What are the CHALLENGES faced by START-UPS & HOW to OVERCOME them????

hi hi..

I had witnessed TWO businesses died this year, both being in operations for only for SIX months..

I will like to seek opinions from the community on what CHALLENGES are the new START-UPS facing & HOW to OVERCOME them..

Perhaps, we can learn something together..

First of all,i classified it into 2 aspect.Psychology,and Technique.

For psychology ,i say they does not have enough passion, and perseverance.

For Technique ,I see them perhaps does not model after successful business model,so on.

First of all i believe success comes from 80% if Why,20% is how,so the technique in actual fact only is the 20% of the reason.

To overcome it .You have to first understand yourself emotionally,on what you want in your life.What u want to do in your business,and whether u have the enough passion to take whatever it takes to success.
And some common problems are: behave like a self employed whether is setting up a business.learn to have a mindset on extending your reach toward more services,don't scared expanding ,which many people does.

Best to have mentors to yourself to guide you through the technique to setting up business.
Which my friends and i are helping.

good feedback..
I find that the mind-set of a businessman or a self-employed is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT..

That's what happened with the owners of the dead businesses that I had witnessed this year..
It seem that they are MENTALLY & EMOTIONALLY UNPREPARED & they are like starting a business to PROVIDE a JOB for themselves..

I wonder how to overcome this..
Mindsets are difficullt to change or people will want to change..

It is the desire within one own hearts.The desire to change.No one able to help with this ,except to guide u along the path ,but ultimately it still still yourself need to overcome.
Sometimes people tend to be lazy,they need other people to force them to push them to being success,that what in real life.
And so Find a commitment mentors or maybe so called rich dad ,to guide u along the path.

"No one can change a person if a person not willing to change"by JL Lu

Wow, powerful stuff.

Hope I can find my mentor soon too.

I got mirrors to reflect on myself..

I figure that the mindset will either develop overtime as we experience from more hard knocks & learnt from it..

OR..

It is kinda inborn in an individual's character..

As much as an individual's mindset is crucial & poses as a challenge in startups,
I figure that finding MENTORS, WORKING PARTNERS, & a CORE TEAM to work with will be another challenge..

My "unofficial" mentors so far are the businessmen I came across during my course of work, & also the books that I read..

I got into some partnership & had work in teams before, & it pose to be a challenge to find the "PERFECT MATCH"..
I figure we can't have that "PERFECT MATCH" & we just have to work with, work around with situations & inperfections..

I wonder if anyone encounter something similar?

We pay school fees to acquire education. Likewise, we pay for our learning process in the making of a businessman or entrepreneur. We make mistakes which cost us money and time. But most important is to be passionate, focus and perseverance. Is about how persistent and patient you are that will make you grow and learn.

amcpl1 wrote:: We pay school fees to acquire education. Likewise, we pay for our learning process in the making of a businessman or entrepreneur. We make mistakes which cost us money and time. But most important is to be passionate, focus and perseverance. Is about how persistent and patient you are that will make you grow and learn.

Agreed.

I saw this in the MRT stations "It does not matter how slowly you move. As long as you do not stop. -Confucius"

Recently, I am in conversation with a business owner who is starting up his 2nd company..
What I realised is that he is facing the "DON'T KNOW HOW TO START UP" problem even though he got one company in operations..

Yes, he got a business plan & has started to look for suppliers etc, but SOMEHOW his activities can't PSYCHOLOGICALLY & EMOTIONALLY LINKED UP with his business..

In the end, he is at a LOSS & UNSURE what he is doing now & next..
in the end, we managed to do some alightment together & yes, we discovered the missing links..

Are we facîng this?

That is the reason why we need to have like minded friends that we can discuss business ideas. In such sharing, I always belief that you are testing your readiness. You get fresh perspective from people around which as one person perspective may not be able to cover. Therefore, I encourage this group to start meeting and you will find it beneficial.

Agreed. Like-minded but more successful or better than you too.

That way, their success will diffuse to you. Their good habits, knowledge, and ways of thinking will be passed to you somehow.

I am going to a entrepreneur meet up in August, organised by SEN of meetup.com. Check them out here.

Just a thought..
How about starting a meet up by OURSELVES here?

I know some cafés/resturants managers/owners..
If it is fine with the management team & the community here, I can check with them to offer us some exclusives..

Ya, I have offered to organise a SSuF meet-up.

Though I will want to see how this other meet-up is like.

