Internet connectivity has opened new doors for people to work from home. What was once just a fanciful thought is now a reality. However, not everyone is satisfied with working from home. Some people have it in their natures to do adventurous tasks. They are ready to face the risks and overcome the hardships that stand between them and the realization of their dreams. These individuals are entrepreneurs. They are passionate, daring, and full of energy to do something special. However, not everyone who wishes to be an entrepreneur becomes one. If you think you have the spirit of becoming one, here are some of the biggest challenges that almost every entrepreneur faces, and you will too.The Biggest Challenges in the Path of Entrepreneurship
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A Journey Out of the Comfort Zone
When you aspire to be an entrepreneur, you will have to live outside your comfort zone almost all the time. It is in the definition of being an entrepreneur to take risks. You might not have the resources to achieve your aim but that does not stop you from moving forward. You have to believe in your idea and dedicate your energies, time, and money to make your idea a reality. It is easier said than done. If you are an entrepreneur and you have only enough money to buy either your lunch or a component that completes the device you have been working on, you will buy the component.
In many cases, you will have to do extra jobs to save enough money to follow your dreams. As an entrepreneur, your enthusiasm is undying and your character is like a wall of lead.
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An Idea That Solves a Problem
It is not uncommon to see people trying to become entrepreneurs based on ideas that don’t have any potential in them. You must come up with a solution to a problem. Sometimes, your idea seems unique but when you look closely, it does not create a problem. If your concept is not solving people’s problems, it will not sell. And when you have come up with something that people need, they will buy it even if your product seems unfinished and unrefined to you.
Therefore, do not put all your money behind a product or idea that seems unique to you. Uniqueness is not enough in the business world. When people go out shopping, they are looking for products and services. They are looking forward to finding a solution to their problem. Make sure your product does that.
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A Product That’s Just a Product
Quite a few entrepreneurs have found themselves in this situation. You come up with a unique idea, you work on it, create a prototype, and next thing you know, you are standing in front of the investors. However, you can’t impress investors with ideas that are just unique. Investors look at your creations from many different angles. Even if they like a product, they will ask you a lot of questions. One of the concerns that most investors have is the scope of your idea. Sometimes, you have an amazing product, but it is just a product. At times, your product is great and it has the potential to turn you into a brand as well.
Investors are looking for business opportunities and onetime products are not very attractive for them. For this reason, you want to come up with an idea that can turn you into a brand. If all you have is a product, it should be good enough to sell like hot cakes.
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Market Research
A lot of startup owners overlook this important factor. Market research is integral for any business’ success. What you might not realize is that even a great product will not sell if you don’t sell it to the right people. Market research is a crucial part of your business strategy. You have to know your exact target market to make your product a hit.
You will have to conduct surveys on the ground and online to know the people who will be most interested in your product. Secondly, you have to know where your target audience usually likes to hang out. For example, if your target audience is teenagers and those under the age of 30, you have to target them through social networking websites. However, the same strategy will not be as effective if your target audience is people aged 60 and above.
Last but not least, you have to know the buying power of your customers so you can price your product accurately.
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Pricing the Product
Pricing your product can be quite a difficult matter unless you have advisors and marketers by your side. You have to consider a lot of factors to price your product precisely. The first thing that needs your attention is the cost you have incurred while creating your product. When you are new in the market, you only want to cover the costs with your price.
After discovering that people have accepted your product/service, you can start making some profit on your sales too. Lastly, when you have established yourself as a brand for a particular product, you can charge for your value as well. Take the example of a lawyer who can charge less or more based on the value he/she brings.
An analysis of your competitors’ products and their prices can also give you a good idea of what the price of your product should be.
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Delivering the Sales Pitch
If the development of your product requires a lot of money, you will be spending some time presenting your product to the investors. In most cases, you will be standing before venture capitalists. These guys will scrutinize each and everything about you and your product. Sometimes, they might like your product a lot but not invest in it because of you. They will tell it to your face that they don’t like your pitch or perhaps you before turning down your request for an investment.
