Challenges and Solutions for startups in ongoing corona plus global recession
This article has two very absolute and immutable purposes – for SMBs, SMEs, CEOs and other Business-Owners
The FIRST – I am proposing – couple of focused and intense sessions to identify your unique sets of business-challenges AND exploring solutions, possibilities and alternatives - through silly, ridiculous free-thinking exercise.
Which could be - at times be silly, ridiculous and far-fetched – but the intent is to create such stimulation that You on your own OR with our help create simple, practical, disrupting, implementable and within your area of influence actions-steps.
The Second – you will learn the following – to make you self-start on reclaiming your business and prevent it from going down under.
-42 challenges faced by SMBs, SMEs and single-person operated businesses – also true for the large global enterprises.
-33 Ideas not only to apply but also to stimulate other solution – on How to survive and remain profitable during this economic slowdown due to corona covid19
This quantum of massive disruption [which was never even been imagined before corona covid19 changed our world] - has thrown such complex challenges at us – for which very few of us could have planned for or were prepared.
If your revenue streams suddenly dry-up, your customers vanish overnight, demand for products and services comes down drastically, usual channels and ways of doing business does not work anymore – what can you do in this situation?
Startup founders are facing a massive challenge right now – because the impacts, risks and challenges to SMEs and SMBs are greater.
For some - the question is - whether to pour money from your personal savings into business OR use it to manage your family's current and future needs at the cost of the business.
Although big corporations too have been impacted and effected badly – few of them have cash-reserves to survive – low-revenue, low-demand and low-sales phase longer.
Could this crisis provide a springboard for innovation – for a large number of businesses this pandemic induced catastrophe of this magnitude will unfortunately have drastically detrimental effects.
But we have to accept that – this process – has changed not only our life but in the long run it seems to be creating a platform for big transformation.
Entrepreneurship is all about solving problems for customers – how many of us can actually turn this gigantic-crisis - into huge and massive opportunity.
There are already stories of people who have seized the opportunity and making big-time business growth and success.
Few businesses like Byju's and similar online learning apps, e-commerce platforms like Big Basket, social development initiative like "Naari" – in India are doing better now than before pandemic.
42 challenges faced by SMBs, SMEs and single-person operated businesses – also true for the large global enterprises.
- 1.Some of the SMBs are unable to open and start their operations
- 2.Consumer behaviors have changed drastically – in such a manner that earlier ways of selling, delivering and servicing the products have changed.
- 3.Many consumers have postponed or canceled their purchases and others are only focusing on buying just the most essential and the necessary ones
- 4.Because many of the large organizations have put their expansion plans and capital expenditure on hold – all those SMB's and SME's- who were dependent on them find their market have shrunk or disappeared
- 5.Then totally ad-hoc rules followed by different states and governments – have also created the dilemma
- 6.There is a zillion dollar challenge – if you manufacture and produce – will there be a buyer OR in case there is buyer -can you make the delivery due to logistic issues.
- 7.How to pay the wages
- 8.Should you ask the employees to go – and which employees to keep
- 9.How to manage the expenses – those which are there – irrespective of whether your business is running or not - Like rental, utilities, taxes
- 10.Because the money in the pipeline have dried up because of such a harsh and long lockdowns – how to gain access to the capital needed at minimum to keep your business running
- 11.How to pay the debts, loans and borrowings
- 12.How to create the demand
- I.When the consumer-psych has changed
- II.AND when they can't afford to buy
- III.OR when they don't perceive what you sell as must have
- IV.OR when their your consumers who are large-corporate and industry businesses - themselves don' have demand for their product from their client-base
- 13.How to get infusion of capital – for making the traction and to upscale the operations to the level to make it revenue generating and profit-making
- 14.Remaining inspired and motivated enough to lead your teams by instilling confidence in them to make them perform at their highest potential
- 15.How to operate in low-touch, no-touch, virtual-meeting [instead of face-to-face]
- 16.How identify and use it for optimum advantage – the most suitable technology and channels
- 17.How to redesign – your business-model and revenue models – to suit the new normal
- 18.How to create an irresistible value-proposition for your customers
- 19.How to identify, know and use your existing strengths –to pivoting in an entirely different business-field – in case your current business is no more feasible
- 20.How to know – if your business needs to shut down OR you should continue to put efforts, invest more and fight the battle
- 21.How to keep yourself and your family members sane and productive and less stressed – in those situation where all of us working from home [living under same roof]
- 22.How to retain focus – and – not get distracted by other stressors
- 23.How to retain your best talents – even if you are unable to pay them fully, partially or not at all
- 24.How to retain your existing customers – who have had opportunity to get exposed to better values
- 25.How to manage the expenses of additional safety measures and legal requirements YET remaining profitable
- 26.How to find job or earning opportunities – if you happen to be in situation where you have to close down your business
- 27.How to find resources for updating the skills and competencies of yours as well as your employees
- 28.How to renegotiate loans, mortgages and other borrowings – so that it does not become a liability creating situation of bankruptcy later
- 29.How not to default on government taxes and other mandatory filings
- 30.How to pay the bills and outstanding – especially when your creditors are defaulting in their payment to you
- 31.How to find better suppliers
- 32.How to get customers who have the liquidity to pay you back
- 33.In case you manage to get the funds – how to ensure that you are able to pay it back AND how to manage the fear of your not able to payback this loan
- 34.How to ensure that you don't end up blowing your own security nest and savings for future - by investing in your business - and your business fails to become profitable
- 35.How to know – if you should shut the door on your business
- 36.Creating and serving new unthought-of markets and customer-segments
- 37.How to handle employees who are scared to come to work – if your business requires physical presence and travel etc.
