What Are The 5 Biggest Challenges When Starting A Business?

There is just no discrete roadblock that could prevent enthusiastic entrepreneurs from fruitfully starting a new business. Following your heart and putting your efforts into actions that give you a sense of accomplishment while also generating revenue from products or services you created is extremely rewarding. This is not an inspirational statement; it is a matter of truth. Starting a business and employing people can be a thrilling experience and a valuable contribution to your country’s economy.

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

Charles R. Swindoll

Stepping up a few notches without a proper backup plan can leave you feeling lonely, stressed, and helpless. You’ll be much better prepared for potential problems and give your business the best chance of success if you overcome the issues you might face and know how to deal with them. Here are five significant challenges that most businesses face in the initial phases, as well as why and how they can be overcome.

Finite Resources

A few generations earlier, launching a new business required either a large sum of money or the power to raise funding. The majority of self-financed business owners were unable to get started. There are approximately 300 million people globally attempting to create approximately 150 million businesses. Approximately one-third will be initiated, implying 50 million new ventures per year. Or roughly 137,000 per day which implies that the biggest constraint of finite resources has been addressed by most entrepreneurs successfully.

The cost of starting a business nowadays is a thousand times less than it was two decades ago. The hurdles to launching a new business are at an all-time low thanks to open source technology and low-cost cloud-based tools. Despite the fact that technology is open and inexpensive, expertise is still needed to create, organize, and produce goods and services. To kick start a new business, you don’t even need office space, large infrastructure, or huge contracts. With a few mouse clicks, you can gain access to quality talented individuals. Nearly every day, the web shrinks the global community.

Bootstrapping is the practice of utilizing your own money or savings to start up a business. Many entrepreneurs have optimized their costs by avoiding hiring talents with complementary skills by self-learning the activities and tasks themselves and extensively using no-code tools. Funding options have become limited to the ones who earn them. It is crucial to highlight that financial considerations can affect both large and small businesses.

Case Study: With a food processor in his home kitchen, Justin Gold of Justin’s made the best nut butters in the market. Instead of spending $50,000 on equipment to manufacture the perfect peanut butter, he scaled his business with a dated industrial food processor. It has to do with resourcefulness.

Choosing a right Advisor

Mentored business owners get a much higher incidence of success and growth. Business owners who work with an advisor are far more inclined to follow through on their concepts, and their businesses are often quite financially beneficial. Advisors will encourage and support you as you work toward your goals. You can seek answers on websites, but take note that putting the skills and strategies you’ve learned into action will require resources and time. Resources are scarce and need to be used very judiciously.

Whether you’re aiming to create a team, at the very bare minimum, entrust someone who has knowledge starting a business. As a result, they can act as mentors and service providers.

If you need help with B2C go-to-market strategies, for example, Amuleekh Singh of Chai Point could be a terrific mentor to have on board given his experience in the field. Jay Dutta of MakeMyTrip would be invaluable for UI and user experience advice.

Business Idea that matters

Everything is propelled forward by how powerful is the “idea” and is it the right one? The business plan generates a reason for investing as well as a strategy for generating sales and profit. The business environment is far more complicated than you may realize. Customers behavior are far more unpredictable and harder to persuade.

There are some questions to ask in order to determine whether or not you have the right idea. They are an excellent way to put your presumptions to the study and strive to manage your prejudices. Consider your idea as the baseline when setting up a new business. While it may eventually become the destination, it may also change along the way.

Hoovu, a Bengaluru-based startup with a simple business idea of delivering fresh puja flowers to your doorstep on a subscription basis, generates Rs 8 crore in annual revenue. Beginning in 2019, the sister duo has decided to give the decades-old traditional flower market a “contemporary touch” by creating a subscription system.

Your competitive edge – Right people with right skills

Your 1st recruit is critical, so bide your time in finding the right person. Find individuals who support your core beliefs and have relevant experience. Establish a fair and inclusive workplace culture once you’ve formed a team. Focus on ensuring that the contributions of the team add significantly to the success of the business. At times, as a business owner, you must also get your hands dirty in order to maximize learnings in areas with which you are unfamiliar.

If you’re searching for a co-founder, remember that unless you already have a professional relationship with somebody you trust and who is interested in joining the startup, an appropriate way to find the suitable co-founder is to begin with a partnership that can eventually turn into a co-founding relationship.

Porter’s activity positioning strategies, which are variety-based (Nvidia), needs-based (Pinterest), and access-based (Xoom), provide additional clarity on how a company might obtain a competitive edge.

Marketing Channel

Until you have enough funds to allocate to your marketing budget, you will most likely be confronted with a difficult decision of choosing one channel over another without understanding what will actually work. There are numerous marketing channels available to you, regardless of the size of your company. But the question is whether they are a good fit for your goals and needs. Few of the most popular channels are:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Word Of Mouth Marketing (WoM)
• Offline Advertising
• Online Advertising
• Partnership Marketing
• Community Building

There are others. To be successful, you don’t have to use every marketing channel known to humankind! In fact, this will almost certainly adversely affect the brand image. Rather, analyze each channel you’re currently using and then add or remove basis of the findings. Finally, you only like to maintain the channels that provide the best value for money.

A multichannel marketing plan may be developed by any firm, whether it is a global leader in its field or a little business. Apple, The Home Depot, Under Armour and Vrbo, have all successfully used multichannel marketing strategies to fuel their growth.

Final Thoughts

Small business ownership can be quite satisfying. However, you must be prepared for the hurdles that you will face in order to make your small business a success. All these struggles confront both new and experienced entrepreneurs. None of these, or others, are unmanageable. Take things slowly at first. New business success is the aggregation of all small positive changes

Thinking of starting a business? GeopFX is a full-service consulting organization that specializes in business consulting, digital marketing, and human resources consulting. Expand your employment alternatives and start a new business in an easy, flexible model that matches your busy life.