Starting a new business is exciting and challenging. You’ve probably read all the articles that give you advice and tell you how to make a success of your venture. But, you’ve probably read very few that tell you about some of the disadvantages of starting your own business. Building a business from scratch can be wonderful, but it can also be highly stressful. In fact, there are many small businesses that fail within the first year because owners had an unrealistic view of how things would go. So, before you get started, make sure you’re prepared for the following.
Sleepless Nights
During the first few months of starting your business, you’ll probably find you have a few sleepless nights. It may be because you’re awake working, making sure you can fulfil orders with only one pair of hands or working on making your website look professional. If you’re smart and you’ve scheduled your work, having a clear cut off time so you can unwind and rest, you’re still likely to have sleepless nights. Even when you’re in bed, ready to sleep, you’ll be going through your to-do list and too full of adrenaline to rest well. Be prepared to function as a zombie!
Customer Complaints
As you’re perfecting your business, you’re bound to make mistakes. You may try as hard as possible to make your customers happy, going above and beyond what you would consider fair. But, you’ll still get the odd few who are less than satisfied. The best way to deal with this is to create a complaints procedure early on. Take a look at the Peninsula group complaints procedure as an example. You’ll still get customers who will call your business out in front of others and this may leave you disheartened, but rest assured that it happens to everyone.
Advertising Won’t Save You
Many entrepreneurs have been under the illusion that the more advertising you do, the more business you’ll get. It seems like common sense but it won’t work. You have to be clever and creative with your advertising. If you advertise to 500 people on Facebook, you may only get 3 sales out of it. You have to make sure those 500 people are specifically targeted, not just random people. Businesses are much better off using capital to perfect their business products and services so they’re able to offer something at a high standard. Your business needs to be able to speak for itself before you throw money away on advertising.
Your Competitor May Play Dirty
Just because you’re a nice, honest and respectable person, it doesn’t mean everyone else is. There aren’t many businesses that can avoid the challenge of competition, and you may find out early that businesses are willing to steal ideas from others if they become popular enough. So, no matter how innovative you try to be, you’ll always have someone keeping an eye on what you’re doing. Make sure you return the favour.
