Starting your first business is certainly not an easy matter. Even if the scale is small, you will definitely continue to wonder whether your business will be successful. This is natural because there are many things you are risking when running your first business, starting from capital, previous career, time, and much more.
Even though you are filled with big questions, you still need to appreciate your brave step in starting a small-scale business. Because, there are also many people who give up their intention to do business because they are filled with deep fear.
So, to overcome all these doubts and fears, it would be good if you understand the various challenges that are often faced when starting a small business. Of course, look for a way out of every challenge that arises. What do you think? Check out the full review below.
Customer presence and loyalty is one of the keys to developing a small-scale business. Unfortunately, the journey of getting customers is not easy. The factors are various, such as the profile of a little-known businessman; products that do not meet market needs or interests; promotions that are not on target; the existence of competitors who already control the business line; and so forth.
In several studies, customer problems are also often highlighted. For example, uncertain customer conditions mean that small businesses cannot survive for more than 10 years. However, it would be a different story if you could anticipate the customer's problem.
In the book Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross, he introduces the term “picking up customers”. So, instead of waiting for customers to come buy your product, from the start you need to target a list of potential customers. This way you will focus on knowing the customer's needs, interests or habits. As a result, at the start you already know what kind of product you have to create and what the promotional strategy is.
So how do you pick up customers?
Set the mindset that customers are a long-term investment in your business. Apart from promotions, you can also attract the hearts of potential customers by holding various events that are useful for them, such as holding workshops, creating communities or clubs, and much more.
Even if it's a small business, managing workflow can also be an obstacle. You may be faced with confusion in choosing the most appropriate work steps so that your business runs effectively and efficiently. Lack of experience is the main factor that makes it difficult for you to manage workflow.
To overcome this, you first need to divide the workflow into several processes, such as planning, execution, and monitoring. After that, determine who is responsible for all the flows. Choose those who really have qualifications in that field.
With proper workflow management, the team will be clearer in carrying out their tasks so that business goals can be achieved more quickly.
Small-scale businesses also require good financial management so that cash flow does not run into a deficit, meaning expenses exceed income. However, because they think the business they run is still small scale, some people pay less attention to financial management. As a result, several problems often occur, such as combining personal and business money, not keeping books, being wasteful, and forgetting to prepare reserve funds. If you let it continue, it will shorten the life of your business.
In order to overcome these challenges, you should start learning financial management, even if you already have a business partner to take care of it. Some tips suggested by financial experts include:
- Set short, medium and long term financial goals.
- Separate business accounts from personal.
- Allocate income into three goals, namely for operations, business development, and reserve or emergency funds.
- Take advantage of various existing business financial record applications to manage income, expenses and assets.
- Pay bills on time to ensure that the business situation remains conducive.
No business can be run alone, even if it is a small scale business. You still need a partner to help manage all aspects, such as operations, finance, marketing, promotions and others. Unfortunately, finding a suitable business partner is not easy. Sometimes various differences arise in the middle of the road, causing friction to arise and resulting in divisions. This mismatch will certainly affect the continuity of your business to some extent.
Therefore, before choosing a business partner that you can rely on, you need to set criteria, for example having the same business vision and mission as you; can complement your shortcomings, both in terms of skills, experience, and others; responsible for the division of tasks that has been determined; can be trusted in managing the field in charge; and it will be a plus if your business partner has extensive relationships, making it easier to collaborate with various parties, such as vendors and others.
From these criteria, it's time to think about who is the right person for this character. Find out from those closest to you, whether from friends, family, former colleagues or former school colleagues. You can also ask for recommendations from people you trust.
As a beginner businessman, finding a suitable vendor can be a challenge in itself. You don't have enough contacts to know which vendors are the right fit in terms of service and services. In fact, choosing the right vendor will determine the success of a business because they are the ones who will provide raw materials, services and other services.
On the other hand, if you choose the wrong vendor, it will affect the quality of the goods. The results may not be what you expected.
Therefore, before choosing a vendor who will become your business partner, you should check the variety and criteria of the products offered. The more varied the products offered, you don't need to bother looking for other vendors to fulfill your needs.
Then, when you find a vendor selling goods at a cheaper or more expensive price, you need to check again. Too cheap could mean the quality is lacking, while too expensive could harm your capital. The choice is to look for a vendor that offers prices according to standards.
Apart from that, getting vendor recommendations from your acquaintances can also be an alternative. At least you already know testimonials from users directly.
So, if you have found the right vendor, don't forget to maintain a good relationship with them. It's possible that in the future you will get a discount because you are considered a good partner.
So, those are the challenges that often arise when you start a small business. Remember that all problems have a solution. Now, it's time for you to focus on planning your small business well and formulating mitigation steps if the business doesn't go according to plan.