Lee Fondiller Shares Eight of the Biggest Hurdles of Starting Your Own Business

Many people dream of starting their own business. Starting a business is attractive because it can lead to high profits and a secure financial future. Many would-be business owners also relish the idea of becoming their boss.

While starting a new business is an exciting endeavor, it is not always the easiest task. Lee Fondiller, a business expert from Eldersburg, MD, shares the many hurdles you will need to face to start a successful business.

1. Quitting Your Day Job

While it may be possible to keep your day job for a short time while you are starting your company, eventually, it will not work out, and you will need to say goodbye to your old job. This can be a difficult decision. In your old job, you had a steady income and some prospects for advancement.

When you transfer your energies to a new business, you will be solely responsible for your success. It can also be difficult to give up health insurance and any other benefits that came with your old job.

2. Obtaining Financing

Even experienced entrepreneurs find it challenging to get financing for a new business. New entrepreneurs are at somewhat of a disadvantage. They do not have a large pool of cash that came from selling their old business, and they do not have an extensive professional network to find potential funding sources and contacts.

Banks are hesitant to lend to new businesses, even when they have solid business plans. You may find that you have better luck self-funding your business or asking friends and family for small loans.

3. Building a Team

If you have never managed a team before, it isn't easy to put one together. For a startup, you will need to make sure that your potential employees have impeccable work ethics, highly developed professional skills, and a shared dedication to your company's mission. Hiring friends to work for your startup may backfire because they may not have as many professional skills and may believe that you will not be tough on them if they don’t measure up.

4. Having a Vision

A strong and well-defined vision is one of the top characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. You need to have a constant stream of new ideas, and you need to be able to respond to challenges like competition and unfavorable conditions. When your team runs into a problem, it will be your responsibility to get them through it.

As an entrepreneur, you will need to have a wellspring of creativity that can be drawn upon at short notice. It can be intimidating to use this creativity on a short-term basis, but you should feel confident in your abilities if you want to succeed.

5. Enforcing the Rules

Eventually, you will have to deal with a problem caused by an employee. To be viewed as an authority figure, you should learn to handle any employee disputes and other difficulties firmly and fairly.

6. Making Decisions

New entrepreneurs often face decision fatigue. This comes into play when they need to make hundreds of decisions each day, covering huge decisions that impact the company's direction to relatively minor ones. It can be exhausting to make decisions continually. As an entrepreneur, you may be willing to hand over the responsibility to someone else. You will have to hang onto the responsibility of making all decisions until your business is on a well-established footing. At that point, you can delegate the responsibility for making some decisions to your employees.

7. Marketing

Every business owner needs to have a handle on how best to market their products or services. There are so many crucial considerations when starting a new business that marketing may become an afterthought. Keep in mind that without marketing, no one will know about your company. Ensure that your company website, advertisements, and social media presence are constantly kept fresh and accurate.

8. Self-Doubt

Self-doubt can be pernicious for entrepreneurs. Lee Fondiller believes that it can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, where a lack of confidence leads to poor decisions being made and causing the business to suffer.

You will need to believe in yourself and your abilities if you want your business to succeed. Surround yourself with positive people, and make sure that you try to look at the best aspects of every situation. If you allow self-doubt to take over your way of thinking, it is highly unlikely that your business will succeed.

The Right Attitude is Everything

Lee Fondiller reminds prospective business owners that they need to practice positive thinking while at the same time watching out for potential pitfalls. If you are well-prepared for the challenges of running a business on your own, it is far more likely that your business will take off and provide you and your employees with a comfortable living.

Be prepared for lean years initially and put most of your profits back into the business. When you begin to see some rewards from your startup business, you will understand how surmounting these hurdles has shaped your new company.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes