Nine challenges people can encounter in business

                    INTRODUCTION 

Business is not void of challenges. Instead it is filled with challenges. There is no way we would even think that business is challenge free. It is a human endeavour. No human endeavour according to history is void of challenge. Judging based on this, we could conclude that business is like every other venture filled with challenge. Until we find a human endeavour that has no challenge, we may never have a rethink. It is the way everything is. 

Business is something that imperfect humans run. All business characters are imperfect. No business man is perfect. And when someone is imperfect, you would expect that he would experience challenges in his endeavours. He is likely going to make a mistake that could cause him constrains for example. 

It is easy to learn the challenges of business. The key is to learn the challenges that those who have pursued business encountered. If they encountered it, every other person that would pursue it would. .it is like playing a route. If there are potholes in that road, whoever plys the route would experience it. 

Having made this claim, we shall now go straight to the point and establish the challenges that are found in business. 

Anyone who wants to pursue business or is already in the field can be affected by any of those Challenges. 

                1. LACK OF CAPITAL 

We all know one fact about business, which is that establishment of business requires capital. Business is like a building and capital can be likened to the materials for building. We all know that without the materials one cannot build. 

Capital is fittingly defined as the original funds used to start a business, implying that business establishment requires it. 

Establishment usually requires purchase of business materials or entities such as; office equipments, space renting, and steps that would lead to business creation. As we know, achieving the purchase requires money. Taking creation steps such as market survey, planning and registration also requires money. 

An example of business that was established is the Dangote. Every process that led to the creation of the business required and was accomplished with money. One of those was the importation of the agricultural products Dangote bought into the country. He had to pay for the cost of conveying them into the country. He had to pay for permits to start business. Infact everything that he did that gave birth to the business was done with money, and could not be accomplished without it. 

Traditionally men secure money which they would use to start business, implying that they believe that business creation requires capital as the Dangote example attests. 

There has never been anytime in history where business was created without the use of money. A prove therefore to us that business creation requires money. 

It is a necessity. Those who have it use it to start business. But we all know one thing about necessities. We cannot do without them. Capital is an intrinsic business startup requirement. Without which it's establishment cannot occur. 

Photography is to us an example of a business that someone wants to start. To achieve it, one must buy photography equipments such as; camera, printer and computer, obtain a studio and permit for his business. Achieving those purchase and obtaining a studio and business permit round give birth to photography business. But doing those requires money as we know. It serves to illustrate to us the essentiality of capital in the startup of a business.

It follows therefore that one cannot fulfil his objective of starting a business without capital. 

The chances of securing capital is difficult. If you lack money, it is difficult for you to source it for business. If you must secure a loan, it is not always easy, but sometimes impossible to.You are expected to undergo rigorous processes to get it. It is even time consuming, which could delay the fruition of your goal. The difficulty in raising capital for business makes starting business challenging. 

               2. LACK OF PATRONAGE 

Patronage is very important to business. A business mans objective; what he wants to achieve with his business is securement of wealth. The business man employs business as a tool for fetching wealth. It is to him what a fishing net is to the fisher. The fisherman uses the net to fish by employing a strategy; which is dipping the net into the water so that fishes could go into it and become trapped. When it happens he succeeds. When it does not he fails at his goal.

Like the fisher, the business man makes money through business by employing a strategy which is the monetization of his product and services. He attaches a cost to his goods and services, which is usually superior to the capital he used in producing them. So that if he sells them and gain revenue he could deduct his capital and realize profit from the revenue. When the customers patronize his products or services he wins.

But if they do not he loses. To illustrate how lack of patronage could affect a business negatively, consider a business that specializes in production. Their target is to sell and make profit. If they never sell, the product remains in their store. If it is a perishable goods it would eventually perish. If it is not, it may become out of trend, and no one would want to buy it again. 

When any of the two occurs, the business would lose its capital and be unable to gain profit which it could use to boost production and Carter to the needs of the business. This is bad as we know, because the goal of the business is to make profit.hen any of the two occurs, the business would lose its capital and be unable to gain profit which it could use to boost production and Carter to the needs of the business. This is bad as we know, because the goal of the business is to make profit.

Suppose that people never patronized Mark Zuckerberg's product, what did you think would happen? There is no way he would have made profit. Profit making for Mark Zuckerberg is dependent on the patronage he receives from people. Those who make use of his brand are charged for it. Only when people started using the product did he start to make money from it. 

Business is a monetized product. And any product that is monetized gives money only when it is patronized. 

Lack of patronage is so bad it could even lead to the total collapse or closure of a business. Suppose someone borrows to start a business, and is unable to make profits he may not gain his capital which he borrowed. And he would not gain profit. Since he never gained the capital and profit he would have no resource which he would use to make more production. And if he gets profit he may continue to deduct from his capital until there would be nothing left in his reserve. Lacking money to power his business, he may be forced to borrow or shut down his business completely.

