Small Business Problems, Issues, Challenges and Solutions

Small Business startups face major challenges of the current market recession, a tough break. The same is the scenario for marketing your product to an online business platform. Small Business owners are spending plenty of their resources wastefully in planning their marketing strategy, penetrating their niche market, building and re-engaging the larger customer group, and even mastering the advertising game. Hence, often, small businesses are failing to create the required trust and engagement to their potential buyers about their product or services. As a result, they lag behind the competition, lose their valuable brand royalty and investing, finance; putting all efforts in vain.

Some of the major Small Business problems or challenges with a startup are lack of credit, poor man-management, and little or no access to advanced technology. At the current economic seismic change, customers shift to unique and new marketplaces. Services rendered and solutions provided by Small Businesses to customers are continuously losing their appeal; no matter how profitable the deal being offered. It’s high time Small Business owners swept over the handicaps to their steady growth and figured out the most convenient solutions.

This article is an attempt dedicated to this crucial problem and consolidates Small Business Owners with feasible measures to be taken upfront and prevent desolation.

Table Of Content:

## Small Business Problems: Financial

Insufficient Capital or Cash Flow
Timing to Invest in Profitable Project
Slowing Down Sales Growth

## Small Business Problems: Market Competition

Failure to Cope Up with the Intense Competition
Failure to Market the Product
Limited or No Access to Historical Data
Government Contracts and Misdirected Incentives
Target Market Identification

## Small Business Problems: Personal Management

Having Too Much Overheads Problem
Wearing Too Many Hats
Ignore Expert Opinion
Ineffective or No Marketing Plan
Time Constraints
Reluctant to Change

## Human and Technical Resource Related Problems

Demotivated Employees
Inaccessibility to Data Source
Transition to Self-funded Organization
Unable to Hire Qualified People

## Solutions to Small Business Problems

Stick to Your Business Plan
Stay Ahead of the Curves
Recognize Your Best Weapon
Prevent Burnout by Prioritizing Financial Shield
Obtaining Repeat Business Customers
Staying Current
Increase Time Flexibility
Social Media Interaction
Pay Heed to Your Customer’s Requirement

Small Business Problems: Financial

Insufficient Capital or Cash Flow

Insufficient capital or cash flow creates barriers for small business startups to achieve their intended exposure. Online businesses often fail to occupy the advantage of full-fledged advertising and gain the highest brand exposure. Add to that, small business enterprises lack the proper training in cost-efficient practices in comparison to the large corporate bodies. “Start-up costs often exceed budget this is the hardest fact for them to accept. It often results in layoffs, price hikes, crises in overall benefits for the employees and their business owners.

On the contrary, occurrences such as clients stalling payments, escalating overheads, and outstanding bills from customers often lead them to “jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Timing to Invest in profitable Project

“Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one

coming.

– Richard Branson

Opportunities often backfire when small business owners spend a significant amount of money lavishly on unique business ideas without conducting detailed target market research. It seems counterintuitive but obvious, these practices are disastrous for their business. They draw too late, and might never get a shot at all. Before planning to utilize the opportunity, small business owners often fail to realize “whether this is the exact opportunity that I have been looking for.

Slowing Down Sales Growth

One of the most swelled Small Business problems faced specifically in the United States and Europe; is the current sluggish economy. It is difficult to get new customers and generate sales when business customers are continuously cutting their daily expenses. Online businesses at their startup phase often hold themselves back from an in-depth market survey with sample products, supplements before forming the final product to ultimate consumers.

Small Business Problems: Market Competition

Failure to Cope Up with the Intense Competition

Right from the beginning, almost all online business enterprises struggle to establish a brand within the most intense market competition. Adverse political and economic environment apart, the opportunity to grow is simply too narrow to survive with. This is by far the biggest market-related problem that results in online businesses getting extinct in the wilderness of diamonds in the rough jungle.

Failure to Market the Product

Small business problems can occur in advertising and marketing their product and services into different online media to capture the interest of their prospects and potential clients.

