Challenges involved in starting a business are many, varied and hard to grasp. Like a bar of wet soap, any startup challenge will slide away as soon as we think it’s under control. Entrepreneurs thinking of starting a business need courage, tenacity and a good slice of luck if the idea is to show even signs of a lift off. The challenges will just keep coming and nobody will want to help.
Starting a business is easy, just like giving up smoking. I’ve done both hundreds of times 
And that illustrates the real problem. The starting is easy but getting over the challenges is much harder.
Here’s a list of the challenges we’ve experienced. There will be many others, but these are the ones everybody will face very early in the todo list.
Business Proposition
What will the business do, who will buy it, and how much will they pay for it?
That sounds pretty easy, until we add the word “unique”. Setting ourselves up in perfect competition with a bunch of others is a recipe for disaster. There’s always competition but when our proposition is unique identifying the right prospects and closing sales gets a lot easier.
Challenge 1 – come up with an idea which is unique in several dimensions and be able to explain it in just a couple of sentences.
Marketing
How will potential customers find out about our proposition? How will they understand the unique features and benefits? How much will creating that awareness cost?
Challenge 2 – find a way of getting heard above the noise created by all the other people selling stuff and not going bust in the process.
Cash
Starting a business needn’t be expensive, but it doesn’t come free. There’s a cash cost which builds until sales reach break even point, and beyond. The lifeblood of every business is cash and lack of it causes more startup failures than anything else.
Challenge 3 – find a way of starting a business within the constraints of money we have available, and are prepared to lose. Then build a strategy and execution plan to make the startup operate that way.
Organization
How will we organize our resources to find, win and satisfy customers with the maximum efficiency? Big businesses can cope with bureaucracy, inefficiencies and confusion but those are all overheads the startup can do without. We need the simplest, and cheapest processes and systems possible, so the business runs on rails and we can put all our attention into customers.
Challenge 4 – design a way for the business to operate in a predictable process, with the ability to plan for success, act on the plan and then regularly review performance – improving plans which don’t work.
Any brave soul starting a business will need lots of luck, especially today when customers are only interested in saving money and competition for their dollars has never been greater.
Figuring out these 4 challenges ahead of time will save the entrepreneur time, money and sanity down the road.
Management consultants call the process Planning for Success – best of luck.
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