On a daily basis, you may encounter several different hurdles… They distract you from the job at hand and frequently slow you down, but quite often they are an expected part of your working day.
It’s the bigger hurdles that present a challenge; they creep up through neglect, or bad planning, and can be extremely detrimental to your Internet businesses success.
So how do you define an Internet business hurdle? A challenge to one company can be a disaster to another. No wonder they are called a roadblock to success.
Let’s see… An Internet business hurdle may…
Impede Advancement
Unforeseen hurdles can slow down the progress of a project. They increase man hours, and affect its profitability, which has a continued effect throughout your Internet business, and the necessary excuses distill confidence with your customers.
Dictate Choices
A hurdle can force you into changing direction. When you plan and choose the direction your Internet business needs to move in, an unexpected hurdle limits those choices and may force your Internet business in a direction that would not be your ideal or first choice.
Block Avenues
A hurdle can also block avenues or possibilities completely. A roadblock to success is a common description for a business hurdle. For some hurdles, there may not be a way forward.
Cause Discouragement
When projects do not work as planned, or unforeseen hurdles block progress, the effects on morale are harsh. It’s very disheartening for managers and staff to not see a project through to fruition and can cause owners to neglect their Internet business rather than face further disappointment.
Affect Cash Flow
Most hurdles can have an effect on cash flow, when customers are slow to pay bills or sales drop, it’s increasingly difficult to pay your own suppliers and creditors. Bad financial management means that serious hurdles, like unforeseen tax bills, will also drain your resources, plus losing staff to sickness, family problems or other employers is another hurdle which slows down your advance and adds more expense with recruitment and training.
The Solution
To overcome Internet business hurdles, plan for them. When you create your initial Internet business plan, you have to implement plans for contingencies and analyze every potential hurdle. Risk Management needs to continue throughout the life span of your Internet business, and every new project and investment needs planning to control it and predict future outcomes.
The more you plan, the less Internet business hurdles you will face, or the smaller their impact will be. And when they appear, they are expected and you know the appropriate action.
Let’s look at the number one hurdle, lack of sales, and see how planning can prevent this problem:
How Well Do You Know Your Market?
In Internet business, you need to analyze your potential markets, and know how to reach them. If trends suddenly change, you need a plan to move with them. Your old marketing strategy may have worked once, but you need to keep up with the changing market. Never sit on your laurels. Reach out to your customers, reward loyalty, and actively promote and analyze new ventures.
Look At Your Performance.
If you cut corners on your production or service, your customers will soon realize. Plan your pricing strategy, and review and test it continuously. Is your price too expensive to be appealing, or are your prices too low? Most businesses do price themselves too low, which may win a short term popularity vote, but affects the performance of your overall Internet business and its “Net Worth” and can rarely be sustained.
Look at, and evaluate you customer services standards. These standards should be outlined in a plan and upheld regardless of the circumstances. Bad customer service is usually the number one reason your customer does not return.
Has Your Product Reached Its Lifespan?
Trends change continuously. The latest gadget on the market may earn you millions, but it will not be around forever. If you have based your business on one product, you will need to know what to do when this product reaches the end of its life-cycle. Do you have other products to replace it with? Or do you update old products to be “the latest” again?
Bottom Line
There are far too many hurdles to list here, as every Internet business is unique with its own set of risks, but planning and prevention are paramount.
You may not think you have the time, but that’s something else you need to overcome and plan. And when your Internet business stumbles over that last hurdle you failed to overcome, you will have all the time in the world to analyze it then and eventually start over.
Having said all this, I want you to remember a quote I use quite often…
If something doesn’t work, do not adjust your goal, adjust the action steps towards that goal.
—Marcus Hochstadt