There are far more than just five issues facing small businesses, but today we will address five and provide some solutions. We know that being the owner of an SMB can be stressful, so without further ado, here are five things we can fix today!

1. Gaining your fair share of the employee talent pool.

With big businesses and their deep pockets, the prospect of finding useful and game changing talent for your small business might seem far-fetched. Bigger businesses can typically afford comprehensive benefits packages, overall higher salaries and maybe more. So how do you, the small business owner, compete to get the talent you need? They key here is to look at it like a sales pitch. Sure your competitor might be beating you on salaries and benefits, but there is something you have that they don’t. You have the allure of opportunity. In Tel Aviv, one of the hottest spots for start-ups, a key selling point to any job is the opportunity for growth. What you can offer is the chance to work outside the box, whereas in a typical corporate scheme there is a person for every job and regulated terms of advancement. You offer the chance to grow the minds and skillsets of young entrepreneurs to be, and they can get paid while they do it.

2. Marketing

Today small business owners are presented with a multitude of marketing schemes, some which work and some which don’t. Small business owners tell me about how they hired a “guru-ninja” only to come up short and out of pocket. The answer? Research, research, research! The idea isn’t to necessarily do all the marketing work yourself, but to have an understanding of the general workings of SEO, CRM, Social Media Marketing etc. This way, whether you invest in an agent, agency or marketing platform, you will be able to make executive decisions to increase efficiency across the board! Be the informed consumer and ultimately, the successful entrepreneur.

3. Time Management

This one is kind of a no-brainer for small business owners, as any entrepreneur can tell you, time is a resource they are always lacking. The reasons for this are fairly obvious as the business owner finds himself involved in all levels of a small enterprise. This affects the overall productivity for the business as the heart of the business faces being overstretched. A few simple solutions include; hiring an intern for busy summer months (provided your business is not snow plowing), using time management tricks like the Pomodoro Technique which allows you to go hard for 25 minutes of pure focus, like I am using to write this very article! If you find that simply keeping up with all the day-to-day plus effectively creating and implementing marketing strategies is simply too much, you can use scheduling tools for social media marketing and ad campaigns! So just like the Pomodoro clock, you can set it and forget it!

4. Sales

Any business whether bootstrapped or funded will tell you that sales keep them alive. So how does a small business go about getting their fair share of sales in their respective market? In the digital era, it has never been easier for SMB owners to keep up with their wealthy big business rivals. Today, advertising is not limited to billboards and commercial slots. Rather you have an interconnected network of social media platforms that can spread your message and help your company rise through the rank of search engines. Good websites and e-commerce pages are your effective way to sell in your sleep. Let the internet work for you! It saves the cost of hiring a new full-time sales professional. You just combine your inbound marketing with an attractive product page for your online clients to boost sales, and the best part is the amount of time you DON’T spend on the phones for the same results.

5. Morale

Last, but certainly not least, is the morale of the small business owner. I have had the pleasure of meeting a few prominent entrepreneurs in my life and one common denominator they all share, is positivity. Some of the things I noticed is they are quick to say “thank you!” and “truly fantastic” and other similar variations. This problem can oft be the hardest due to bleak economic reports, slow months for the business and any number of stress related issues. However, regardless of the stress, you must rise above and cling to positivity like a life preserve in stormy seas. If you have employees, they will look to you for example and inspiration, you can SHAPE that inspiration to radiate positivity. If you are a solopreneur,you still need to stay positive at all costs, because similar to raising a child, your business will reflect how you operate.

Thank you for reading! We would love to hear what you think are the issues plaguing SMB’s and your solutions! Send us a line, we’d love to chat! Wishing you only success.