Why are these cafes willing to give up their space so that we can meet?

I guess you are right to have the thoughts that question why cafes are willing to give up their space for your meeting. With this, I would suggest to go for cafe with less crowds and talk to the boss for the simple tie up. Meetings must suggest that all member to buy at least a drink. Try to ask for an off peak time that the cafe has lesser patrons so that they stand to gain from hosting the meeting.

I get what you mean.

However, when are such off peak hours? Are after working hours considered off-peak? I had the impression, after work, people go to the cafes to hang out, and thus, such hours are not off-peak.

If I am not wrong, cafes around Raffles MRT are usually not crowded during weekday evening. Their target group are lunch crowd and executive meetup during office hours.

Please keep me posted of the meet up..
Surely I can arrange something with them & offer some exclusives for us..

As to why they are offering us spaces, we just need to know what's in for them & tap on those to get them coming..
& I happen to know that trick of making them tick..

Surely you know a bit ofmy background & expertise, SSUP Admin?

We kinda stray from the main topic..
Shall we stick to the CHALLENGES?

Certainly we can stick back to the topic.

Example of a challenge: getting a SSuF meetup.

How to overcome: Find someone who has done it before, or at least knows how to do it in theory.

Same with business problems. That's why people work in teams. One person in the team will know something the others do not.

If the whole team doesn't know how to do something, they can outsource.

Sometimes the blind prefer to be led by the blínd..

Because they believe that they are NOT blind, but often blinded by egos, fears & proscranation..

I seen businesses die because they refuse to open up within themselves..
also to people, outside the team, who they knew can help, but just refuse their help..

My friend has just converted sole proprietor business to Pte Ltd.
Many teething problems that could put her off if not for her passion to make business. She has sales order coming in. But have not got enough admin, HR, account support. Could these be the problems that cause many start-ups to wither ?

There are usually these few concerns of a business that are needed to be addressed:

Accountings..
Adminstration..
Finances..
Human Resources..
Management..
Marketing & Business Development..
Operations..
Research & Development..
Sales..
Sourcing & Purchasing..

The perfect scenario is to have a system(s) to guide through these areas..
Due to the lack of resources, in my opinion, the first few sectors to work on & systemize will be the Sales & Marketing portion once the basic layout is done..
These will provide the resources to explore & enhance the other aspects..

Just like owning a car, you need to be prepared to maintain it. Some of the functions mention by Inle can be computerized. I started using accounting software that helps me with sales quotation, invoicing, accounting etc by myself. I manage to learn accounting concepts through the software and now I am a consultant for it as a business itself. If you know how to utilise computer, many functions can be computerised. Marketing itself can be done online (if applicable) as SSuF Admin is an expert to that. Payroll can be automated by software (these days Singtel has the module as Software as a Service).

My IT arm provides many computerization of functions which all SMEs will need. But I am not here to sell my services, but to share that indeed all these functions can be automated, though not fully, at least it can help you maintain minimum resources as far as possible. But do bear in mind not to overspend on infrastructure during startup as resources is scarce...

Automation is the key so that your business runs even when you are not around..
To achieve that will be an advance stage in businesses that many fail to reach..

Accounting is one of the most boring aspect that I will rather have the computer to do it even I learnt Accounting before..
I think MYOB software can be used for Accounting & Payroll if I am not mistaken..

I am more into building the foundation for sales and marketing through ideas and strategies so that it can run automatically with little reviews to achíeve profitable results in the long run..
And I help SMEs to work on that currently..
That, to me, is the most Creative and Exciting part after Management of the business..

Btw I will like to meet amcpl1 very much..
Seem that he is rather knowledgeable and defintely can learn something from him..

Is he that old? The oldest business owner I know is nearing 70..

Thanks, Inle... Definitely not that old... But I guess might be one of the oldest.

Bingo! I am an MYOB consultant for 12 years and also a distributor of another New Zealand Accounting software Moneyworks for Asia including Singapore.

Old school of thoughts are not that suitable for current economy. So don't be affected by what we always claims... experience. The government is right in focusing on young enterprenuer as we are the stubborn lot. That is why I am trying to learning from the team more than the other way...

Sorry to disappoint you...

Hahahahaaaa..

Good to know that you are learning all the time despite your age (if not 70s, 60s maybe)?

I am not aware that MYOB software has been here for so long already..
Good that I learnt something today..

These challenges kinda "force" us to learn and explore continuously..