There’s no such thing as a risk free career these days. We live in a time of enormous technological and economic upheaval. While our parents and grandparents might have enjoyed job security and a career for life if they so desired, most millennials will have had around 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 48. We live in an age where even a multinational giant can be rendered obsolete almost overnight for not moving with trends in consumer technology (that’s right we’re looking at you Blockbuster video!). This is an age in which businesses face a daily struggle to be relevant and stay on the bucking bronco that is the cutting edge and no institution is too big to fail. It takes real bravery to launch a startup in this uncertain time, but if you have the right idea behind you, there are more opportunities for success than ever.
In order to navigate your business to sustainable, long term success, however, you’ll need to be cognizant of the most common threats to nascent business in the fast paced, ultra competitive and often bamboozling business landscape of a global economy running headlong into the 2020s…
Cyber threats
As our times become more and more technologically savvy, so too do criminals become more and more adept at penetrating businesses’ security, compromising their data. Businesses are expected to deploy more and more redundancies to protect their data in an age where ransomware, Blueborne vulnerability and security scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated and commonplace. Make sure that you have complete IT services that include comprehensive security provision for your data. You should also employ a combination of physical and cloud based storage for “double backups”.
The overheads / investment ratio
Nascent entrepreneurs walk a fine line when it comes to managing their business’ finances and this can lead them to make a common rookie mistake. They know the importance of a healthy cash flow and this makes then skittish about investing sizeable chunks of capital back into their business. They’re conditioned to keep their overheads low and while this may be admirable, it’s also one of the best ways in which to stunt growth. Their apprehension about tying up too much of their capital can leads them to lose opportunities for sustainable growth which their competitors will be only too happy to capitalize upon. If an opportunity to invest in an additional premises or a piece of software that could boost productivity comes along, your business must be ready to take it.
Legal Action
Paying for insurance always feels like a waste of money that could be put to better use elsewhere… Until the day you find that you really need it. Resist the temptation to cut costs by scrimping on your public liability insurance as this will insulate you from risk if a claim is raised against your business. Small businesses are amongst the most common targets for legal action and they’re often amongst the least equipped to deal with them.
Don’t let your business be brought to its needs by a bitter ex-employee or an unreasonably vengeful customer.
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