Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Aspiring entrepreneurs have several different hurdles to overcome before they actually open the door for business. I totally understand that each person or business requires unique complex requirements to really get started. I’d like to discuss what hurdles other business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs experienced and how you or your company overcame them. I’d decided to start this topic in hopes that other aspiring entrepreneurs would rely on some positive and negative inputs about our experiences and how to mentally overcome the burdens of starting a business. I meet lots of people that ‘want’ to start a business but fail to follow through with it because they either get distracted or discouraged when they can’t overcome that hurdle, so lets help them out. What hurdle discourged you the most? What did you do to overcome it? What did you say to yourself to keep moving forward? What was the final result?

-------------------------

He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

I apologize, I did not read your topic before I wrote mine. It seems as though we are thinking the sane way. I also am having concerns with starting my business. I thought that once I got the ball rolling that things would settle down a bit (pertaining to out-of-pocket expenses). At times I get so vexed that I can barely concentrate on my list of tasks for a successful business. Is this what you`re talking about or am I way off base? 

Nice question, Todd.

One of the hurdles I faced in my business was the presence of larger, stronger, more established competition in my market that was already serving some of the same market I was after. My approach was two-fold. 1) carve out a niche that they were under-serving , 2) go after a population they weren`t serving at all.

Specifics will make it cleared. I run a company that sells memberships in new cruising sailboats. There are 2 strong competitors in my market that are traditional sailing clubs with hundreds of members and dozens of sailboats. They have captured a large majority of the existing market. But their boats are very old and in questionable repair, access to the boats isn`t guaranteed, and customer service leaves a bit to be desired. So I have a product that addresses those short-comings specifically. We have new boats in fantastic shape, we guarantee sailing time every month, and we are a high-touch business versus their volume business. We have successfully attracted a number of their members over the last 3 years who are looking for a better experience (and we charge a premium for it).

The challenges with this approach is that you have to break customers from the status quo -- they are used to doing it one way and it needs to be easy and worthwhile to change.

Second, we went after a market the competition wasn`t directly addressing. There are lots of people out there who want to own their own boat, but can`t quite swing it or don`t like sinking their money into a depreciating asset. There are also people who are considering buying a used boat, but are worried about the maintenance and things breaking. We offer a great alternative to both of these markets. Granted, the competition offers an alternative as well, but they aren`t "speaking" to this audience in their marketing. So we run campaigns to specifically connect with those prospects by advertising where they look and using the terminology they are looking for.

So, our solution focuses on product development and a clear marketing strategy. We have grown our business consistently over the last 3 years by attracting members from both markets. Hope this helps.

Doug

Great posts, DMLane don`t worry about it, and yeah that`s what I`m talking about. It`s important that we help these aspiring business owners stay focused and loose that drive because of some hurdle that might be hard to accomplish.

My wife and I had a unique one recently. Our salon is starting to take off, finally, and we currently have 6 employees. It sure feels great having a staff, but now we have 6 people looking at us for a living and the pressures on for us to meet those goals. No to mention make everyone happy and successful, that`s a lot of weight on our shoulders, especially with my wife being pregnant. Perhaps we care too much about our workers, but that`s part of our philosophy and work environment. Our solution to the problem was to explain that as much as we’re suppose to “provide” clients for our employees, it’s really there responsibility to market themselves, kind of like a realestate agent. Once we got that hammered down, I think the employees and the business were much more successful. Sometimes it’s not what the employer can do for the employee but more about what the employee can do for themselves. Having a self motivated employee can do wonders for your business. I do know that was a hard hurdle to overcome for both of us, our business and our employees but now that it’s over it’s really paid off.

 

-------------------------

He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

Thanks ToddF I don`t have a good enough start to hire a staff but I understand where you are coming from.

Yeah the only reason we have a staff is because that`s the nature of the business, otherwise I wouldn`t want any, it`s alot of added weight you must learn to deal with.

-------------------------

He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

hey, todd, i totally agree about the "staff" thing - WHAT A BURDEN!!!

-------------------------

Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

HAHAHAHA, hey now!

-------------------------

He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

 Rich, What business are you in?

i am part of the StartupNation team. my brother and i are co-founders and co-hosts of our syndicated StartupNation radio show.

and i was just ribbing todd, who also works here!


-------------------------

Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation