Starting a business can be an exciting opportunity, and many people who do go into it with hopes held high for success and most likely thinking that it’ll be smooth sailing and they’ll have no trouble making it. Unfortunately, running a business is no cake walk. It is full of obstacles and difficulties. To truly make it and succeed, these obstacles have to be overcome, which in itself can at times be no easy task. But to help you, here are a few tips to help you overcome some of the difficulties of business.
- Brainstorm Problems
As with any challenge, the first step is to realize there is a problem, that something then wrong, and then figure out why. Brainstorm what might have happened to cause your problem and develop answers to solve the problem.
- Critique
As uncomfortable as it might sound, a good step for dealing with problems is to critique both yourself and your team/employees. This will help to prevent repeated mistakes, provide insight on how to improve problem areas, and help you be better equipped in the future if similar things happen.
- Experience
Learn from past mistakes and failures. Take those stories and experiences and use them to improve yourself and prepare yourself for future problems.
- Abandon
Be willing to abandon anything that’s not working in your business. Your company and its products are your “babies”, so it can sometimes be hard to give up on a product that has failed. But if it has failed, or if something else is just not working out for the business, you have to be will to let it go. As Kenny Rogers sang, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.”
- New Strategies
Similar to #4, you need to be able to replace old strategies with new ones. You probably know to get rid of a strategy that has pretty much failed from the start, but getting rid of old, worn out strategies that you have just been holding on to out of force of habit needs to be done, as well. But don’t worry. You might not need to totally replace some of them if they’re still working for you, but maybe you can spruce them up and add to them. For example, don’t just rely on outbound marketing if that’s all you’ve been doing. Look into doing inbound marketing as well.
- Stay Competitive
Don’t get into a rut and think you’re doing ok like you are. You need to stay competitive to keep customers coming. Don’t rely only on your current customer base. You need to keep it growing. To do that you need to have a marketing plan in place to continually solidify your relationship with your target audience. Keep your current customers happy, but keep working to bring in new customers as well. Provide your customers with fresh content on your website or blog, engage with them on social media, and always try to stay ahead of the competition.
- Manage Money
Don’t forget about your money! This is one of the most important aspects of a business since it’s pretty much your lifeblood, so you need to be able to manage it effectively. Keep track of how much you have, where it’s coming from and where it’s going (how it’s spent). You may be able to do it yourself at first, but as your business grows, you may find you don’t have the time, so you may want to think about getting an accountant or bookkeeper, or maybe try a virtual accountant like Freshbooks or Shoeboxed.
