Startup Struggles: How to Stay Afloat

While starting and managing a small business can be difficult enough as it is, it doesn’t help much when we go through periods of dipping sales. Since you’re brand new to this game, it’s not that easy to pinpoint exactly why business is slower than usual - and some may start to panic a bit too soon.

Image from: Pexels

Luckily, it doesn’t necessarily have to mean the end of your business. Here is a handful of clever tips to help your business stay afloat for as long as possible so that you and your team can feel a bit more confident the next time you’re facing a slight dip.

It just makes it a bit easier to keep you cool and take the measures that needs to be taken for your startup.

Limiting the debt you take on

Sometimes, debt is simply inevitable. When you want to increase its scale, for example, and know for certain that you’ll be able to boost the amount of money you’re making significantly, there’s no getting around it.

Yet, you need to know that your business is going to benefit tremendously from it - and you should feel confident that there are no other alternatives that might be more beneficial for your business.

Startup debt, for example, is a much-discussed issue as many businesses are desperate for a loan just so that they can get started and see a bit of profit from all their hard work. Some startup owners are able to bootstrap, though, and even if it may require a lot of patience, they’re giving their business a head start on the market.

While they’re going to have to wait another year perhaps before opening the doors, they’re also able to avoid the heavy burden of carrying debt around that they have to pay off as soon as they start to make money.



Another way to limit your debt is, of course, to decide on not having an office for your business. Some may get that office space immediately, thinking that they’re hardly a business without it - but keep in mind that you can always invest in one later on.

Image from: Pexels

For now, you should stay online and make as much out of your business there as you’re able to. When those important client meetings become a priority and your business is able to handle the expense of it, you can consider moving into the physical realm.

Remember to invest in people

Sure, you know all about human resources being the most important part of your business - but do you know how to make sure you’re taking care of their needs, compensating them adequately, and actually investing in the people of your company?

Understanding how you can be the best kind of boss and creating the kind of business that will attract highly talented people is so vital to success. Invest in their training as well, by the way, keep them happy and show that you care about their personal lives too - even if they don’t stay with you until the bitter end.

When someone inevitably leaves your startup for something else, you’d want to make sure that you have built the kind of company that other highly talented people would like to work for. That way, you’ll always have a stream of brilliant heads coming in case someone should leave - and it will benefit your business tremendously.

Try to read up on what it takes to be a good manager and practise what you’ve been learning. It’s all about being there for them, of course, and keeping in mind that well-liked leaders tend to be a lot better at their jobs than those who are only after respect and authority.

Recognise good talents as well, by the way, and give those who deserve it a bit more responsibility. It’s a good incentive for working harder, after all, and putting your very best into the work. Get your hands on some good software as well so that you can keep your managing skills up to date; here is a great option for cloud accounting software, for example, to make everything a bit easier for you.

Find affordable and effective marketing options

Finally, you need to think about one of the most important things your business is going to spend money on. Most businesses will definitely put a lot of money into marketing; it makes sense, though, as it’s the only way for the rest of the world to know that you’re there and that you’re doing an excellent job.

There are more cost-effective ways to market your business properly, however, and especially now that we can take advantage of social media strategies. You may have to put a bit of money into it but it will be way less than if you went through a traditional marketing agency.

Start by looking for a social media expert that knows the ins and outs of all the different platforms. You really should try to take advantage of as many of them as possible as each has something different to bring to your business; while YouTube is great for creating handy videos and interacting with your audience by putting a face on your business, Instagram is the best platform for awesome pictures that make your business look fancy.

Try to think about how you can use the different platforms and map out a strategy for this, first of all. It’s important, however, that you manage to maintain your profiles on each platform and avoid neglecting any of them.

If it should become too much, you should rather take one of them down and focus on the others - a business profile that looks more like a ghost town than a successful startup won’t do you any good. Your social media expert will be able to handle this, though, so make sure that you hire one that is fully up to date on the landscape.