No matter your niche, we’re sure you can relate to at least one of these top seven challenges.It’s not easy running a business, and we know this firsthand: we’re a growing startup ourselves. We created Citycurrent for homes and home-related businesses. The idea is simple: we make it easy to run your entire business by creating systems and automating tasks—so you spend less time doing the paperwork and more time doing what you love.

Offering up these challenges is by no means an excuse for not making progress, and we didn’t intend for this to sound negative. We are by no means perfect either—in fact, most of these are things that continue to challenge us every day. Nevertheless, there are solutions for each challenge. Here are our top five.

Keeping Customers

One of the biggest challenges of running a business is keeping customers coming back for more. The average customer retention rate for businesses today is 60% after six months. That means four out of ten customers you spend so much time selling to are gone just six months later. You might think that this number is low, but it represents an improvement over the past few decades. Historically, the average customer retention rate was closer to 50%.

Cash flow / growing revenue

Many small business owners say they struggle most with cash flow and revenue growth. This is a common issue in many different industries, but it’s especially difficult in industries that pay slow or have seasonal highs and lows.

Automation

The other challenge of running a business is automation. As a business owner, you have to automate as many processes as possible. The fact of the matter is that if you don’t use a credit card for your invoicing and payments, you’re going to end up spending a lot more time on those tasks at the end of the month. Payment Cloud has a detailed guide on how to accept payments here at https://paymentcloudinc.com/accept-payments/retail/.

In addition, you can also automate manual labor by using robotic automation equipment to take over mundane tasks, such as packing and palletizing items. It can help to complete tasks and increase the efficiency of production. It can also reduce errors and improve the quality of products by providing consistent accuracy and speed

Time

When you’re in charge, there’s no one to delegate stuff to. This is especially true for small business owners who wear lots of hats.

If you don’t have time to do something, it won’t get done. Figuring out how to best manage your time will be one of your most important business skills. If you have a family, you’ll have to schedule your time around them too.

Costs

There are always startup costs, whether you’re launching or scaling your business. If your business fails, you might have to abandon the idea altogether, leaving you in debt with many sunk costs.

In running your business, you need to be cautious with finances. Avoiding costly charges boosts profits. Acquiring cloud-based services like mFax services will help eliminate the need for expensive fax machines, ink, paper, and long-distance charges. It lets you work remotely, avoid public fax machines and copiers, and save money for your business while protecting your data.

You’re distracted.

As a startup, you’re likely working from home or a coffee shop, or from anywhere that’s convenient and gives you a chance to do your best work. But over time, working from a desk set up in a spare bedroom can lead to many distractions—not the least of which involves your personal life.

Depending on your personality type, these distractions can sometimes be a good thing. With access to your partner and kids all day, you’re able to do something as simple as checking in about dinner plans for the night or confirming plans for the weekend.

 The Startup Grind

First-time entrepreneurs have to wear so many hats. It’s easy to think you’re more successful than you are because part of your daily routine is taking on tasks that you don’t have the time, experience or staff to do. For instance, if you run a business out of your home, your home is more likely to be a mess than you think it is. If there’s a pile of mail in your office, it doesn’t mean that customers can’t place an order with you. But there’s a big difference between staying busy and growing your business.