We mostly hear about entrepreneurs after they’ve hit it big. But even the most successful ones probably faced at least a few obstacles along the way.
“Nobody says being an entrepreneur is easy,” Kevin Daum writes in this Entrepreneur article. “Most people become entrepreneurs due to overwhelming compulsion. They have no other choice but to follow their passion and vision. But passion and vision will only get you so far. The journey is long and challenging for most people with many twists and turns along the way.”
Hiring the right employees
Daum lists several challenges, such as identifying your optimal customer and making sure you’ve got a compelling value proposition.
“You need to figure out who is the customer that will change their current behavior in order to purchase your offering in a way that you can extract profit,” according to the Entrepreneur article.
Finding good employees can difficult, as evidenced by entrepreneurs who gave advice in this Inc. article.
“With an improved job market and shortage of skilled high-tech professionals, it has become increasingly difficult to attract and retain high-performing talent. Building a good collaborative corporate culture, publicly rewarding good performance, and making the work environment more comfortable are some of the things that help attract new talent and retain existing talent,” Adrian Nazari, founder and CEO of CreditSesame.com told Inc.
Once you’ve got the vision and talent, it’s time to lead
“You’ve started this monster, now lead it to greatness,” Daum writes. “You need to have a good sense of self and find ways to be humble and motivational. Don’t assume you were born with the skills to command the ship. Do your homework and get some training.”
Raising capital for growth can be very challenging
“As an entrepreneur, you should be prepared to show that you are growing fast and/or have completely figured out your business model before entering the later stage rounds. Otherwise, you will have a difficult time raising capital when you need it most. The market has certainly shifted to lower risk,” Nazari told Inc.
Obstacles are inevitable, and so are mistakes
But the lessons learned can propel your business to success. Jon Henshaw, co-founder and chief product officer at Raven Tools, describes in the Inc. article how painful business decision ended up strengthening the business in the long-term.
“One of the biggest challenges we ever faced at Raven Tools was in the first half of 2013,” Henshaw writes. “We had to make a business decision that would conceivably lose a third of our business, but would position us well in the market long-term. After making the decision, it ended up being much worse than we had predicted. We lost half of our customers in a matter of months.”
He writes that in the long run, the decision put the company in better shape.
“Sometimes you have to accept, embrace, and persevere through adversity in order to become something much greater than you were before.”
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: What Obstacles Must Entrepreneurs Overcome?
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