.’
Those words still hold true, despite how much our world has changed from that of Sir Henry Ford. Yes, the challenge today is more ruthless than at any time in the past but if an entrepreneur can navigate the business through the opening tricky period, things can settle down later on. In this blog, we’ll take a look at those early challenges that confront every modern business and how they can be overcome.
1. Fundraising – Anyone Interested In My Idea?
Fundraising still remains quite a difficult proposition for most businesses, even today. You have a great idea and you’re quite jumpy about it. So, you seek out every other investor who might be willing to invest in it. You’re taken aback when the investors appear disinterested in your idea. There’s nothing wrong with that. In matters of money, every investor is bound to speculate. So, you’ve just got to make extra efforts to win over investor’s hearts and minds. Luckily, there are other options available now in the form of Crowdfunding. These platforms can help in amply satisfying the funding requirements of businesses, provided your idea clicks with the right kind of people.
2. Marketing – Spreading The Word About
You’ve done well to secure a handsome investment for your business, but next step is Marketing, and this can be the make or break stage. Marketing is about making the most of the limited resources available to you. There are more ways to get your marketing wrong than right. The mantra of most successful businesses is to go for a SWOT analysis. That way you get a fair understanding of your current situation. Based on the findings, you can draw up a map of your target area or audience. How well you succeed with your marketing depends on the efficient use of the resources at your disposal and the ability to improvise with them.
3. Hiring – Finding People That Are Wired Like You
We all unequivocally agree on the importance of hiring the right people. But very few businesses have measures in place to facilitate that. Hiring the wrong people is the last thing you need when you’ve only started on your ambitious business journey. As a startup, you have to look for multi-talented people, people who’re ready to wear different hats and flexible enough to work on odd hours. Yes, that’s the business reality. It’s the hard work, grit, dedication, and passion to work your way through challenges that determine the fate of your business. So, it’s important that you don’t take anything for granted. Hiring the right people is of paramount importance.
4. Customer Loyalty – Make Or Break
Let’s face it, if your customer isn’t happy, you’ve got problems with your business and you’d better act and act quickly to remedy that. The business world is in the most capricious state these days. The experts make their forecasts, but the technology has made everything so unpredictable. Even the customer isn’t sure of his/her choices in most cases and that’s what makes for a highly challenging proposition. But that doesn’t change the fact that the customer is and remains the king in business. Keep the customer happy, create a loyal following and your business will prosper. Though, that’s a lot easier said than done. Businesses spend hours and hours trying to get inside the customer’s mind, fashion new and creative ways to meet their needs and whatnots! The trick is to keep things simple and serve your customer
Pro Tip: Businesses that create simple solutions for simple problems are the ones who experience greater success.
5. Competition – Staying Still In the Midst of Chaos
Competition today is perhaps the most worrying thing on every entrepreneur’s mind, whether big or small. You look at any field, and there are businesses sprouting up ever so frequently. The key to surviving this onslaught of competition is in keeping your feet on the ground and trying not to get ahead too far ahead of yourself. By that I mean, setting reasonable expectations for your business in keeping with the availability of resources and the overall market scenario. One consoling fact about competition is that it looks greater than it appears. Only a small portion of these businesses have a longer than reasonable stay. So if you’re smart enough from the beginning, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself standing when the dust has settled down.
6. Cyber Security – Data Is Everything
We are living in a digital age and most of our work is done on the internet. For businesses that work is highly confidential and of critical importance. Imagine the disaster, if all their data gets into the wrong hands? Yes, the risk of Cyberattacks is very real and hackers can get past flimsy security setup. So it’s in entrepreneurs’ best interests to be ultra aggressive with their security mechanism and leave no loopholes that can make them vulnerable to any Cyberattacks.
7. Execution – It All Comes Down To You
This is more of a self-imposed challenge but of no less significance than the previously mentioned ones. The execution of your plans and strategies in your own hands. It’s all good to have groundbreaking ideas but if the execution is lacking, they’re as good as not being attempted. Quite often businesses are quick to blame the market or their competitor’s luck even when the fault is in their own doing. Successful entrepreneurs don’t shy away from their mistakes and consider them as a learning curve. Get the best out of your plans by setting high-quality standards in work and a system ensuring strict adherence to them.
Final Thoughts
The business world is full of traps and pitfalls and it’s very easy to find yourself falling into one of them. With the advent of technology, it’s become even more unpredictable. Still, that doesn’t mean that it’s nigh-impossible to set-up your business and have success with it. It’s important to have a clear direction of your business and know where you’re headed as a group. Business is so much about working with people in order to create solutions that make people’s lives easier. If you have a team that gels together very well, is oriented towards the same goal, you have half the stuff sorted. The rest is down to your planning and execution. Hope you liked this article. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Business growth
The challenge: We’re assuming you are growing, not that you can’t grow, and you’ve come to the point at which you can’t take on any more work in your current structure.
The solution: Create new processes that focus on task delegation. Many entrepreneurs, used to wearing all the hats, find themselves in this position once they’ve achieved a modicum of success. Because you’re doing everything, your growth halters to as top when it hits a self-imposed ceiling. The only way to break through is to delegate tasks to others and take yourself out of the production end and segue into management and, finally, pure ownership.
Great work.
Hello everyone, was interesting to read your article. Usually i’m reading New York Times , but now i will read you too!