20 Common Small Business Problems And Solutions
Managing a business is not an easy task, because there are common small problems and solutions that might want to stress the business owner, this article serves as an expository.
The market is full of surprises and can be closely related to a rollercoaster. A good entrepreneur sees these glitches ahead and makes direct plans to manage the rainy days.
You will agree that when it comes to the daily running of your business, you might find yourself struggling. It’s hard work trying to manage all the curve balls a business throws at you. You also have to maintain an inner push for growth.
I’ve learnt over the years that business owners often don’t seek solutions to some problems they have. If you don’t actively seek out solutions to any problem you have, you’re making it harder for your business to adapt and grow.
It will become the norm to battle only the problems that everyone seems to be facing.
The purpose of this piece is to expose the common problems faced by businesses and also proffer tips and solutions for such problems. The truth is, the market is very unpredictable and businesses are bound to face various challenges.
So, if you know you’re desperate for a helping hand, I hope at least one of these solutions will help you to groom your business successfully.
Are you a small business owner seeking solutions to some of the problems your business might be facing? This article will be of good use to you.
Are you thinking of starting a business and want to know what problems you might encounter in the future? This piece is what you need to read.
Without further ado, it’s time I moved straight to the main gist. So sit back and relax, and become a solutions-focused business.
1. Time Management
Entrepreneurs are constantly stressed about time, this is why it ranks as the fifth-largest difficulty with a 21% share. Although it is not often spoken about there are stress management tips you need as a business owner.
Operating a small business requires various skills and activities in each unit. Being a small business owner, you might start the day as the CEO, managing and supervising how things run in the company.
You might be acting as a product developer examining sales data for the most recent product offering in the middle of the day. Late in the afternoon, you make client contact before overseeing payroll and benefits in the evening.
You must continuously balance short-term objectives with long-term ones. It is no surprise that time is one of the most valuable corporate commodities. The time of a small business owner can also be interrupted by phone calls, e-mails, and conferences, to name just three.
Solution
Solutions for active time management are crucial. Know your company’s main objectives first. Your objectives must be SMART:
-Specific
-Measurable
-Attainable
-Realistic
-Time-based
To prioritize tasks, connect them to your goals. Prioritization is made easier with the use of a to-do list. Itemize everything you have to do. (By the way, it’s crucial to have these in writing. Don’t merely keep a mental list of things.) Then rank them according to the urgency with which you must complete them and their significance to the company’s goals.
Long-term objectives should be broken down into detailed activities with deadlines. If you need to hire a new employee by the start of the following quarter, for instance, the individual steps could be broken down.
From preparing a job description, posting the position, examining resumes, conducting background checks, and interviewing several candidates to making a decision.
Establish a reasonable deadline for finishing each duty separately.
Sort the items on your to-do list by importance. Don’t worry when there are tasks left undone; simply carry over the unfinished business.
Unfinished work will always exist since that’s how business works.
Also, your to-do lists will help you to monitor how well you manage your time after a few weeks. In case there’s any particular duty that keeps getting put off, think about appropriate answers.
Such answers could be hiring new staff or assigning some duties to existing employees.
In other areas, like taxation or creative work like marketing or advertising, you might want to engage professionals in those fields.
Automation could be employed for tasks that are not getting done. This will help in future business growth and the creation of fresh business concepts and insights.
Additionally, automation can streamline administrative functions such as using a time off manager to book and track holidays, further enhancing efficiency within the organization.
2. Managing Workflow
The next problem is controlling workflow once you have the team in place to perform your magic.
You want to make sure that your team has the procedures and resources necessary to do the assignment effectively.
As a business owner, it is not possible to be in all places at once. How then can you concentrate on the business while making sure that everyone involved has what they need?
Effectively managing workflow is therefore a regular problem for small organizations, especially as your business grows.
The good news is that, when done correctly, it yields great results; marketing automation may increase income by more than 400%.
Solution
Creating opportunities for feedback from your staff is the best method to identify the challenges they encounter and boost productivity.
You can accomplish this by:
– Surveys of employee satisfaction
– Regular meetings with direct reports in private
– Asking about potential dangers to the company and the problems that give employees the most “pain” in their positions
– Recognizing patterns in the criticism you hear.
