Five Biggest Issues Faced by Today’s Entrepreneurs

Broadly speaking, entrepreneurship has become an important element of our world economic system. In most capitalist economies, for example, we have witnessed that there is a large number of people involved in entrepreneurial activities; whether by establishing new business ventures, franchising, technology licensing, and so on. Many entrepreneurs out there face a strong degree of challenges in today’s fierce business competition. Even so, they somehow possess more resources than ever before to tackle those problems.

1. Cash Flow Management

The first issue encountered by a majority of entrepreneurs is cash flow management. This is very essential to small business survival in particular, yet, many of them struggle to pay the bills (let alone themselves) while they are waiting for payment to arrive. It is where part of the problem stems from delayed invoicing which is also very common in the entrepreneurial world. Waiting to get paid can make it difficult to get by and when a customer doesn’t pay – it can risk everything.

- Solution: One way to improve cash flow is to require a down payment for the products and services offered. Such a down payment should cover all expenses associated with a given project or sale, as well as some profit for the personal earning. By requiring a down payment, entrepreneurs can at least rest assured in which they won’t be left paying others’ bills; by padding the down payment with some profit, they can pay their own.

2. Hiring Employees

Have you got any idea who dreads a job interview the most? Well, you probably think it is prospective candidates? No! It is the entrepreneurs. If you are an entrepreneur, the hiring process can take several days of your time; reviewing resumes, sitting through interviews, filtering unqualified candidates and after that, you only hope you can offer an attractive package to get the best people on board and retain them.

- Solution: Be exclusive. Far too many help wanted ads are incredibly vague in terms of what qualifications candidates must have, what the job duties are, what days and hours will be worked, and what wages and benefits will be paid. Because of these, you can actually save yourself a ton of time by pre-qualifying candidates through exclusive help wanted ads that are ultra-specific in what it takes to be hired at your firm, as well as what the day-to-day work involves. Simply approach your employee hunt the same way you would approach a customer-centric marketing campaign: through excellent targeting. Once you have a pool of prospects, arrange for a “walking interview” in which you take candidates on a tour of their working environments. Do not forget as well to ask relevant questions about the candidates’ job experiences, expectations, dedication, and long-term goals. The key to implement this successfully is do not act like an overlord determining which minion gets to live another day. Instead, behave as if you are seeking a partner to help you operate and grow your business.

3. Time Management

This might be the biggest problem faced by entrepreneurs who wear and sometimes wear all hats. Well, if you only had more time, you could accomplish so much more. Similar to money, time does not grow on trees and therefore you have to be smart enough about how you utilize it.

- Solution: You should have a list of lifetime goals, broken down into annual goals, broken down into monthly goals, and then broken down into weekly goals. Your weekly goals will then be split into specific tasks by day. In this manner, what is on your task list in any given day is all you need to do to stay on track with your lifetime goals. If any tasks do not mesh with your goals, eliminate them. If any tasks do not absolutely have to be completed by you, delegate them. Consistently question yourself if what you have been doing is the absolute best use of your time.

4. Marketing Strategy

You are simply clueless about the best way to market your products and services: print, online, mobile, advertisement, etc. and as an entrepreneur, it is natural that you want to maximize your return on investment with efficient and targeted marketing campaigns which produce good results.

- Solution: If you are not adept (skillful) enough at creating marketing plans and placing such ads, perhaps, it might be a good idea to outsource your marketing strategy to someone who is capable. At this point, all you need is a core marketing plan; who is your target audience and what marketing activities will you undertake to drive purchases. Give your planner a budget and tell them to craft a plan that efficiently uses the budget you set to generate quick cash flow or profit revenue.

5. Capital

You want to commence and grow your business, yet, there is a little capital you have and there is nothing you can do it with.

- Solution: Actually, there are many ways to earn funding ranging from traditional bank loans to kick-starter campaigns and self-fueled growth models. Thus, here’s what you should do at least. Instead of trying to launch a multimillion-dollar corporation overnight, it would be better to focus on your initial core customers. Continually work to find new customers, of course, but consistently strive to be remarkable to those customers you already serve is the key aspect. Word-of-mouth will spread, and more customers will come looking for you. As they do, develop systems and business processes which allow you to delegate tasks without sacrificing quality. If you do this, the chances of your business will grow and become steady is higher and it will help you solve problems while they are still small.

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