10 small Business problems to have !!!

fm USA Today 20 July 15 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz

If you run a small business, you’ll reap many benefits. But, let’s face it, every business encounters some problems. If you’re lucky, you’ll have good problems. What’s a good problem? It’s the kind that shows you, you’re doing something right, but leaves you with a challenge. Still, no one ever wants to hear you complain about:

1. More Customers than you can handle. People are lined up outside your door; you can’t fit in another appointment; you’re running two shifts to fill all your orders. You’ve got a few options of handling this “problem.” You could increase prices, since there’s lots of demand or you could expand your capacity. Perhaps it’s time to hire a few helpers?

2. An Investor wants to give you a whole lot of $$$. Your start-up is the talk of the town, & VC’s want to help you build your company — fast. That means a lot of money, but it also can mean a lot of problems. You may build too quickly, spend too freely, or burn through money too fast. Work with your hungry investors to come up with a reasonable growth plan — so that when you don’t deliver big numbers in super-sonic time, the VCs don’t shut you down or push you out.

3. Your Bankers go bonkers !!! They wants to loan you too much money. This is a good problem to have, right? If you’ve got great credit, and a good banking relationship, your banker is likely to keep raising your borrowing limit. But that means they expect you to “use it or lose it”. While you definitely want to keep a good amount of credit available, if your credit limit is sky high, there may be pressure on you to use it, making you expand more than is smart and be wasteful. Not lean & mean.

4. Creative Employees. Many companies — especially some larger corporations — really don’t want their employees to think. They want people to do the jobs assigned to them efficiently, but not creatively. Small businesses rarely benefit from that kind of approach. We need every employee to take initiative, suggest ways to improve and truly care. Find ways to use that creativity.

5. Everyone wants to work for you. Are too many people applying for your jobs? Do you feel you need a full-time HR person? Hopefully that’s because you have a reputation as a “great place to work”. Be sure you write clear job descriptions, to weed out inappropriate applicants, and spend the time to find the gems in your applicant mine.

6. You pay lots of Taxes. No one likes taxes. But if you’re paying very little in taxes, you either have an anemic income statement (or a very powerful Washington lobbyist or a smart Tax accounant). Being faced with a lot of profits and accompanying high taxes is a great problem to have. Make sure you’ve got a good tax accountant, so you can legitimately reduce your taxes – if possible. Can you max out your retirement contributions or invest in your employees with better pay and benefits or purchase new equipment? All of which benefit your business.

7. The Competition is Imitating you. You’re so cutting edge, everyone is taking a cut at you. However, remember success is all about execution. You & your competition may both have the same idea, but the company that delivers wins – often even if its product isn’t as good.

8. You have lots of new Ideas. Entrepreneurs are creative people. Every day, before noon, I’ve probably come up with an idea for a new business or product. But this kind of constant creativity can distract you from your bread-&-butter business. The solution? Planning – to pursue the most promising.

9. Larger companies want to Buy you. For many of us, our small businesses are our babies. We may have started them at our kitchen tables or garage, and grew them into large, thriving companies. Like a parent with college-bound kids, we may find it hard to let go. If you’re fortunate, plan well & work hard, you may grow a company of considerable worth – that another company wants to buy. That’s a pretty nice problem to have.

10 We’re too busy. No one — no one — wants to hear that. Many small business owners have been through a recession and know what it’s like to “not” be busy. Being busy is not a problem. Count your blessings – all the way to the bank.

Comments: Are there any other “nice” problems – that you can think of?