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The Challenges of Starting a Small Business
Starting a business can present numerous but not insurmountable challenges. Becoming knowledgeable through research, learning to heed the advice of successful entrepreneurs, and becoming proactive in all operations will assist small business owners in facing these challenges.
Here are some of the main challenges entrepreneurs face and strategies to effectively deal with them.
- Developing an idea and vision. As Benjamin Franklin once so aptly put it, you must possess the ability to see what others cannot see. Developing a business idea and plan is the first and most important challenge faced by every entrepreneur.
- Raising capital for startup. To overcome the omnipresent challenge of raising capital, you must develop the ability to sell your idea to investors. Note, however, that convincing an investor about something that does not yet exist presents a challenge within itself. You must be persuasive and have a good story backed by a fortified business plan if you wish to attract investors and capitalists.
- Putting together a strong business team. By team, I do not mean employees; I mean a business management team that will meet routinely to brainstorm and discuss the direction of the business, long and short-term goals, and different strategies to expand it. A business team is a vital, yet largely ignored key to raising capital and getting your business on its feet.
- Finding the right employees. Finding ambitious, trustworthy and loyal employees is extremely difficult. Even if you do find individuals who meet your expectations, if they work poorly as a team, it is in vain and will yield nothing but stagnation. Remember, employees are a reflection of your business its values, culture, and ethic. Hire slow and fire fast.
- Overcoming competition. From an outsiders perspective, competition encourages innovation and production of quality products; it’s a benchmark of creativity. Adopting this view, you should embrace competition and use it to stimulate your creative juices, so to speak.
- Unpredictable business challenges and expenses. As the old saying goes, expect the unexpected. If not handled promptly and with care, these can potentially lead to business failure. Some challenges include:
- Lawsuits
- Inability to make payroll
- Unexpected resignation of staff
- Bad customers
- Poor working capital
- Oscillating government policy
- Unpaid bills/taxes
- Keeping up with trends and changes in the industry. Trends can make or break a business. Seasoned entrepreneurs are aware that trends are friends and they swiftly work to adapt to the latest trends in the market. Spotting and then exploiting trends presents a unique challenge business owner must master, and the most successful businesses are the first to twist trends and steer them to their own benefits. Be an industry leader; don’t follow in others footsteps.
The above are several but not all challenges every small business owner must face as they begin their journey as an entrepreneur. Overcoming these challenges is quite literally the difference between success and failure.
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
10 Years Later: A Look at How 911 Changed the Economy
The tragedy of September 11, 2001 was so sudden and devastating that it may be challenging at this point in time to write dispassionately and objectively about its effects on the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, its important to briefly analyze the effects 9/11 had on the economy. The historic attacks on the World Trade Center were the most appalling and debilitating in American history; 2,974 people killed and 24 were still missing as of 2009.
The economic impact of 9/11 sent America into a frenzy, especially after discovering losses of $40 billion in insurance, $14 billion in the private sector, $1.5 billion in state and local government enterprises, $0.7 billion in the US federal government, and $11 billion in the rescue and clean up operations following the attacks.
However, one should not assume that the terrorist attacks hold a direct correlation with the recession America continues to struggle with today. Contrary to popular belief, the recession officially began in the third quarter of 2000, approximately one year before the attacks. America actually embarked on growth during the fourth quarter of 2001, when the anthrax scare arose. This is not to argue that there were no significant economic ramifications from the attacks. Unsurprisingly, the airline and tourism industry suffered major blows following the 9/11 attacks and business confidence was drastically reduced.
Office space is expensive, so people are looking for solutions, like virtual offices, to help fight the added costs. This led to a rise in work-at-home jobs, as people preferred the comfort of their own home to offices and use virtual offices for there remote access thus saving their time and money.
In the end, though, the nation became closer and more unified, and if Americans remember that strength comes through unity, it can get through any crisis and come out on top.
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
Six Personality Traits Every Small-Business Owner Should Have
Every small business is different. A large scale study was conducted by the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute in which over 1100 different companies with 9-29 employees participated. The study revealed that there were six key traits that defined the personality of the successful business owners.