Limited or No Access to Historical Data

Limitation to access to proper research reports and data source is a small business problem that entrepreneurs have to deal with. Uncertainty continues as the major challenge confronting all businesses.

Government Contracts and Misdirected Incentives

Government bodies tend to play the patronizer’s role by implementing business-friendly amendments, acts, and incentives for small businesses. Unfortunately, that leads to the elephant in the room. Most of them don’t qualify. It’s hard, especially for smaller commercial enterprises, to build up credit and become finance worthy of securing business loans and lines of credit needed for steady growth.

Over the past few decades, small business enterprises all over the world have experienced some enormous strides in supporting small businesses. The biggest drawback the business owners often face is that, pursue the higher authority of decision-makers or secretarial bodies to make them realize the importance of pinpointing the best suit government incentives/grants to boost sustainable growth for small business enterprises and conglomerate common business goal.

Target Market Identification

At their startup position, it’s a common trend for online business owners putting concentration on SEO, social media campaigns, advertising, rather than establishing resource allocations efficiently and investing a significant amount on the experimental marketing campaign.

## Small Business Problems: Personal Management

Having Too Much Overheads Problem

Too much overhead is one of the greatest problems online businesses are facing to increase sales while keeping the same overhead. Failure to manage general and administrative (G&A), or overhead costs increases the operating expenses and intensively impacts the working capital as an outcome.

Wearing Too Many Hats

The single biggest challenge for business owners is notoriously wearing too many hats! Out of their risk-aversive traits and micro-managing habits, they tend to get themselves doomed with overwhelming multi-tasking 24/7. Business owners often act as the supervisor, accountant, marketing consultant and can’t hold themselves back from shouldering all the administrations at the same time.

Ignore Expert Opinion

Small Business owners are often reluctant to make capital of an expert opinion and ask for help from individuals specialized in different fields. In fact, a lawyer or CPA (Certified Personal Accountant) personnel would be the best person to get their business established and running. Small business entrepreneurs fail to realize the importance of working in cohesion with experts.

Ineffective or no Marketing Plan

Many small business owners spend too much time thinking, and too little to implement an effective marketing plan. Bruce Lee has something to say about this event,

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.??

Time Constraints

This challenge leads to poor Time Management for most of small business startups. Business entrepreneurs doomed with too much workload and schedule their calendar goofy in a manner, leading them to a position where it seems nearly impossible to make out time to prioritize tasks in their daily operation.

Reluctant to Change

Many small business entrepreneurs are reluctant to change. Innovation seems to be a frightening thing for them. Failure to adopt the culture of forward thinking leads them “get off on a tangent?? and come up short of advanced technology and modern business trends.

Human and Technical Resource Related Problems

Demotivated Employees

Dealing with demotivated employees is another vital issue for small business owners. Cases like no incentives, job insecurity, adverse job environment, even the job nature can cause employee demotivation. To rub the wound, demotivated employees lose their interest to achieve their set target and perform below par. This eventually leads them to leave their job without prior notice, leaving the business owner little or no time to recruit and train a replacement.

Inaccessibility to Data Source

Consumer Behavior not being researched is a frequent missing marketing ingredient too. Smart companies closely analyze their customer buying patterns to ensure they’re delivering to their customers precisely what they want. For small business owners, their ability to access data at the click of a mouse gives them many more advantages than those who started their businesses even just 20 years ago.

Transition to Self-funded Organization

Transferring technology from the inventors to commercial companies is a challenge for IT based concern. A required transition from a self-funded and bootstrapped, to being able to hire people and sell more products to earn desired revenue.

Unable to Hire Qualified People

The most bounteous problem small business owners are experiencing today is reluctancy in hiring skilled employees that can truly help your business grow. It’s hard to contend with larger commercial enterprises for the same talent when you possess such limited funds. The most successful businesses are those with high performing employees. The single impediment to high performance is the lack of accountability for results.

