Top 21 Concerns of Small Business Owners
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This is the first article in a series about the biggest concerns that small business owners have. This article outlines, in no particular order, these concerns, with brief details. An article on each topic will follow soon, in more detail and with potential solutions. Finally, each concern will be re-visited with input from actual small business owners. Here are the 21 Biggest Concerns of Small Business Owners in 2023: |
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Cashflow Management
Small business owners face a wide range of challenges and concerns, including managing cash flow, which can lead to financial instability and even bankruptcy. Although cash flow management can be a real stressor for some business owners, experts say that to keep your cash flow healthy, watch it, carefully; pay close attention to it. It may seem obvious, but it’s important to make it easy for customers to convey money from their wallet to yours – make it easy for them to pay you, and to want to pay you. Some businesses charge extra for late payments, and a more novel, and potentially beneficial practice, is to offer discounts for early payment. Also, start the billing cycle immediately, and use an appropriate accounting software app with built-in follow-up billing communications. Financial management: Small business owners may struggle with managing their finances effectively, including tracking income and expenses, paying taxes, and managing debt. Marketing and advertising: Effective marketing and advertising are essential for attracting new customers and promoting a small business, but many small business owners may lack the expertise or resources to develop effective marketing strategies. Managing Growth When a business grows, there are naturally challenges. When a business grows during a time when supply-chain issues impact the entire planet, the challenges are less predictable, more dynamic, and more worrisome. Small business owners often plan to cause growth, and in recent years they have evolved their practices to learned to manage controlled growth, often retarding organic growth. Regulatory Compliance Dealing with regulatory compliance involves understanding laws and new laws, among other concerns. In an environment of seemingly ad hoc pandemic-rooted regulations – which define whether your business is open, how far apart your employees must stand, if they’re at allow legally allowed to show up to work, what the employees wear, and how far apart your customers must be from other humans, the task of keeping up with compliance changes can seem overwhelming. To boot, some regulations from one level of government seem to contradict regulations from different levels of government. Many companies already had compliance officers; their job descriptions likely changed over the past three years. Many other companies either hired compliance officers or subcontracted this work to specialty companies. Access to Capital
Staffing
Technology and Innovation
Personal Well-Being Running a small business can be stressful and time-consuming, and small business owners may struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance and take care of their personal well-being.
Making Money It’s no surprise that over half of all small business owners worry about making money with their products or services. It’s important not only to do appropriate market research, but also to know and understand the various tactics of advertising. It’s also important to understand the financial statements that you can generate with the software that you undoubtedly pay to use, and also to understand each item on it and how each item affects, and is affected by, each other item. Handling and Minimizing Taxes Small business owners must deal with more than just income taxes; the complexity and choices include concepts such as depreciation – and those tax rates are often different for each category of both personal and real property, and for each kind of service offered. Helpful sources include: Tax-specific newsletter subscriptions, setting frequent appointments with your local IRS office, identifying and retaining experienced and competent tax advisors, bookkeepers, and accountants. Consider putting important tax calculating and tax filing deadlines on your calendar. Juggling Responsibilities Small business owners could have trouble sleeping at night because of all the obligations they have as a small business owner, to employees, customers, suppliers, and the community. Every small business owner has a lot of tasks to balance, such as hiring and firing staff, managing funds, receiving and shipping goods in a timely manner, advertising and marketing, changing regulations, innovation, and reputation. Economy The economy can have a big impact on how well a small business does. Also, small businesses are frequently the ones who suffer the most during recessions and downturns in the economy. 31% of business owners' concerns are understandable. You as a small business owner are unable to predict the economy's trajectory in full. Competing
If you're like other business owners, your rivals are probably never far from your thoughts. You could ask yourself, "How can I keep up with my competition; How can we stand apart from other companies?” Discover what sets you apart from your rivals and fully embrace it if you want to stand out.Keep an eye on your competitors to learn what pricing structures, marketing tactics, and clientele they are employing. Competing If you're like other business owners, your rivals are probably never far from your thoughts. You could ask yourself, "How can I keep up with my competition; How can we stand apart from other companies?” Discover what sets you apart from your rivals and fully embrace it if you want to stand out. Keep an eye on your competitors to learn what pricing structures, marketing tactics, and clientele they are employing. Surviving
Surviving is a primary concern, especially after the lockdowns, delivery infrastructure hangups, and societal change in employee values. Now is a great time to review, and potentially amend, alter, enhance, thin, and tweak your business plan – and have a set of professional eyes do the same for you. It’s equally important to re-think high-ticket expenses. Record keeping is extremely important now, especially if you have, or plan to, take advantage of various government programs such as PPP and ERTC. Also, ask other businesses and professionals what they’re doing now, and how they might be doing things differently. Transitioning from Brick to Byte
Getting from solely brick-and-mortar to highly, or at least partly, digital, is a necessary transition – like it or not. Small businesses lack in-person networking events that allow them to expand their brand reach to the local target market. Some businesses have completely, by necessity or by choice, transitioned into an all-digital business model. Lack of In-Person Interactions As the pandemic gloomed over the world, in-person business nearly ceased. In the aftermath, up-close human contact lagged, and is still lagging. Small businesses which relied on networking events are struggling. Grand-openings and kickoffs are scarce. Now may be a great time to re-kindle in-person events, as medicine better understands the appropriate treatment for the pandemic-causing virus and its disease. Putting an emphasis on outdoor activities is en vogue. Transitioning from phone, p-mail, and e-mail to social and “live” video, e-meetings, and webinars has become standard, so embracing this new culture is essential. Increased Shipping and Production Costs
Especially for companies that offer free shipping, the increased cost of fuel has created an exceptionally difficult hardship. For companies who offer free returns shipping, the problem has been compounded as many events were cancelled due to the pandemic and many items were shipped back at the seller’s expense. For many trucking companies, this has brought attention to a fuel additive that can boost their fuel economy by as much as 20%; The product of choice for many of these companies is called Trucker Crumbs, and they are manufactured, only in the United States. Creativity
Many businesses are currently struggling with the creativity of their business model and their employees. This is especially difficult for companies who deal directly with creativity bound issues, such as marketing and advertising. Back in the day, pre-pandemic, creativity changed each day with human occurrences each day. Since the lockdowns, people haven't interacted as much so there is less creativity in the real world. On the other hand, people are online more so the need for creativity is vitally important as people online tend to be more creative with their posts, thoughts, and language usage.Also, many companies are finding a different cult to attract and retain highly qualified creative individuals, whether it be work from home or in their own brick and mortar buildings. Leaving a Legacy
Many business owners anticipate leaving something behind when they are no longer interested in or no longer able to operate their businesses. With the volatility of markets and various logistics as a result of the pandemic, added to the issues which were created directly by the lockdowns during the pandemic, many business owners don't have much of a legacy to leave. However, many businesses had the forethought to have various insurance products to creatively prepare for unexpected events. Many times, if a business owner was incapacitated by health issues, such as those created by the recent virus, an insurance policy would provide funding so that particular owners and key managerial figures could be replaced and at least partially funded by an insurance policy. There are several other creative uses of insurance policies, although many of them are uncommon due to the lack of knowledge about them and the expense which drives them. |
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