Starting your own company can be hugely rewarding. The level of contentment that comes from having flexible hours, being your own boss and doing what you love may be second to none.

However, building your own business from the ground up can be exciting and overwhelming in equal measure. Many challenges could arise from inexperience and the absence of a safety net associated with being an employee or receiving a regular paycheck.

This is not to scare you, but to give you a better understanding of the challenges you might face and how to handle them. In doing so, you may not only be well-prepared to encounter potential problems, but also give your start-up the best chance of success.

  1. Finding Customers

Customers are an integral part of a company’s business model and winning their trust is one of the biggest challenges companies face today. Understanding the market needs for your product/service is a crucial element of your company start-up plan. Without enough people willing to buy your product/service, your business is unlikely to succeed, no matter how great your idea may be.

How To Overcome This

You can spend time conducting market research to collect information about potential customers. This could reveal your target market’s size and help you decide if there’s enough demand for your business idea.

Getting the word out at the idea stage could also allow you to connect with potential customers, gather feedback and pre-sell your product.

  1. Handling Competition

The corporate world can be fierce and competition can be viewed as a plague, especially among startups. This is because it often keeps them on their toes and there is rarely a margin of error available. While some established companies may welcome new faces to the market, others may try to eliminate you before you set up shop.

How To Overcome This

New companies need to learn to play aggressively and punch above their weight to gain the recognition required among their clusters of ever-challenging and expanding businesses. They need to view competition as an opportunity to benchmark creativity and stimulate innovation, rather than a threat.

  1. Dealing With Doubts

Most entrepreneurs go through phases where they lack self-confidence and feel like quitting. Questions such as how long the company is likely to exist? If it will be profitable and whether you can give yourself a steady paycheck may linger on your mind. Dealing with self-doubt may be one of the hardest parts of emerging as a new entrepreneur.

How To Overcome This

While this can be a devastating setback for entrepreneurs, it’s important to remind yourself of how far you’ve come and celebrate little wins. It’s pivotal to have a quality support system behind you in order to keep these concerns and fears at bay. You can also seek out the help of mentors or fellow entrepreneurs who may offer advice and show you ways to overcome the hurdles during this phase. You can also register your company with Uniwide formations to build trust among clients, and employees, and to fully market your company everywhere.

  1. Securing Funding

According to Forbes, all first-time entrepreneurs should brace themselves for investment shortages. Between finding a space, paying for utilities and equipment and having money to pay salaries, start-up costs can quickly escalate. Although this challenge facing many start-up companies may seem obvious, you cannot underestimate it.

How To Overcome This

You can start by researching the type of funding open to you, and then proceed to gather the information needed to share with your potential investors.

There are several ways you can raise capital for your start-up. A great way is by trading shares to investors who become stockholders through the sale of stock or issuance of bonds. These exchanges can be carried out through electronic trading platforms. The internet has several free stock trading apps to consider, with functions designed to automate the trading system.

  1. Hiring a Team

The old saying “good help is hard to find” is still relevant today, especially if you’ve never run or managed a team before. Picking the right team for your start-up can be stressful, difficult and time-consuming. In spite of the intense pressure that involves sifting through piles of resumes within a limited amount of time, having a great team can increase your chances of success.

How To Overcome This

Hiring the right employees is a science that is yet to be mastered by many. However, thanks to the availability of recruiting software, this process doesn’t have to be a headache anymore. These applications can speed up the recruitment process while increasing your hire quality.

Once you have a team, it is prudent to encourage open and clear communication. This ensures that you can understand and resolve any conflict that may arise amicably.

  1. Managing Online Security Threats

Along with digitization comes numerous security challenges to companies. That said, surviving online threats requires start-ups to be super agile. Hackers are everywhere, and they can take advantage of a loophole within the systems installed in your new firm.

How To Overcome This

Start-ups need to have robust and military-grade systems from somewhere like this company offering cyber security services to businesses in place to safeguard their online data. A Virtual Private Network connection (VPN) can protect the company’s information and employee records by offering the required encryption and data security. By doing this, you can restrict unauthorized access to organizational data over the web.

  1. Implementing the Right Marketing Strategy

If you’re unaware of the best way to market your company, It’s easy to get caught up in the latest marketing trends. As a result, you could end up spending more on marketing techniques that could cost you more than your sales generate.

How To Overcome This

As a new business entity, you need to aim towards maximizing your ROI with effective and targeted marketing. The first step is to create a marketing plan as well as a budget. Low-cost or free marketing strategies are suitable for start-ups operating on a small budget.

It’s also a great idea to outsource the marketing department to a third party who has adequate expertise if your company can afford to do so.

Final Take

At the end of the day, the success of your new company could highly depend on how you maneuver the unexpected curveballs. Most first-time entrepreneurs face these challenges all the time. However, the solutions provided here can help you navigate the uncharted waters of establishing a new company. Start-ups need to work aggressively in overcoming their initial challenges if they’re to attain the height of sustainable progress they desire.

Author

Northern girl Laura is the epitome of a true entrepreneur. Laura’s spirit for adventure and passion for people blaze through House of Coco. She founded House of Coco in 2014 and has grown it in to an internationally recognised brand whilst having a lot of fun along the way. Travel is in her DNA and she is a true visionary and a global citizen.

Comments are closed.