– Recognizing areas that could benefit from automation requires that you first understand how your staff are feeling and any obstacles they might be facing.
As was already noted, putting time-saving strategies into practice can significantly help with performance improvement and overall business success.
3. Self-Doubt
Every new business owner experiences a moment where they begin to doubt themselves and want to give up. It generally occurs as a result of first failures and observing growths that are less than anticipated.
Solution
To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must get past self-doubt. You can open up to those in your immediate circle who are aware of your objectives and can encourage you.
You might even ask for assistance from other business owners, some of whom will be willing to provide guidance and demonstrate how to get beyond obstacles at this time.
Be ready for these obstacles whether you’re considering starting your own business or are already doing so.
To succeed, make a strategic plan, look into all the options, develop a fantastic product or service, enter the market, and then start up your business.
Read these 7 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL DESTROY A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
4. Raising Brand Recognition
How will potential customers buy from you if they don’t know what you are selling or the services you offer?
According to statistics, 70% of brand managers believe that generating an audience is more successful than generating direct sales.
As a result, top business owners have resolved that increasing brand awareness will be their top priority when implementing marketing strategies.
This emphasis is good because increasing brand awareness helps your audience trust you, makes it easier for them to relate your brand to your goods and services, and all of these things work together to increase sales and create a community of devoted clients.
As a small business, it might occasionally seem as though today’s top brands just appeared overnight.
How did they become well-known? How did they expand so rapidly? Can your business experience such rapid growth?
Of course, the majority of the effort, struggles, and rejections experienced by these businesses took place in secret. However, there are various ways by which you can publicize your business and build a good reputation.
Solution
The three that will be discussed here are PR, co-marketing, and blogging. There are other numerous strategies to raise brand recognition
– PR: Public relations is more about focusing your voice and finding your place in the market than it is about paying for a slot in a news blog.
I highly suggest reading this fantastic article from FirstRound Capital on the common PR mistakes made by startups and small enterprises.
The article also offers some practical advice on locating journalists who cover your sector, making connections, and collaborating with them.
– Co-marketing: Joining forces with another brand can enable you to gain some of their reputation and image, as well as generate brand ambassadors outside of your network.
In addition to your organic marketing efforts, it’s a great method to make a lot of new relationships. For additional beneficial information, you can read about how to begin co-marketing.
– Blogging: Maintaining a regular, excellent blog will also help you increase brand recognition.
A blog enables you to develop authority in your field and trust among your clients in addition to helping to attract traffic to your website and turn that traffic into leads.
In addition, it will assist you in creating an email list.
5. Locating Business Partners
A new business owner’s ability to find trustworthy business partners is one of the most important tasks they must complete. It would also interest you to note that hiring a hacker is a savvy business decision.
A bad business partner will give you a bad reputation, and since your reputation will be linked to your partner, you’ll be putting your business’s success in danger in some way.
Solution
It can be challenging to assess your partner at first glance, but if they have bad intentions, they will eventually come to light. The only option is to end your connection with your partner right away.
6. Educating Your Staff
Educating your staff has a substantial impact on the productivity and longevity of your staff. Yet, it is one of many problems that small business face.
Statistics have shown that over 90% of business owners know how important training staff is, but just a few of them do so.
Solution
Make a systematic process for employee training first.
This covers a wide range of topics, including prospective training on software, documentation procedures, training before someone starts working full-time, how individuals can take vacation days and more.
7. Encouraging Worker
You are well aware that competent personnel are necessary for a business to succeed but they are difficult to find.
Finding the answer to what drives an excellent employee is not that difficult. You are assuming that the incentive is either a decent salary or some other kind of benefit.
However, few business owners are aware that there is so much more to it and it starts with you- the boss. An unmotivated employee won’t be productive, which automatically harms your company.
See these 29 Creative Ways To Retain Employees.
Solution
Open and respectful communication with employees is essential, and being approachable is a requirement.
Everyone who works with you, whether they are directly employed or contracted out, should feel comfortable approaching you.
Simple little things like coffee, sodas, cookies, and fruit are simple methods to make employees more relaxed, which in turn makes them more productive and motivated to work.
