What are the biggest difficulties of starting your own business?

While I am not an entrepreneur, I have taken courses and read a lot of books and magazine articles and from what I can tell one of the biggest difficulties is raising start up money. Most entrepreneurs borrow money from family and friends as well as dip into their own savings to get the business started. In addition, they may take out a loan from their bank.

Odalis:

The biggest difficulties are having sufficient discipline and flexibility.

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  Do you have the planning discipline to fully research all of the requirements for your business to be successful (often, new entrepreneurs fail to determine all the permitting, business insurance or state/local regulations & taxes that will impact their business)? Proper planning prevents poor performance.

  
  


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  Do you have the financial discipline to skip $5 lattes, walk instead of drive, scrimp & save every way possible so that your money goes as far as possible?

  
  


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  Do you have the self discipline to work 80+ hour weeks, including holidays, even when your friends are headed to the park, a concert or the beach?

  
  


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  Are you flexible enough to listen to others and recognize better ideas when you hear them?

  
  

I encourage you to watch "Shark Tank" & "The Profit" to gain insight both about starting and about sustaining your business.

Good luck!
DRH

I am an entrepreneur just starting my 5th year in business. The biggest difficulties are 3 things:

1) You will not make money right away, so not only do you need to save up enough money to START your business, you also need enough money to pay all your bills and living expenses for a good 6-9 months so that you can focus on growing your business. I would not recommend borrowing money from friends or family, or trying to raise start-up money, or taking out a loan. You are your own economic engine once you jump off this cliff into entrepreneurship, and you are your own safety net. So build that safety net before you jump so you can focus energy on the important things.

2) You will hear from naysayers. People will tell you it's foolish and too difficult to succeed and to just go get a job like everyone else. Ignore the negativity, regardless of the source. It may be close friends or even family who think it's a dumb idea. Let them think what they want and keep on trucking. Drown out the negative chatter with your success. Start surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and your dream and who are your cheerleaders. Only take advice from people in situations you want to emulate. They will be the ones to celebrate with you when the time comes. People who encourage you to not pursue your dreams have given up on theirs. Their opinions are irrelevant.

3) The relentless pursuit of success. Some days it's easy; some days it's incredibly difficult. Hang in there. Keep faith in yourself. Write down ALL your goals and review them daily or rewrite them daily. Read books like crazy; the more you read, the more you learn. Schedule that reading time on your calendar every day. Mentally prepare the best you can for the feast and the famine roller coaster. It's mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting with all the ups and downs, but if you know to expect all that, it can seem more manageable. Talk to other entrepreneurs regularly to exchange ideas....this is one of the most beneficial things I have done. I talk to a fellow entrepreneur an hour every Friday and we give each other advice on each other's (very different) businesses.

Good luck. Remember: every great business and brand you know today started as one person's idea. Go make yours great, Odalis!

Hundreds of businesses are started each day across the globe. They range in size from a few dollars of revenue to giant sums of money. For the entrepreneur, starting out it can be very challenging or if one has the appropriate backing and experience, very easy. Some of the elements to consider are listed below, not all, but a sampling of questions you might want to begin with:

Do you have the self-discipline, drive and dedication to your venture? Good ideas are a “dime a dozen”, translating those ideas into goods and services (and making a profit) is not for the easily discouraged. While success is particularly satisfying as an entrepreneur, the amount of time, effort and difficulty will not be minimal. Do you have the personal communication skills, sales ability and technical knowledge necessary to market and sell your product or service?

Do I have the financial backing to embark on your venture? If you’re living at home and are receiving food, clothing and shelter, insurance, transportation and a space for your venture, that’s great. If you are missing any of these resources, it will be necessary to provide them while you are starting your business. You’ll need to fund these expenses just to get started….for a significant amount of time. That said, people have started businesses on a “shoestring” but it is VERY difficult to do and will add to the already high stress involved with a startup.

Do you have the core competencies to start the business? That is, the analytical skills, financial tools, marketing strategy etc. It helps to list the resources you need, the resources you have and the gap between the two. Filling in the gaps with resources will be an important part of your business planning.
Have you defined what your business will be, who are your likely customers and why they are likely to purchase your product or services? Have you explored other companies in the same field? How would you differentiate your business from theirs?

Once you have some of these questions answered, you’ll be ready to begin a formal business plan, developing all the details of your concept/marketing/your execution/ launch plans.

I started my business many years ago by identifying a need for a specific product which was not available through normal sources. I found a manufacturer, funded development and production then started selling to my original customer. I was later able to sell the same product to other customers. We typically try not to compete head to head, but specialize in products that are not currently produced and are needed to replace obsolete technology and/or which have smaller quantities not suitable for mass production.

Good Luck