Running into start-up speed bumps? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We’ve got a few tips to help you through common pain points for small businesses.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON BUSINESS CHALLENGES THAT START-UPS FACE?

50% of new businesses survive five years or more, with 33% surviving 10 years or more.

Startups typically fail due to the following reasons:

• Poor leadership, management, and business planning

Whether you start solo or as a small team, if you don’t have a concept in place, a working business model, or any sort of market research, you’re going to have a tough time growing your company.

Those corporate mission/vision statements that seemed irrelevant to you back when you were an employee just doing your job? Well, they matter now that you’re your own boss. Now that you hope to build a team you want to be with you over the long haul. It’s a lot easier to forge ahead if your team knows where you’re going. Avoid having to play catch-up. Do the needful before anything else.

• Cost and financial issues

This includes a lack of funding and profit, high salaries, expensive healthcare benefits, and overpriced products.

If you’re having trouble balancing your finances, it’s probably because you skimped out on ironing out your business projections and market research. Accomplishing both provides valuable insight into how you can expect your business to earn in the foreseeable future.

• Ignoring internal and external feedback

One of your goals as a business owner is to keep your clients happy. Whether they’re external customers or investors, your stakeholders have an opinion on how your business can best serve their interests. One way of improving your product or service is by asking for and receiving valuable feedback.

Weigh your vision against what people say. If you close yourself off from any sort of helpful input, you can’t expect to go as fast or as far as you’d like.

• Inability to build the right team of qualified workers

When you haven’t explored all of your available hiring options or you’ve taken in ill-equipped people, achieving your goals is going to be difficult.

• Fierce competition

You may have been the first to provide a service, but if customers flock to your competitors, it’s probably for good reason. It could be any of the things we listed above or something else entirely. Whatever the case, you can only try to salvage what you can and do better for your next venture.

None of these are new. Take comfort in the fact that plenty of other businesses have gone through much of the same issues. If they can survive and thrive, so can you!

So what exactly do these successful businesses have in common? Take a page from their playbook because here are a few characteristics they share:

• They have a set market for their products.

Know thy customers. There’s nothing more reassuring than the fact that the product or service you created actually helps the people you intended them for.  Bonus points if your product goes beyond your target audience and opens up a whole new market you never considered in the first place.

• They’re open to constructive criticism.

Opening a clear line of communication can make or break your business. Listen to both team and client concerns because, as much as you think you know what’s best for your own product, you’re not its be-all and end-all. Being approachable can save you time, effort, and funds down the road.

• They’re ready for expansion — and fast!

Company growth often heralds the onset of increased production and staffing. Of course, with a fully prepped business plan, you may have already done the hard math. Your expansion contingencies are in place; all you need to do is adjust and move forward accordingly.

• They can recover from business setbacks.

If you want growth, you can’t be risk-averse. As an entrepreneur, you need to know how to take a beating and bounce back from it. Setbacks are something you have to consider – and work into your business plan. Therefore, when stuff happens, you can always look back on the financial projections in your business plan for the best course of action.

TRANSFORM YOUR START-UP CHALLENGES INTO OPPORTUNITIES!

The good news? These issues are fixable! Data shows that start-ups achieved success by following these steps:

1. Follow the business plan!

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/how-to-start-a-business

Preparation is half the battle if you want to succeed in any business venture, making a business plan is the best way to do it. It should contain everything potential business partners and investors would want to know.

While a business plan is useful in attracting funding, it’s also incredibly helpful to your start-up  team. It serves as a summary of your goals and shows the team what needs to be prioritized. Whenever you and your team are unsure of what your next step should be, your business plan will serve as your roadmap.

2. Find the right people and work with them.

Creating candidate personas guides your hiring process and helps you identify the talent that is the best fit for your company. Start by identifying the characteristics, skills, and traits of  your ideal team member.

While there’s no shortage of highly skilled people, don’t expect them to know everything. Nor should you underestimate their capacity. You hire people, not machines, and they’re capable of coming up with ideas of their own. Open a clear line of communication between you and your team to benefit from both feedback and bright ideas. Collaboration isn’t just a marketing buzzword. Use it well and use it often.

3. Adopt effective leadership practices.

Author and professional speaker on leadership John Maxwell says: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

Something to keep in mind: work with your team instead of simply assigning them tasks and expecting immediate results – that would only burn them out. Practice effective leadership techniques to motivate your team.

Pro tip: If you want to keep your best people, here’s a checklist of qualities you can measure your company by, according to Vala Afshar, SalesForce’s chief digital evangelist:

https://twitter.com/ValaAfshar/status/1155926743359733761?s=20

Work out what you want before delegating tasks. Doing so makes your team more productive; they can work on an actual product rather than prototypes — unless you’re actually asking for prototypes! If the latter, make sure your team has ample time to brainstorm, draft, create mock-ups and blueprints, and build the actual prototype.

4. Automate your tasks!

Since you’re just starting out, you’re going to need all the help you can get. But you can’t take on every task and you can’t always afford to hire more people. Fortunately, new apps are being built every day! And so many of them include tools that make your workday easier.

We previously compiled a list of productivity-boosting apps. Use them for repetitive, routine tasks.You can start with Zapier, Integromat, and Automate to automate tasks in the background or Asana and Trello for workflow organization and task management to benefit your team.

5. Protect your business data.

Cybersecurity is a legitimate concern in today’s world. While it’s convenient to have the information you want at the tap of a finger, it also makes it easier for hackers to access our personal data.

As a small business, you’re more vulnerable to such attacks as compared to bigger enterprises that may have more sophisticated security systems in place. Make sure to set up safety measures early on and to keep these up to date. Taking these steps will pay off in the future, especially when you’ve earned a reputation for being able to protect customer data.

6. Practice authentic customer service.

Talk to your customers as if they’re people — because they are! They aren’t a disembodied voice on the phone you can ask your agents to read their scripts to or just another drop in your sales target bucket., If you don’t make your customers feel valued or understood, they will either opt for your competitor’s product or stop patronizing it altogether.

Take a page from these companies with the best customer service. Applying the best practices in customer service shows your clients that they can rely on you for top-notch support and that you are worthy of their trust.

7. Don’t overreach.

One of the challenges startups face is aiming too high and fixating on irrelevant details. It can be easy to drown in an abundance of ideas. Don’t fall prey to shiny object syndrome. It’s easy to lose focus and get distracted from what you should be prioritizing.

As a startup, think big but be guided by realistic expectations. Don’t be surprised when you run into a problem and take a step back only to discover that you’ve been aiming too high for what you can achieve at the moment. Set reasonable goals based on where you are as a company.

While there are countless other problems that start-ups and businesses face, surely there are just as many solutions for them — if not more! It’s just a matter of putting them down on paper. In instances that you find existing solutions don’t thoroughly address your problem, you can always make your own product to serve that niche. Say “hello” to your new business venture!

Have you encountered start-up problems we haven’t mentioned? Or would you perhaps have a creative solution for your own pain point?

Reach out to LOFT Spaces. We have serviced private offices, meeting rooms, networking opportunities, and more! Send an email to [email protected] and let’s talk business.