Skip to content

Key Challenges That Every Entrepreneur Faces In Their First Year Of Business (And How To Solve Them)

BY Rebecca | 30 December, 2014 | no comments

Having an entrepreneurial spirit does not always mean that  you have what it takes to run a business. The best of us know that it takes more than merely wanting to succeed to get by in this competitive market. When people first opt to start a business, they make a lot of mistakes. It is how they deal with these challenges that determines whether they will make it. When you are running an enterprise, you are walking a fine tightrope. If you make one wrong step, you will find yourself plummeting to the ground.

Self-doubt

One of the first challenges that you will face is self-doubt. You may have rushed in and started a business, yet now, you suddenly feel as though you want to give up. The important thing to do here is to realize that everybody has doubts. That is what makes us human. Nobody expects you to be a superhero or tackle everything alone. Doubt is what keeps people modest, and so you can use it to your advantage. When you question yourself and your methods, it means that you reevaluate your business. Use your doubt in a constructive way. Rather than panicking and thinking that you can’t cope, try to think about ways you can improve.

 

1

Image via Flickr

Creating a professional workplace

If you have never had a job before, you might struggle to create a professional business environment. You might think that you want this young, hip workplace, where people play on the Xbox in their break, and everybody is best friends. You don’t want that in reality. Instead, you want an environment in which people are comfortable, but where they can also work. If you fail to create boundaries from the start, your staff will see you as a mate, rather than an employer.

Learning to respect people

You demand a level of respect from your employees and clients, but you need to give them the same courtesy. You may think that starting a business makes you better than your peers. That arrogance will get you nowhere, though, and could lead to your ultimate downfall. Instead, you need to treat everybody around you with a high level of compassion and respect. You get much more in this world by treating people well than you do by treating people as though they are beneath you. Treat everybody around you with the same respect that you demand, and you will always win.

Managing finances

Finances are a tricky area of business, which many people find confusing. If you are not lucky enough to have a mathematical brain, you might find that accounting and finance are minefields. Rather than attempting to manage everything yourself, you need to get expert help. If you cannot afford to pay an accountant, there are many money manager apps and programs that might help you. The important thing is that you don’t panic in this situation. When people panic, they find it difficult to complete even the most simple of tasks. Instead, approach this challenge as you would any other. Think about possible solutions and move forward.

Finding a work-life balance

When you first start a company, you need to work extremely hard to get it off the ground. Entrepreneurship is not about working nine to five every day, and then resting. You will doubtless need to put in more hours than you expect to survive. If you work too much overtime, though, you could find that you burn out. Recent research shows that people who work too hard often suffer from depression in the long run. If that happens to you, you will struggle to cope with your business. You need to give yourself time every day to relax. You might not want to at the time, but it could save your mental health and your business.

 

Discussion

There are no comments on this entry.

Add a Comment

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.