Think you’ve got what it takes:
- Collaborative : The Guardian study found that knowing how to collaborate was the single most important trait for someone running a business with less than 100 employees.
- Curious: Most outstanding managers in this study were constantly searching on internet to find way how to improve their business, retain their employees and upgrade their products.
- Future Focused: Taking keen interest on what’s coming up is a crucial trait for a successful small business owner.
- Self-Fulfilled: Successful small business owners are the kind of people who prefer being in full control of their own destiny. They value the freedom to make their own choices.
- Tech-Savy: Most of great small business owners in this study were convinced that technology helped make their business more efficient.
- Action Oriented: The top performers in this study were highly motivated. Adversity motivated them to work harder irrespective of the state of the economy.
Read Ben Popper’s article to know more about these key traits of successful small business owners. Visit: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217837
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
Time Management: Keep Your Eye on the Prize
To accomplish more in less time it is important to follow five P’s of Productivity.
There are many books available on Time Management and many new titles are being published. With lot of information easily accessible, why do people struggle to manage their lives? The concept of Time Management seems to be quite simple. Allocate 24 hours to completion of needs, tasks, projects and responsibilities.
Time Management Coach Stacey K. Vulakh explains how to focus on the end result instead of trying to monitor the minutes and control every factor. He emphasizes on incorporating “5 P’s of Productivity” in your life to get the best results and enhance your productivity. These are:
- Keep your eyes on the Prize: You need to identify why Time Management is important to you and define the intended goal or prize.
- Manage your priorities: Defining your priorities should be your primary or main concern. Narrow the priority list to three or four and focus on those.
- Plan, plan, plan: People will be far more successful if they implement an element of planning into their life. One\’s success level will improve dramatically with some sort of a planning process.
- Identify Partnerships: Partnerships can take on many forms, so be creative.
- Practice: It takes 21 days for a new thought or activity to stick.
Read the article to know more about this important topic. Visit:http://www.womenentrepreneur.com/2011/01/time-management-start-with-the-end-result.html
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
The One-Paragraph Start-Up Plan
During the earliest stages of starting a business, you should avoid writing lengthy plans. Instead of following lengthy traditional business plan, opt for a realistic, practical tool: a one-paragraph startup plan. It is possible to write everything there is to know about your brilliant business idea in one paragraph. A traditional business planning teaches ‘brainstorm-write-brainstorm-write-revise-revise-execute’; the goal of one-paragraph plan is to have you ‘brainstorm-write-execute-revise-execute’. There are fundamental differences between these two approaches. The traditional route would have you finalize your entire strategy based on a hypothesis without testing or validation. The one-paragraph startup plan is designed to test your hypothesis through daily experimentation. It also serves as a fluid action strategy that grows along with your startup.
Scott Gerber suggests using following five steps to write a practical business plan to launch a new company quickly.
- Answer key questions about your business.
- Write checklist
- Execute your plan
- Revise your draft plan, and
- Continue to update your plan
Break each sentence in your start-up plan into five immediately executable steps — statements you can convert into reality. Each step should move your business forward in some way.
To know more about writing effective one-paragraph business start-up plan, read the article; visit: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217696
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
The Four Keys to Raising Capital
Raising Capital to grow your business or invest in property has become harder. The key to raising capital is a person’s ability to sell. Selling is a crucial skill for any entrepreneur. The main question you come across while planning to raise capital is ‘What are you selling’ or ‘What is the lender or investor looking for’.
According to Kim Kiyosaki, the key to raising money, whether it’s to start or expand your business mainly depends on four factors:
- The Project
- The Partners
- The Financing
- The Management
If you can show a prospective lender or investor that you have command over these four key factors, then selling will not be an issue, and you will attract more money than you thought possible.
It’s important to know the overall “want” of a lender or investor. Every investor is mainly interested to know whether he/she is going to get healthy return on his/her investment. That’s the overall want of an investor. The same criterion applies to every lender or investor whether it is a traditional bank or a lending institution or an individual.
