7 Common Obstacles That Entrepreneurs Struggle With In Their Businesses

Kim George

Over the last few weeks, I have been running a survey to get a better understanding of what entrepreneurs are struggling with these days.

The results – which came in thanks to responses from fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners via Google Plus, Twitter and my current subscribers were different– yet one common issue seemed to crop up the most: Administrative tasks and duties.

Here are the results from the survey:

Challenges Entrepreneurs Struggle With In Business

1. Administrative Duties
   
2. Email
   
3. Management of Staff
   
4. Answering calls and checking voicemail
   
5. Invoicing and Bookeeping
   
6. Branding
   
7. Marketing

A Few Tips For Overcoming Some Of These Obstacles

I’m putting together a list of some of the solutions and resources that may be used to overcome these challenges:

Tip 1: Delegate these responsibilities. I am a huge proponent of delegating responsibilities to virtual assistants to save money and free up some time to work on other important things.

• Places to find virtual staff
  
  
  
  • oDesk.com
    
  • Elance.com
    
  • Fiverr.com

• Tips for successfully outsourcing projects
  
  
  
  • Read reviews on candidate profiles before hiring
    
  • Assign trial tasks before committing to bigger projects
    
  • Set a budget for the work

Tip 2: Use online invoicing and cloud based to simplify this process. One of my favorite and free online invoicing apps is Invoiceable. Freshbooks is an additional alternative that is one of the top cloud based applications that you can use to bill your clients.

Why do I use these applications? For the following reasons:

• You can create and send invoices anywhere and anytime using a computer or mobile device that has an Internet connection.
  
• You can easily manage and track all of your invoices and payments via one convenient dashboard.
  
• You can setup recurring payments to go out to your clients on a monthly, quarterly or even annual basis.

Tip 3: Consider investing in a “hosted or virtual office phone system.” Virtual office phone solutions are low cost Internet based phone systems that you can manage online with just a few clicks. If you are having issues with keeping up with voicemails, and phone calls here are a few reasons that you may want to consider using this resource in your business:

• You and your team will have the freedom and flexibility to answer calls in the office, while on the go and even while working remotely.
  
• Check your voicemails, receive faxes via your email from mobile devices.
  
• If you work independently, you can use the “auto-attendant” feature to route calls to a virtual administrator of your choice—who can things for you.

Tip 4: Leverage the Internet for branding and marketing

Branding doesn’t have to cost a fortune. If you are working with a small budget, one of the best ways to build your brand is online. Here are a few things that you can do to jump start your branding efforts:

• Start blogging – blogging is an easy way to build brand recognition and spread the word about your business. Guest blogging on larger publications is an additional way to get your brand in front of larger audiences.
  
• Invest in professional branding materials: Logo design, a great tagline and slogan, and a professional website.
  
• Use social media platforms to further build your brand, get your business in front of more people and most importantly engage with peers in your industry.

These are just a few tips for overcoming some of the obstacles and challenges mentioned in this post. I would love for you to share some of the things that you are doing in your business to work around these problems. Cheers!

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