It is greatly important to get feedback. Knowing your employees’ needs is essential. Many businesses who fail to accomplish this, are ignorant that there is a problem and then wonder why staff are leaving.
8. Quitting Your career to start a business
I understand the risk involved when you quit your current career to chase your dream of self-employment.
It is a big risk indeed because you now have to let go of the financial security of working and start worrying about paying other people. Besides, there are things you have to consider before starting a business.
The power of consistency and determination cannot be utterly pushed away, they play a significant role in the success of anything in life. However, as the saying goes, “Better safe than sorry”.
You must be prepared for all the possibilities that might come out of starting your own business.
Solution
A good entrepreneur should be able to make average decisions, under pressure. 80% of new small businesses fail every year, and you should take this very seriously if you plan on starting a business.
You must weigh all the possibilities and advisably have a backup plan.
If indeed you are prepared and sure you want to start your own business, be sure you would eventually get something tangible in the end and add value to lives and society.
The fact that you become an employer of labour and get to change people’s lives is a dream for many people.
9. Start-Up Capital
Start-up capital sometimes is usually a problem for small business owners. You may find it hard to come up with enough capital to start up your business.
Having a business idea is one thing and having enough capital to actualize your business idea is an entirely different thing. There are so many ways you can source for capital to start up your business which include these solutions;
Solution
Personal Savings, family/friends, and Loans
You can live on a budget and save money to start your business. If you have some money you have been saving, this is a good time to materialize your dream of becoming self-employed.
In addition, if you are lucky enough to save as much as possible, it means you do not have to borrow money or take a bank loan. You can start your business without any form of debt.
This is usually not considered by some because it can easily be seen as little to start up a business but it is the safest and most reliable.
An entrepreneur who raises enough capital without borrowing deserves some accolades.
Family/Friends
It’s also a good idea to borrow some funds from your close friend who wouldn’t mount fire on your head when you are paying up.
You both should agree as clearly as possible if you are planning to start a business that might not yield profits immediately.
A relative or friend might not add interest rates to his payments, unlike the bank that would most likely add interest rates and give you a brief moratorium.
Hence, I’ll advise you to have a business plan to show your friends and family who might want to support you. However, don’t forget or trivialize your agreement when it’s time to pay back.
If it was given to you for a period of time, you should do well to pay it back at the agreed date.
Do not take this generosity for granted due to the familiarity involved.
Loans
This could be from money lenders or from the bank. However, I would only advise you to consider this option if the aforementioned options are unlikely.
Most banks will give you the loan only if there is collateral, while some will give you the loan but with an interest rate. You have to weigh your options to know which one is preferable.
If you’re drowning in debt, however, you should think of getting a debt consolidation loan instead.
However, if you are planning on starting a business that has a direct impact on the economy, you might need to look out for free government grants that will allow you to take a loan without any collateral.
Whatever the case may be, taking loans can be a risky move for a first-time entrepreneur. You must be careful while negotiating so that your business doesn’t suffer in the long run.
10. The Exact Business To Start
Sometimes entrepreneurs don’t know the right businesses to invest in and this can be a personal headache.
Before you think of starting a business, there are important things to know and must be put into consideration first like; What to produce, Where to produce (Location), How to produce, and who you are producing for (Customer base).
All these factors will eventually determine the success of your business in the long run.
Solution
The right business in the right place is always a good place to kick things off. You cannot sell light clothes successfully in an extremely cold environment and expect the business to thrive. Selling meats in an area largely occupied by Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarians will not attract many buyers.
You must take your time to decide what business you plan to go into. If there’s competition in that particular market, then you must figure out something that will make your business stand out.
11. Coping with many Competitors
This is one of the many problems that plague small businesses.
When you decide to start up a business, you realise there are more than a thousand people doing the same thing and you now have to prove yourself worthy amongst these big boys.
The problem no longer is whether you can prove yourself but, who will give you the chance to do so. However, once you get past this stage in your business, you can be sure to never return there again.
Solution
Once you get your chance, make sure you deliver to your clients in a manner they might have never seen before. Take your time to deliver exceptional customer service.
That way, your clients will write a good review & your quality service will surely spread in that industry. Ultimately, you become a competitor as well.