To know how to address these key points clearly and confidently, read Kim Kiyosaki’s article, visit: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217347
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
Four Steps to Make Advertising More Effective
Testing and measuring the results of your advertising and marketing efforts can increase your profit and enable you to identify what works and what doesn’t. Brad Sugars suggests useful steps to help you make the most of your advertising efforts:
Follow the TOC formula: Target, Offer and Copy are the three elements that build the foundation of a strong advertisement. If you know your target market, your advertisement should be placed where your potential customers will see it. First thing you need to do is figure out your target market to determine the viability of your business. If there is no market, your business is not viable. Include a specific offer when writing your headline. You can search online to find out how online marketers do it. Your headline should prompt your potential customers to call you. Start with test adverts which could be in the form of classified, small space or online advertisements via Google. Such a test is an easy and inexpensive way to evaluate whether your product or service is offered to the target customers.
If you are targeting the right market with a decent offer and a clear call to action, you should generate some response. Examine what you can do to boost the response, modify your adverts and retest it. If your adverts don’t generate any response, just scrap them and move on. Once you find something that works you can expand. If it is a small classified advert, try a bigger display advertisement.
To know more about how to make ads more effective, read the article: Visit:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217794
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
Start a Service Business
Each one of us has skills, knowledge and experience and anyone can turn these assets into a lively and profitable business. Anyone with these assets can start a service business. Other people are willing to pay for these specific skills in the form of a service. Anyone with a need or desire to earn extra money can sell a service, regardless of age, education or experience.
The biggest advantage of starting your own service business is you become your own boss and take full control of your future. Self-employment gives you freedom and independence which is difficult to achieve when you work for someone else. You get an opportunity to earn much more money than what you earn when working for others. You can hire employees to increase revenues. You have liberty to open new branches of your business and offer services to new customers. You can’t do these things when you work for others and if you do, it is more likely to benefit your boss than working in your favor.
You can cover-up the areas where you lack some business skills like time management, accounting or effective advertisement. You can learn and master these skills by practice and experience. Any skill that you possess can be your best marketable asset. Do you know how to safely walk a dog? Are you capable of planning and throwing a party? Can you sell products and services on line? People are willing to pay you for these skills.
To have more knowledge about starting a service business, read James Stephenson’s article: Visit:http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessideas/article80686.html
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
Are You a Great Leader or a Competent Manager?
The difference between the two lies in the ability to inspire your team, especially during difficult times. “Leader” and “Manager” are not one and same. A Leader is one who influences people to produce desired results whereas a Manager is a person who merely directs a team. Leadership also requires the ability to create an enjoyable work place. Most businesses face the challenge of proper management training. During an economic downswing, training programs are often the first to be eliminated to cut costs. In fact, it’s the wrong choice and reflects lack of foresightedness and vision. Most managers who have successfully undergone management training are likely to stay with their employer longer. The effectiveness of company leaders from the CEO and down is a crucial indicator for a company’s success. Business owners may face difficult times but they should remember employees are the most critical part of any business and true leaders can weather the storm by motivating their team to stay with them in difficult times. Want to know more about some of the core traits of a true leader? Read the article; Visit: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217494
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +
The Importance of Schedules and How to Keep Them
As a business entrepreneur – particularly when starting a new venture – you need to adjust ways of working and maintain schedules that work best for you. If you are an entrepreneur, balancing various tasks – an office, a home and a family – you might end up making an unplanned commitment with your scheduled tasks. Some proven ways to make schedules work for you are:
- Block off certain times of the day for completing parts of any large task.
- If your business requires meeting clients – pick one or two days of the week to fix a client meeting schedule and focus only on clients appointments.
- Consider mixing other important family tasks with your office work schedule (a school pick-up or drop-off, doctor visit or a grocery pick-up etc).
- You may have a relation building day if someone wants to schedule a lunch or coffee.
- If you write articles or blogs choose most relaxing or quiet times for your writing activities.
Stick to one task/project on a particular day.
Sometimes you may need to plan your work schedule around someone else’s schedule. Planning work schedules and keeping them can certainly help you complete different projects smoothly. Get more information on this topic, visit:http://www.womenentrepreneur.com/2010/12/when-you-need-to-avoid-going-insane-the-importance-of-schedules.html
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading nationwide provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. A virtual office includes an address at a prestigious business location in the US, live virtual receptionist, courier services and more. Google +