People often think the biggest difficulty when starting a business is finding and retaining customers – but this isn’t the case.
This is a mistake all beginners in business make; in fact, as an entrepreneur your main preoccupations should be your bank, your suppliers and the government.
Your bank
Your bank’s default position is one of scepticism, and it may even try to persuade you that your project is not viable. You will often have to fight to open a bank account and securing credit can become a nightmare. Moreover, the bank could prevent payments without giving specific reasons and harm your finances, or question you closely on any activities which appear potentially illegal.
You will often have to fight to open a bank account and securing credit can become a nightmare
Your suppliers
Suppliers could also harm your business, if they fail to deliver on time, send the wrong goods or deliver goods of dubious quality. These are common problems, especially dealing with international customers and suppliers.
The government will inundate you with a huge amount of (unnecessary) paperwork and force you to spend a lot of time on unproductive administrative tasks, not to mention the tax and fiscal burden, which will drain your finances.
Customers can also represent a real danger (unpaid bills, orders cancellation, requirements hard to satisfy, etc), but these problems can be minimised if proper control is put in place and corrective action immediately taken.
Managing a business is not an easy task. That is why it is highly recommended to seek the assistance of management, marketing and financial consultants to help you start the enterprise.