12. Hiring Employees
Hiring the right employees can prove a serious barrier when starting up a business.
The hiring process can be very demanding and stressful and can make you neglect other aspects of your business if you aren’t careful.
Hiring the wrong persons can really cause harm to your business. If your staff are not as productive as you predicted, it will eventually reflect in the form of reduced profits and slow time lag.
In fact, hiring incompetent employees can seriously affect your business in the long run.
Solution
You must review resumes, and complete the recruitment process in order to make sure you hire the right people. Ensure you are very thorough when you are hiring.
Also, make sure you let them know the payment plan and other employment benefits, including health insurance and any other bonuses available.
It is also important to organize an interview where you can negotiate shifts and also access the person’s problem-solving skills through proven test questions.
13. Deciding Your Location
I mentioned this earlier, the location where a business is situated, can either help the business grow or kill the business before it gets on its feet.
As an entrepreneur, it is advisable to predict changes in your environment and location so that you are not thrown off guard.
From policies, traffic attractions, and new developments, to your employees’ residences, there are a few things that you need to be aware of if you want your business to run at a higher capacity each day.
Solution
You must take your time to survey the location where you plan to set up your office.
The questions you must ask should determine whether your intended customer base will be able to access your business and where it will be located.
However, before you even begin to ask these questions, make sure you already know your intended customers. Do not, for instance, set up a swimming suit business in a place where you are sure there is neither a lake nor ocean.
14. Finding The Right Customers
Sometimes, having the right product that could add value to the lives of customers might not be enough to get you the right customers. Nobody will know about your business, except you go out there and advertise your services and products properly.
For your business to be known, you must reach out to your customer base, letting them know that you are available for jobs.
Solution
To do this, you could consider low-budget options first, especially if you do not have such a large capital. Some low-budget options include:
- Door-to-Door campaign
- Newspapers
- Radio Stations.
Television might also be a good option if you are opening a large business like a supermarket or shopping mall. However, this should only be considered if you have enough budget for it because TV commercials can be very expensive.
Many businesses also turn to lead-generation services to find new customers. For example, solar companies rely on providers of verified solar leads like Clean Energy Experts.
Similarly, you can find a lead-generation company that caters to your business’s specific niche. That way, you get leads with higher chances for conversion.
Of course, you’ll need to put in the work of nurturing these leads to convert them into paying customers.
15. Delegating Tasks
Due to inexperience, new entrepreneurs often make the mistake of messing things up when it comes to the delegation of tasks to their employees. You often do not know who to appoint, how to appoint, or even when to appoint and this could seriously affect the systematic operation of the business, leading to reduced or sluggish production in the form.
Solution
Once you have a hardworking team, the delegation of tasks becomes a whole lot easier. However, ensure you are specific about the guidelines for the tasks you want to be done.
Also, give specifics on the nature of the results you want, so there’s no miscommunication between you and your employees. This will also help you deal with unnecessary entrepreneurial stress.
16. Financial Planning
As an employee you were, you never had to worry about anything apart from doing your job, raising an invoice, and getting paid at the end of the month.
However, all that changes once you take the big step to become an employer.
Now you have to worry about the infrastructural development of your firm, employee salary, and company and personal expenses.
This is a huge responsibility especially if you are managing a business that is capital-intensive.
Solution
In order to curb a problem of cash flow, you must have money management skills to take adequate accounts of everything, from inventory to current debts.
Sometimes, debts could decrease the revenue of a company, however, if you are able to take records of supplier debts, then you can negotiate on the date of payment and work towards reaching this ultimatum.
Many companies fail to do this and fall victim to debt-reclamation companies like Moorcroft and end up paying more than they had to.
Also, ensure you check your inventory for overproduced goods to avoid excess production, which could be wasted.
Make provision for the salaries of your employees and other allowances before the month even starts. Do not allow your business to be taken by surprise financially.
17. Reduced Productivity
Productivity is the hardest thing to keep high. Whether you are referring to yourself, or your employees, it’s not unusual to go through a time when everyone is far less productive.
You often see it around the Christmas holidays, simply because everyone is so excited and going into shutdown mode.
