Overcome Small Business Challenges.

Small businesses create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. Small businesses are a very important part of the American economy.

As a small business owner, what do you think are the biggest issues affecting small business today and why? Here are some of them:

Marketing

Getting the word out about your business is crucial to its success. Marketing is the biggest challenge small businesses face in 2017. Technology has made it easier than ever to test and bring a product to market, but it is difficult to cut through the noise on social media and other marketing channels and differentiate your business and brand. I have always emphasised on the importance of having a good website for your company. A poorly designed website can repulse people from your business and can cause you to lose customers before you even have them. On the other hand, a good website can play a crucial role in marketing your product.

Small business people are curtailed far more by the myriad web of marketing speak and information overload, than by any logical impediment to business. The biggest hurdles small businesses face today are not technological or budgetary in nature. Technology has advanced to to a new level and most small businesses need to adopt new services and platform.

Budget and Manpower

Unlike large corporations, a small business might not have enough people to delegate every task as many small business owners don’t have the budget to hire more employees. This makes it one of the biggest obstacles affecting small business today – the number of workers compared to the amount of time. The employees are then forced to work more hours than it’s healthy to, negatively impacting the quality of the work. It’s not just a matter of hiring the right people — leadership must provide all of their team members the opportunity and resources to make meaningful contributions in order to realize success. I personally believe the biggest barrier to success for any small business rests with how well employees are setup for personal success.

Community Relations and Networking

Forging meaningful relationships within the community remains a real issue. Establishing trust, building relationships and hence increasing your bottom line is the key to professional growth. A good businessman grows his business through interpersonal skills. The more you know someone on a deeper level, the greater influence you will have on them. I am not saying that other factors are not important; I am just trying to bring the attention to those days when businesses used to be based on value addition and value delivery! Small business owners are fiercely independent, as we feel like we have to solve all of our own problems. Initially we think the problems we have are somehow unique when, in reality, everyone goes through the same growing pains. Hence, building a community to approach for help with downsizing or profit projection is a good way to connect with other business owners.

Recruiting

The ability to recruit top tier talent is the biggest obstacle affecting the growth potential for small business today. In an economy where so many people are looking for full time employment or a better job, you would think it should not be it hard to find staff, however, the irony is that a small business oftentimes cannot compete on salary and benefits with larger organizations or well-funded venture-backed start-ups, when a worker has the skills needed to fill the position. Keeping employees vested and skilled is a simple yet powerful formula for growth. So, the best way to tackle this obstacle is to recruit those who are passionate about the business and then have each new recruit go through an ongoing employee development and skills training program.

Every time you’re hiring, the way you go about it changes and nobody’s entirely sure why. Feedback on candidates gets misplaced, the questions that get asked at interviews are lost, resumes are shared in different ways. Far too many of us are hiring with inefficient tools, no recruiting strategies and the nagging feeling that we are losing precious time doing unproductive work. The good news is that there is a better way. Contact HyperEffects to chart out a tailor-made tool for your hiring process to be more swift, organised and easy.