Being an entrepreneur is difficult enough, but adding young and inexperienced on top of that can really put you in a tough position, which will require a great deal of due diligence in order to be successful. It can be very tough to not only educate yourself on running a business and keep your ambitions in check until you can afford to expand, but also to deal with the day to day business issues that most young entrepreneurs are just not experienced enough to account for. Six common struggles that you may one day run into as a young entrepreneur include:
Few Take You Seriously
As a young entrepreneur, your goal should be to impress anyone that you will be doing business with. The mindset of the general public is that young entrepreneurs succeed. This is fueled by the fact that many entrepreneurs start off young, but are quickly put off by the demand that running a business has on their lives. Be professional, but personal. If you are 23 years old, you can still act like a 23 year old, just make sure you act like a hard-working, career-driven one.
Hard To Secure Loans
It can be difficult to secure loans as a young person. Unless you have been diligently building credit since you turned 18, you likely will not have enough credit to qualify you for any large loans. You also have the option of receiving credit as an LLC or other form of business, which can help you to build credit under your businesses name.
Lack of Business Experience
As a young entrepreneur, you can be as ambitious as you want and be as dedicated to succeeding as you possibly can be, but none of that can change the fact that you simply will lack experience when compared to some of your peers. Stay willing to learn new things, and read highly touted business books that are relevant to your industry in order to determine the best business practices.
Lack of Funds For Investment
Just like securing a loan, securing investments for your startup may be a bit difficult for younger individuals without a track record. Along with this, because you have not had a lot of time to build an account that you can tap into when your business is in need of funds. It might be in your best interest to attempt to find someone that agrees to inject your business with funds as necessary through the startup phase, to get things up and running.
Lack of Management Experience
Unless every aspect of your business can be run and completed by you, you are likely going to have to manage employees at some point, whether they are for a one time project or for contract work. It can be difficult to properly delegate tasks to workers and spell out your plans in a way that increases their efficiency through a well planned workflow, and keeps your projects on schedule. Having a lack of management experience can also bite you in attempts to keep morale high, and not sacrificing the quality of your product over time.
Inability to Recognize the Importance of Tasks
You see it all the time with young entrepreneurs. They get all caught up in the glamorous aspects of what they do, and forget to attend to small important details. Always be conducting cost evaluations for the projects that you work on, and choose to only work on those projects that have the best chance of helping your business in the short term for now. You can focus on long term goals loosely as you go along.
Stevie Clapton is a part of FastCash.org who provide short term financial assistance.
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