Have you ever seen or heard about anyone that started business but does not want to make profit? Instead more than desiring patronage, they eagerly sought for it by advertising and advertising and advertising, urging people to patronize. 

Lack of patronage therefore means lack of achievement of the objective of business. If anything the problem which it causes, which is lack of generation of profit and revenue makes running business challenging.

        3. LACK OF RECOGNITION 

There are some business that stands out, that are recognized. Those business are at advantage when it comes to patronage. People could only patronize a product if they know it. If unaware of the existence and quality of a business brand, people may never reach out for it, to patronize it. Since such business are known, they could be easily patronized. Their fame seem to add to the impression that their brand is of quality, after all only the best gain recognition. And in turn that recognition makes people give such business patronage.

Not all businesses are recognized. Some are. The duration of establishment of some business isn't long, people have not come to know them. Such business risks not being patronized. Their chances are lower, since traditionally famous business have more customers than the ones unknown. 

Suppose Facebook were unknown by the world. Would anyone make use of it; would anyone patronize it?

Businesses that are new, are the ones more likely to be victims of unrecognition.

For those business that have not gained fame, achieving turnover may be a challenge, as people are ignorant of their existence; lack motivation which could make them opt for them. 

                 4. COMPETITION 

Some business have lost their customers to their competitors. When a competitor outperforms a business the result is that people would have preference for it, because they have preference for the best, and in turn would withdraw their patronage from the less, which would lessen it's sells or turnover, affecting it negatively. 

Competitors have the ability to achieve through advertising the conviction of people that their brand is better, and that they should patronize only theirs, and withdraw from certain others. Thanks to this power, they could bring down any business they want. 

Their is even a form of competition that involves damaging the reputation of a rival. It involves soiling their brands so that people would come to find it as they do poison, and then what would happen is that people would run away from them.

Some business have lost their customers to their competitors due to inability or outperformance, or impression created about them being better by the media. 

If you own a business and have competitors you may find it challenging to win customers over to yourself from your rivals. 

Both of you are like players in a game. Everyone is careful lest loses, giving his best so he wins. And it is always a challenge to stand out in a y contest, so this makes your chances of winning difficult. 

There are a thousand business out there dealing with the same brand you are, and they would stop at nothing but to ensure that they receive the highest patronage, even through satanic means making it difficult for you to be victor. 

         5. LACK OF BUSINESS IDEA

Some are willing to start a business. They developed the desire a long time ago. They are also capable of doing so. They possess so much money which they could use as capable. They are at liberty; having no legal restrictions because they are crime-free, capable of obtaining permit for business in their country. 

But they do not have the idea of what business they should do. There are many niches. They do not know which would be suitable for them. All the niches seem to be promising, they may not know which could fetch them the highest benefit. 

Or perhaps they know that to succeed they must create unique brands and products. How to devise the idea of an original brand one not yet experimented is sometching they know not. 

For such ones lack of invention of ideas makes business startup challenging as they can only start if they are able to conceive a plan or picture of a business.

           6.GOVERNMENT POLICY 

Government policies changes from time to time. And they affect the growth of a business. For instance some people choose to do business in a place that has low tax requirement or precisely fee. So that they would not have to deduct do much from their profit for tax settlement and be left with little in their account. When a business is expected to pay high tax, it would always deduct money from it's profit. But if it is low, it would deduct small having much remaining. 

Some business have suffered either shutdown due to a new government policy that put a barn on their business. Some have had to quit due to too much legal demands from the government. Some have become poor due to imposition of heavy tax duties. 

                 7.BUSINESS FAILURE 

Due to lack of patronage, a business could deduct so much from it's business, consistently until it no more has any resource to run its affair. When such occurs it would be left with no choice but to secure loan. If it is lucky to acquire loan, it could carry out operations with it, but if it is not, it may have to shut down as it no longer have money to run its affairs. Even when it secures a loan, it is not certain of fortune this time, it could still fail. 

Infact, it is not just possible. It has happened. Some business have completely failed and had to stop operations.

               8. INSECURITY

Some business have been affected negatively by insecurity. There are examples of robbers breaking into stores and doing away with monies realized by businesses. 

There have been examples of office buildings being burnt down due to crises or war. 

Infact, businesses located in places considered insecure receive less patronage. People are not willing to go there to patronize them because they do not want to risk their lives. 

    9. LACK OF QUALIFIED PERSONNEL 

There is not a skill that people do not possess. You would always find people that possess every skill. Therefore getting people who are experienced to work for you, is easy. But then not all are honest. Some have questionable characters and are likely to be disloyal to you in their dealings. Only very few are honest and would not betray you. 

It is challenging therefore to get people of virtue as staff because they are rare, difficult to get.