The power of your sales pitch can convince even the toughest investors. However, a weak sales pitch, on the other hand, can put off even the interested ones. To conclude it all, you should hire a proper sales person to be with you if you are not confident about your pitch and sales skills.
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Having the Right Team
Do you think having a team means having a lot of people to share the burden of running your business with you? That’s far from truth. Many entrepreneurs make this mistake when they are creating a team. They have a few tasks that they think someone else can do better than them. In fact, they are just hiring people to work for their company. The real hiring process starts when you already have an established company, albeit small. However, in the beginning, you have to be very careful about picking your team.
The first rule for having someone with you is vision sharing. People you choose for working with you must share your vision. Keep in mind that the initial years are the toughest years for any businessperson in the world. If you have hired workers, they will work for compensation, salary, and bonuses. On the other hand, when you hire people who share your vision, they will stay with you during the toughest times because they are not with you only to make money. They are with you to make a dream come true.
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Choosing the Right Funding Options
Funding is the blood of a business. Even if the business you have started does not require a lot of capital, you will need a lot of money when it comes to expansion and growth. However, the people and institution you choose for lending you the needed money matters a lot here. You have quite a few options to choose from. First and the easiest source of a business fund is your family and relatives. These people might not even ask back for their money. However, the biggest problem with this type of funding is its limit. Your family can only forward you so much loan amount unless they are some rich people of the city.
Going to the bank can be a huge problem too. In most cases, you can expect a rejection of your loan approval because banks don’t like to forward loans to small businesses. Sometimes, they want a credit history before they can forward you the loan. But how will you present a credit history when your business is only a few months old?
However, you must not ignore the other options you have available today like crowdfunding. Today, crowdfunding platforms are much more benefitting than venture capitalist funding for startups. You don’t have to offer a lot of equity in this model. In fact, if you can get some likeminded people to support you through their investments, you don’t have to offer them any share. A few samples of the product, first production units, discounted price etc. are some perks you can offer you investors.
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Task and Responsibility Delegation
In quite a few cases, the owners of the startups do not have the confidence to delegate tasks and important responsibilities. What happens is that the owner has worked on his/her project for so many years, they start treating it like their baby literally. The idea of letting someone else manage things in their business does not please them. More precisely, they don’t think anyone else would understand the seriousness and intricacies of their business like them.
This way of thinking keeps many entrepreneurs from delegating responsibilities when they should. The success of your business does not lie in you managing everything. Instead, it lies in the right people managing them the right way. When you have a team, you can focus on other important things. In fact, you should be busy looking for ways to expand your business while leaving the internal tasks to someone else. When you act like a one many army, things start to falter. Not to mention, people don’t like to stay in places where their growth gets blocked by an owner’s mindset.
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Social Media Marketing
Your social media marketing strategy can make or break you today. Social media has become the platform that most new businesses use for reputation management, brand visibility and brand positioning. Today’s businesses are using social networks to build a relationship of trust with their target markets. Take the example of blockchain projects in the past couple of years. Most of these projects were successful because of their strong social media marketing strategy.
Similarly, projects that had potential but no social media visibility had to fight people’s skepticism. When your team is not actively present on social media, people think of you as a scam. As harsh and straightforward as it may sound, that’s the reality today. You must stay in touch with your prospects to win their trust.
In addition to having a strong social media presence, you also have to do something for the damage control. At times, small mistakes and blunders can result in huge uproar from the public. In the initial stages, you don’t want to get involved in any controversial topics and give your opinions on them. Focus on your business, announce your progress frequently, let people know the rewards for their contributions and investments, and give them a clear roadmap of where your project is going in the coming times.
Concluding Thoughts
This list sums up the biggest challenges you will have to face as an entrepreneur. Yes, there are other things as well. However, as so it happens, these challenges are common for everyone who wants to be an entrepreneur. You have to show a true entrepreneur personality to be what you have dreamed of. It is how you overcome these challenges that prove the real entrepreneur in you. Don’t let these challenges scare you away from the thought of having your business. Instead, let them be the fuel that turns your spark of becoming something into a full-blown fire.