Starting a business is exciting, but it can also be daunting. Here are the top 10 challenges and practical ways to overcome them:
1. Finding the Right Idea – It’s not enough to just have a passion; you need a viable idea. Research the market and identify gaps where your skills or products can fill a need. It’s fair to say that Artificial Intelligence can support you a lot with this. Check out tools like Chat GPT, Claude or Perplexity. It can be an incredibly useful tool to help with brainstorming ideas.
2. Securing Funding – Money is often a roadblock. Explore all your options: government grants, business loans, or crowdfunding. The amount of capital you need as well as the type of business you’re entering are key factors. There’s a great video on YouTube supporting with this. You can check it out by typing ‘securing funding for a new business in the UK’ and its the top video in the search
3. Navigating Legal Requirements – From registering your company to understanding tax responsibilities, legalities can be a minefield. It’s essential to seek professional advice eventually, however you can get the basics down by carrying out your own research on search engines. You can also use AI to get through some of these obstacles (there will be an AI theme, here!)
4. Building a Strong Brand – Your brand is more than just a logo. It’s the story you tell, the values you represent, and how people perceive you. All great brands have a story. Afterall, the famous saying is ‘sell the sizzle, not the steak!’. Think about what your brand is today, what you want it to stand for, and how you can get it there. What mark do you want your business to leave on the earth? It can be a positive one, a negative one (hopefully not!) or, none at all.
5. Getting Online – Every business needs an online presence. That’s what we specialise in. Websites and social media are key. OPEX Local can support you here, ensuring your business is found easily by potential customers. We would recommend not skipping this step and investing time and energy in ensuring this is as strong as possible. Afterall, it’s your shop window that’s open 24/7.
6. Finding Customers – Marketing is essential for attracting clients but there’s also so many ways to go about this. You can spend nothing and achieve a lot, or spend thousands and achieve nothing! The strategy you take with your business depends on mainly your budget, the time you’ve got to invest and how creative you area. We’ll be sharing a dedicated feature on this as it’s such a huge topic, so watch this space.
7. Managing Finances – Keep your books in order from day one. Good financial habits will save you a lot of trouble later. The basics you need to have is recording everything. Every outgoing, every incoming both complete and planned. Failing to plan is planning to fail. This can be as basic or as complicated as you need it to be. From a simple spreadsheet to paid-for software like quick books or xerox. The solution will depend on your needs, your scale and your budget.
8. Scaling Your Business – Growing too fast can be as risky as not growing at all. Expand thoughtfully, ensuring you can meet new demand without frustrating or burning the existing client base you’ve already worked so hard to build
9. Maintaining Work-Life Balance – Starting a business takes a lot of time, but it’s important not to burn out. Set boundaries and make time for yourself.
10. Dealing with Failure – Not everything will go smoothly, and that’s okay. Learn from mistakes and keep moving forward. This is a lot easier to say (or write) than it is to actually do. You need to have top ‘bounceback-ability’. More and more this is a trait businesses look for and as the driver of the ship, you need to excel in this.
Starting a business is a journey full of learning but OPEX Local can help you with this, no matter where you are on your journey. Feel free to reach out to me today at [email protected]
