5 Business Challenges That All Startup Entrepreneurs Will Face
Challenges come with the territory when you are handling a new business. For startup entrepreneurs, every day following the inception of the business is a challenge. Add to this the fact that this market is a very competitive industry, and new entrepreneurs must always be on their toes so they can face these challenges head on.
Should you decide to give running a business a try, here are some challenges you need to be prepared for:
- Cash flow dilemmas
Cash flow is essential to keep the business alive and survive the critical phase, especially for startups. Although running a small business would mean entrepreneurs would manage a smaller amount of money compared to bigger businesses, the challenge here is dealing with delayed invoicing and payments from clients. A single delay can cause disruption of business operations. One of the ideal solutions to ensure that you have enough cash to run your business is to require down payments to cover the expenses. But for excellent cash flow management, be sure to invoice clients 30 days before their scheduled payment. This would notify them to process their payments earlier to be able to meet the payment deadline.
- Hiring top talents
Sourcing talented applicants is an ongoing challenge for startup companies since they are competing with bigger companies as well. Add to that the challenge of pre-qualifying the candidates, which would eat up more time and resources. Since you are competing with the bigwigs in the industry, you need to be smart about your hiring process. In terms of recruitment, you need to highlight your advantages as a startup company. Usually, startup businesses are more flexible than established companies. Use this to your advantage to lure potential talents.
- Being stagnant
This problem can happen to all businesses, big or small. But startups are facing this head on since the competition is tougher on their level. They need to offer something new to the clients or they will lose their footing in the industry. Be sure to allot time for product and service development. Involve the whole team in developing and modifying your service, and check which of your services you should phase out or update.
- Time management
One of the primary problems of business owners is making time. It may seem that 24 hours is not enough to handle the business, especially if they are wearing too many hats. The key here is to be smart about using your time. To accomplish as many as you can in a day, create a task list and allot a realistic timeframe to finish a single task. Learn to categorize your tasks – from urgent, important, to least urgent.
- Marketing the company
When it comes to promoting your business, startups find it hard to compete with the bigwigs in the industry. Obviously, bigger companies have more budget allotted for marketing. The answer here is to go for the low-hanging fruits. Do not spend your time competing on a level that would eat up your resources. Instead, shift your focus to marketing strategies and targets that are easier to acquire and execute.