Surviving the first few years in business is the biggest challenge entrepreneurs face when they set out on their own. Taking a proactive approach to these six challenges of starting a business can help the entrepreneur build a business that lasts.
Obtaining Financing
Few business owners are in a financial position to launch and sustain a new business out of their own savings. Entrepreneurs often need to borrow from financial institutions or even family and friends to get the business off of the ground. Crowdfunding is a new option as well.
Improve the efficacy of the business financing pitch by developing a thorough business plan document from the outset. This plan can serve as a living document mapping out the next three-to-five years of the business.
Determining Your Value Proposition
Part of developing a marketing plan will be determining what service or product to offer, where, and to what audience. A business can better stand out from the competition if it sets down a clear value proposition. In deciding a value proposition ask yourself the following:
- What is unique about this business?
- What need is this business addressing?
- How will this business deliver on these promises?
With those answers in mind, craft a succinct statement that the business can use in planning and promotion to differentiate itself. This will come in useful too when you are in the position to make a quick verbal presentation to a prospect.
Sizing up the Competition
Starting a new business without first doing market research to examine what the competition is doing can prove a critical mistake. Fortunately, today technology makes it easier to gain insight into competitors’ brand positioning and customer promises via auditing their web and social presence.
Managing Time
Those starting a business typically begin with only a few paid employees. Yet there are zillions of tasks to get done. It’s useful to determine early on what jobs each individual can do personally and which are better outsourced to online services, consultants, or freelancers. Particularly when starting a home business, there is the additional challenge of balancing professional and personal responsibilities.
Raising Awareness
Standing out from the competition you researched at the outset is an ongoing business challenge. This requires the business balance resources (e.g. financial and personnel) with the real need to market and make client and vendor connections. You might prioritize:
- Target audiences — to be sure your efforts specifically address your target populations
- Useful channels — spending the time to build a profile on every social media network is not as effective as effectively using one or two carefully selected channels from the start
- Low-hanging fruit — your dream customer may be more challenging to land at first. Build the business up first by accessing those customers who have an obvious, immediate need.
Managing Cash Flow
Understanding the business financials and managing cash flow can be time intensive. Use projections to help prevent overspending and keep finances in check.
Hire professional partners to help with monthly reporting. Partnering also with an affordable business VoIP provider can also help the business meet its communication needs without breaking the bank. VoIP services that benefit small business range from providing call queue management during busy season to an affordable live answering service to help improve customer service.
Read more about the Best VoIP Services for businesses