Contributor Anna Johansson discusses challenges many startups don’t see coming when launching a new business in the article, “5 Challenges Nobody Warns You About When Starting a Business,” featured on Entrepreneur’s website.
“When you start a business, you know there are going to be risks. You know you won’t have a steady stream of revenue (at least for a while); you know you’ll be sacrificing potential development in your previous career path; and you know there’s a relatively high risk that your business is eventually going to fail,” writes Johansson in the article. “But if you’ve ever been in business, you know the challenges you’re prepared for are rarely the ones that ruin you.”
In the article, Johansson lists five little-known challenges faced by new businesses:
- Unexpected expenses. Even if you have vigilantly calculated all your expected expenses, including the cost of raw materials, the estimated equipment rental costs and potential labor expenses, it only takes one inconsistency to compromise your budget. Your equipment could have an issue that sparks extra expenses or labor estimates could be off. Any unexpected expenses can hurt profit margins, so it is important to be prepared for this ahead of time.
- Logistic consistency. “When you first start out, almost everything will exist in a state of flux. You won’t have the time, capacity or even the experience to draft out detailed guides on how to perform every job in the company,” explains Johansson in the article. “As a result, your workers are going to do their best — but your logistic processes are going to vary.” Aim for consistency when starting your business and try to consolidate your processes and business practices.
- Being taken advantage of. When running a business, people will most likely try to take advantage of you. For instance, a customer could use your return policy against you if you offer e-commerce on your website; always be cautious of possible fraudulent activity or actions.
- Motivation. Make sure to always remain motivated when starting a new business. A new launch will require a lot of investment, financially, physically and emotionally. The hard work and long hours required will impact everyone involved, including your employees. As the owner, you must make sure to remain motivated to get the job done right.
- Loneliness. With starting a new business comes bouts of loneliness. Long nights and days will most likely be ahead, and this can impact your personal life. The stress, lack of sleep and isolation can definitely be challenging, but you have to keep moving forward as the leader to ensure your startup starts off in the right direction.
Read the entire article about the hurdles many new businesses are unprepared for here.
