We weathered some storms in 2023, but buckle up because 2024 won’t start with smooth sailing. I’ve been doing research on the challenges Small Business owners are likely to face this year. I considered data from top sources like the U.S. Chamber, Forbes, and Inc. and combined it with the information I’ve been getting from having a listening tear to the entrepreneurial streets. The goal is to surf the waves rather than be crushed by them. The great thing is I’ve been supporting small businesses with these issues with articles since 2017. I went through my catalog of value and we’ve already talked about the solution to some of these problems with timeless and actionable information.
Economic & Financial Challenges. The problem here is not just the inflation that brought higher costs of goods and increased interest rates. The hit is much broader in impact. Small businesses are having cash flow issues, lack of capital, strangled access to credit, and supply chain disruptions on top of declining profits. Add to these issues the fact that a lot of small business owners are as good with their business financial management as they are with their personal financial management -not good at all.
Strategies from past articles:
- Revenue vs. Profit Making the Money
- 5 Ways To Quick Start Profitability In Your Small Business
- The True Cost of Service-based Business
- Unleashing Profit Within Your First 6-Figures
- Revenue Strategies For Hard Economic Times
- How To Get More Revenue Without High-Ticket
- The Problem With Your Pricing
- Where To Find Money To Grow Your Business
- Non-monetary Currencies You Can Spend For Business Growth
Support To Open Capacity. The labor marketing is iffy right now with hiring and keeping good team members. As a small business, to relieve this pain the first wave of solutions should be tech. Both tech & team free up time and add value that can open your capacity to make more money. Go back to your client journey, fill as many holes with tech as possible and only THEN do you try to fill the gaps with team members. It’s not time to expand or scale further yet, most small businesses could use more support to at least open their capacity to go get the money already waiting on them.
Strategies from past articles:
- Small Business And The Digital Divide
- S.E.O. – Saving Entrepreneurs Online
- Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) For Small Business
- ChatGPT for Small Business
- You Need A Thinker On Your Team
- The V.A. Advantage: Effective Use Of A Virtual Assistant
- My Top 4 Tips For Managing Teams
Ineffective Marketing. From knowing who to talk to, where to talk to them, and what to say to start the relationships that lead to the payoff, marketing is a struggle for a huge amount of small business owners. Not enough time is taken to push would-be buyers into awareness and then through the stages for like, know, and trust. Without the relationships built by marketing there are few sales… and few sales is the exact reality of too many small businesses.
Strategies from past articles:
- Not Your Granddaddy’s Content
- Content Is The Elbow Grease Of Marketing
- Is Blogging Still Relevant?
- Standing Out In A Saturated Market
- Marketing Words
- Resources For Crafting Money Making Messaging
- How To Market When Social Media Isn’t Working For You
- Relationship Gold In Business Marketing
- The Networking Strategies I Use for Large Events
- Creating Influence: The Blueprint
Low Sales. Speaking of few sales, some small businesses create a lot of content but don’t ask for the sale. Still others ask for the sale with no path set-up to the sale and no plan of sales that can lead to forecasting of revenue. Once you’re inviting the right people to engage in conversations of value and information of value, then they are primed to pay you for the solution to their problems. Then your job is simple: give them what they need to make a buying decision.
Strategies from past articles:
- What Hair, Vision, and Drive Taught Me About Thriving In My Business
- Secrets To Selling Every Day Without Feeling Weird
- Creating A Marketing Runway
- Psychology Of Sales: What & How?
Got challenges? I got answers. Let’s talk. It’s FREE. ShaCannon.info/talk