Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you. Please read our disclosure for more info.
Last Updated on April 26, 2023 by Work In My Pajamas
More and more often, individuals are starting new businesses, and many of them have the same questions. Some of the challenges faced by small business are common to all business owners. Others are industry or process-specific problems that can only be solved on a case-by-case basis. What is true for all new businesses, however, is that these problems must be solved in order for their enterprise to become self-sufficient and to grow to match its founders’ vision.
In This Post:
1. Attention
Far more important than anything else in today’s business climate is the level of attention and visibility a company receives. Obscurity deprives a new company of everything it needs to grow. As exhausting as it can be, it is absolutely vital that any new business set aside as much time and as many resources as possible to obtain a growing level of visibility and attention. To do otherwise is to practically guarantee failure.
2. Retention
Customers are a hard-won and valuable resource. Keeping them once they are present is in a lot of ways more important than attention and visibility. If you can’t keep your customers, you’ll never be able to count on repeat business. That kind of model will likely increase your costs far beyond what you can sustain. This is an area where expert advice from companies like Smoking Gun Media can help. Their consulting is designed to help small and mid-sized businesses sustain growth through highly efficient planning and practice.
3. Delegation
If your business does even half the things it needs to do right, chances are you’ll see revenue growth and progress by the second year, at which point you will need help. Now with all the technology on your side it might seem like you can do it all on your own, but human beings function much better when they are part of a team. You will need to build that team for yourself if you plan to succeed beyond being just a one-man band.
Starting and running a business is both one of the most rewarding things you can do and one of the most difficult and challenging things you can attempt. It requires total dedication and more work than you probably think you can handle. But if you are patient and do what is necessary to succeed, you will find your efforts well rewarded. The key is to make sure your business is visible, retains the customers it attracts and is managed well enough to maintain the momentum you build over time.
