Small Business Problems 101 – How to Turn Small Business PROBLEMS Into SMALL Business Problems
Starting a business can be one of the most rewarding things you ever do, but it is also incredibly hard and stressful. If you think that with enough hard work and perseverance everything will go smoothly you’ll soon learn that this not always the case. Every small business has problems to deal with – which they need to overcome to keep their business running – but what separates those who make it through from those who fail is how they deal with these problems as they arise.
The first step in turning your small business problems into SMALL business problems starts before the problem even arises! For example, predicting possible pitfalls and planning for them enables you to plan for ways around potential issues before they cause major damage. Here are some common issues and how you can plan for them.
First, you need to be prepared for your business’s growth. As soon as your business starts growing – which is pretty much inevitable unless you start off running a single-man operation – it will find itself having to deal with problems that small companies never do. Most of these issues are not insurmountable and can easily be overcome if you have your bases covered, but they can still cause their fair share of stress and extra work that needs doing. This includes things like preparing the company for changes in management structure if someone goes on maternity/paternity leave or takes an extended vacation; thinking about how best to retrain employees so none fall behind when key people take time out; or even simple things like designing new company uniforms if things are going well enough to warrant it.
Planning is also a good idea before your business goes into a new industry or starts selling a new product. Some businesses that expand into different markets don’t do the necessary research beforehand and find themselves in trouble as soon as they start competing with more established companies in those markets. Similarly, if you’re looking to invest in some new technology for your business, make sure you have enough funds put aside to cover any unforeseen costs of installation or training employees how to use it! Even seemingly simple issues like this can snowball out of control quickly and destroy all the hard work you’ve been putting in so far.
Other problems you should be anticipating include staff recruitment; even early on, you should start thinking about how you’re going to attract and retain the employees you need. If you’re starting out with just yourself then this won’t be an issue for a while yet but it’s still something worth planning now rather than later – if nothing else, having some idea of what kind of staff member/s you want will make recruiting them much easier when the time comes. This might mean offering training programs for new hires or even investing in professional development courses to give your existing workforce more skills to work with.
Also think about accounting problems that may arise down the line once your business starts generating money that needs recording! Even small companies can end up with complicated accounting rules which are incredibly important to follow – including things like making sure you record all incoming and outgoing money, the delayed payment scheme if your business starts using them and even things like recording expenses as they happen. There are a lot of little details to take care of but they’re worth it in the end; if you keep on top of them now, then it’ll be much easier when you find yourself unable to sleep at night wondering how to track down that mysterious $20,000 expense account!
Finally, think about issues as soon as they arise. If one employee is giving you trouble or your website goes offline for an hour due to some hardware issue, don’t panic! Figure out what went wrong – was there a power cut at the data center? Did someone trip over the cord? Was it a software issue? – and then use this experience to make sure the same problem doesn’t reoccur in future. Having some idea of what went wrong will help you fix or avoid similar problems before they become catastrophes, not to mention that giving your employees feedback on their performance is a very good way of helping them improve!
Remember, there’s no perfect system for managing any growing business but planning ahead can reduce the amount of stress your company experiences. If you plan for potential problems now, it’ll be much easier when they happen than if you leave everything until they do – plus, thinking about these things before they actually come up means you’ve already got the answer ready so there’s less chance of making simple mistakes!
Good work! This was a very informative article. I learned a lot about how to avoid simple mistakes with my own business accounts. Good job, author!
Planning is also a good idea before your business goes into a new industry or starts selling a new product. Some businesses that expand into different markets don’t do the necessary research beforehand and find themselves in trouble as soon as they start competing with more established companies in those markets.
Also think about accounting problems that may arise down the line once your business starts generating money that needs recording! Even small companies can end up with complicated accounting rules which are incredibly important to follow – including things like making sure you record all incoming and outgoing money, the delayed payment scheme if your business starts using them and even things like recording expenses as they happen. There are a lot of little details to take care of but they’re worth it in the end; if you keep on top of them now, then it’ll be much easier when you find yourself unable to sleep at night wondering how to track down that mysterious $20,000 expense account!
Starting a business can be one of the most rewarding things you ever do, but it is also incredibly hard and stressful. If you think that with enough hard work and perseverance everything will go smoothly you’ll soon learn that this not always the case. Every small business has problems to deal with – which…