Solutions to Small Business Problems

When a problem is not “the problem???? If you can turn it into an opportunity. Here we perk up with the best possible solutions to deal with the challenges mentioned above.

To ensure the best yield, develop a business plan with a detailed budget, cash flow and break-even analysis and most importantly, stick to your business plan.

Stick to Your Business Plan

To establish rock solid accountability, key employees must have an objective and quantifiable goals. The proper implementation of your business plan defines the milestone you set to reach. Have a strategic plan that complies with your vision, goals, and comprehensive market analysis.

Consolidate with the ideas of Six Sigma for process improvement. Imagine building an unassailable fortress in a strategic game in contrast with building the business. It comprises of specific operative tasks, setting new milestones and achieving it in due course. Your business plan should cover an impregnable financial program, SWOT analysis to build out marketing strategy. The final step involves setting up your business.

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat,

determination, and hard work.??

–Colin Powell

To ensure the best yield, develop a business plan with a detailed budget, cash flow and break-even analysis and most importantly, stick to your business plan.

Stay Ahead of the Curves

Small businesses ought to minimize the problems associated with preparing for them in advance. Being proactive is the key. Move when you’re 80 percent ready. The remaining 20 percent is dysfunctional.

Identify your greatest strength, and focus on it. The most convenient path is to revisit current marketing plans; determine where course corrections can be made. Focus on what you can control instead of what can’t be controlled. Grab firmly on the pulse of your sector. Remember, more millionaires are created during political restlessness and economic uncertainty. Recession can be turned into a business opportunity, all you require is “find the loophole and capitalize on it.

Success and failure start and end in the same place – between the ears.

Recognize Your Best Weapon

Work hard to create employee satisfaction. Motivate your employees by every possible means (financial, psychological, personal actualization) the business world have recognized so far. Grow the feelings that they’re part of a triumph. They tend to be your go to person, arm their weapons, they’ll win the battle for you.

Prevent Burnout by Prioritizing Financial Shield

Avoid financial trouble by staying abreast of your finances. Make sure you’re aware of all of the financing options, the pros/cons of each and how to qualify, in short, back to square one. By the middle (15-20th at best) of the month, your statement of cash flow, balance sheet, and a P/L statement must be prepared. This enables you to attempt required adjustments and chase down your outstanding receivables.

The last person you’ll be direly in need of “a kick ass accountant, ASAP. Keeping books for day-to-day operating expenses, minimizing tax liability, sorting out the deficiency in a financial statement, and yes, ruthlessly cut back your overheads…, you can’t imagine the workload that your accountant buddy will remove from your chest. The end result…, you “call it a day. Now, the business owner can focus numerous other important tasks that require their sheer attention.

Obtaining Repeat Business Customers

Target your most profitable customers to maximize your returns. Create a system for keeping up with your returning customer, for eternity. It’s all about building a network that sustains the constant ebbs and flows of business.

Sometime it’s better to go to individual stores and get placements locally before trying to blend with the mass customer group and get the ball rolling from semi-corporate level.

Staying Current

Use software to manage your cash flow and keep the money rolling in. Using online invoices and reminders is also a powerful way to persuade reluctant clients. Project management tools as GanttChart or Trello take care of all your progress measurements, awesome for large project work, managing your whole team without much direct monitoring and track the most important task to get done upfront.

Increase Time Flexibility

Delegate, automate, and set aside time for yourself.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting

started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small

manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.??

–Mark Twain

Social Media Interaction

From the online business owner’s perspective, every social media platform is an opportunity to get in touch with their target audience. Increasing your social media traffic drives when you engage and build relationships on each network. These social media sites with their enormous range of users possess the advantage of motivating the readily available potential customers, brand loyalists for small business owners, lead them to their purchasing decision.

With the emergence of Social Media tools like HootSuite or Buffer life had never been easier to integrate your social network.

Pay Heed to Your Customer’s Requirement

The best way to do this is to really pay attention to what your customer is saying and asking for.

“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.

–Zig Ziglar