- 38.Challenges of adapting with doing business in low-touch, remote and digital environment
- 39.Unavailability of raw material in time and at right quality plus quantity AND most important at right cost
- 40.Most people are avoiding travel for pleasure and are concerned to travel by airplane, railways and any other public transport AND to attend large event and gathering – these people are your prospects, customers and employees
- 41. How to find consumers and prospects online
- 42.How to attract, engage and build relationships your prospects
33 Ideas not only to apply but also to stimulate other solution – on How to survive and remain profitable during this economic slowdown due to corona covid19
1. Right now solve the immediate and imminent crisis first by tackling the short-term disruptions- 2.Support free thinking, creativity and innovation through incentives, rewards and prizes
- 3.Ensure that the ideas created and implement does not cost so much that your boat sinks as a result there-off. All the following ideas have to be implemented as investment which is within your means
- 4.Encourage people who challenge everything AND also suggest solutions in lieu of their opposing
- 5.Encourage radically different thinking people
- 6.Make experimentation a core focus and keep experimenting – as experiments alone can give you the edge to
- 7.Train your people for skills needed for the emerging trends, new businesses and for the rapid adaptation with the technology and consumer-behavior and preference changes
- 8.Make decision making completely red-tape and bureaucracy-free
- 9.Create clarity about the authority of your employees by delegating and empowering them to take decisions at their levels
- 10.Create absolutely transparent meritocracy
- 11.And top it up with attractive career-path, growth-potential and the crystal-clear pathways to reach those
- 12.Watch cash-flow like your life depends on it – believe me it actually depends
- 13.Create a culture and train employees to discern between investment, expenses and wastages
- 14.Innovate, innovate and innovate AND then innovate to reinvent yourself
- 15. Boost entrepreneurial potential among employees – by making them shareholders in the organization through various creative
- 16.Make every function an independent profit-centers
- 17.Collaborate with organizations working in same as well as similar business AND instead of competing with each other create the force of co-creation and multiple brains and perspective as well as combined expertise
- 18.Start investing your time, efforts and energies in start-up ecosystem – by guiding, coaching, and mentoring entrepreneurs and start-ups AND also making incubators and accelerators get involved in this
- 19.Outsource those functions and tasks – which is not your talent and expertise area
- 20.Crowd-source all challenges on various forums on social media as well as through virtual as well as physical conferences etc.
- 21.Find ways to create Quick Time to Value (QTM) to rapidly improve the bottom line
- 22.Find innovative ways to Identify and protect yourself against all possible future risks.
- 23.Ensure that you never compromise with Quality, Values and Excellence
- 24.Creating balance between how you care for your loved ones along with how to run your business is very important aspect and top priority
- 25.Manage your energies by focusing on the biggest high-payoff activities to remain optimistic and Resilient
- 26. Create Engaging Content on Social Media 27. Educated your stakeholders – by becoming Thought Leaders
- 28.Hire the millennial and exploit the power of the internet marketing – as almost all online experience begins with search engines – mainly Google – then the impact of social media on purchase decisions is immense – no business can avoid – digital marketing and thrive
- 29.Create use-friendly websites and User experiences
- 30.Create memorable customer experience
- 31.Use the power of YouTube to create awareness and attract potential customers and prospects as well as to engage existing customers
- 32.You have to understand that B2C normally spends more on marketing than B2B sectors
- 33.SMEs and SMBs can feel overwhelmed because of limited or lack of resources – but it is vital to understand and solve the following SEVEN challenges creatively so that you don't end up making the social media platforms richer and yourself bankrupt
- I.How to make people aware of your business without spending a lot – you have to invest certainly some amount AND lots of time, creativity, efforts, research etc.
- II.When you are marketing online – how get the attention, curiosity and interest of your targeted audience – by breaking through the cacophony of information and advertisement overload
- III.How to use the Big, small and Micro-influencers with reasonable followers on social media – to create awareness and influence buying decisions
- IV. How to get your potential clients engage with you meaningfully and sustainably
- V. How to create an impressive quality campaign
- VI. What strategies to create to help you attract, acquire, retain new customers
- VII. How to Create and offer an unparalleled value and advantage over your competitors
#Challengesofstartupsduringcorona, #howtosurvivethismassiveeconomicslowdown, #sustainingyourcustomersduringlowdemand, #beatingthismassiverecession, #challengesfacedbySMBsSMEs, #solvingcomplexchallengesofyourbusiness, #whattodoifyourcustomervanishovernight, #handlingpostcoronabusinessworld, #createspringboardforbigtransformation, #useEntrepreneurshiptosolveyourcustomersproblems, #redesignyourbusinessandrevenuemodels, #createirresistiblevaluepropositionforyourcustomers, #retainyourexistingcustomers, #WelcomeradicallydifferentideasExperimentconstantly, #Boostentrepreneurialpotentialamongyouremployees, #Createandofferunparalleledvalueoveryourcompetitors