But in some other situations, you might have noticed a pattern that this is happening all of the time. So the first fall in productivity that I want to touch on, is with yourself.
When you’re not feeling very productive, even you might struggle to get out of bed to go into the office.
When you’re in that inefficient zone, it’s easy for you to get distracted all day. This is because you have no will to do the work. But it’s understandable why business owners end up this way, especially when there’s not as much progress as expected.
Solution
What you need is something to get excited about. If you’re struggling for growth, you could start a new design project or a new service project.
Research your niche and what other businesses offer, and see if you’d be able to implement it in your business.
When you’re bringing in something new like this, it really does help you to focus on your business again.
Instead of coming into the office to do the same tasks every day, you’re focusing your mind on something new and exciting.
Hopefully, your new decision will help you to see the importance of business knowledge and help you to gain back your productivity.
18. Understanding Your Customers Needs
Now, this is a hard one that everyone seems to struggle to master. But knowing your customers should be at the top of your list of things to do.
With a better understanding of what they want, and what other businesses are giving them, you can slowly grow your business.
This is where you might be failing at the minute. You are probably focusing more on what you want for your business, rather than thinking about the customer demand and where that’s at.
Solution
So my top tip is for you to do some market research and send out surveys to your customers. Ask them simple questions they can answer, and then you act on their feedback and ideas.
At least, you will have some sort of baseline guide to follow, which should help grow your business.
You also need to think about the loyal customers that patronize you and make their experience as safe and secure as possible, and technology is the way forward with that.
You can use identity software, such as the KYC check, and it allows for real-time confirmation that the customer is who they say they are.
Data breaches are so common at the minute, with businesses being fined crazy for them. It’s a simple solution to a problem that many have.
But also simply get to know your customers face-to-face, or through a simple phone call.
It’s nice to make the experience more personalised by doing this. This also makes your customers feel valued.
You can also conduct a more in-depth form of data collection when doing your market research over the web.
This will help you gain more insight into consumer needs, preferences, and behaviour so you can tailor your marketing efforts to a maximum impact.
19. Marketing Errors
Marketing is a big part of your business, and you most likely don’t truly understand it. You will outsource to different businesses to get them to do the work for you, and often you won’t check the actual outcome of the campaign.
As long as you’re marketing, it must be going right, right? Well no, there are so many things that can go wrong with marketing.
If you’re just taking a back seat with yours, chances are you’re missing out on them. The biggest mistake that people make, is going through dodgy marketing businesses that are only there to make money.
So many run dangerous campaigns, from spreading spammy-looking links to private network blogs & running a TV advert with poor quality acting.
So many businesses run pointless and dangerous campaigns, simply because they’re outsourced.
Solution
Always take some time to understand the marketing technique that you’re using. Read up about it, and monitor the progress of the campaign. That’s better than just taking a backseat totally and allowing the company you’ve chosen to do it.
20. The Dreaded Money Management
Money management might have been a big grey area for you as a small business, but you’ll soon come to learn how to manage it and all of the different payments you have to make as a business.
But as the flow of cash increases, money management can become so much harder. This makes so many businesses struggle because their distribution of money just isn’t right.
Solution
The first thing you need to think about is what you’re putting your money back into. You need to be investing your money in order for it to grow.
Investing is something that pretty much all businesses get into, you just need to do a little research, and get to understand at least one technique. Examples are real estate, farming, mutual funds, oil & gas, import & exports, etc.
Conclusion
Managing a business is not an easy task. Owing to the statistics of small business problems, any entrepreneur who has decided to pursue his dream to start their own business is taking a very big risk.
Therefore, I have taken my time to bring you the most common problems businesses face and also a few tips on how to solve such problems. With these tips, you shouldn’t be scared to start something.
Once you get your business on its feet, you will surely begin to see the benefits of being self-employed. 😉
These are really great tips for new entrepreneurs and experienced business owners as well. It takes a lot of grit and resourcefulness to own your own business, as I can see you know. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Jen.
Delegating work is something that I have been struggling with due to lack of trust or may be confidence. It does have a negative impact as you are trying to do too much.
I have started to share some of the tasks and hopefully things will fall into place and I’ ll get better at this.
Thank you
That’s a good decision. You’re welcome.