4 common obstacles stand in the way of any entrepreneur. Here's how to overcome them

1. Reputation stain

It appears for various reasons: bad customer reviews, accusations from competitors, denunciatory articles about your company or about you personally. These situations may seem like the end of the world, but reputation can be restored over time. For example, ask SEO specialists to change the results on the first pages of search engines in your favor, and be patient.

Focus on what you can do. Admit your mistakes and look for ways to fix them. Consider how you can improve your services and products, or redefine your position on critical issues. This will show that you are not giving up and are ready to change.

2. Personal problems

Severe illness of a loved one, death, divorce - this can happen to anyone and, of course, greatly affect the ability to work. Stress and grief will prevent you from focusing and making the right decisions, so if possible, it's best to take some time to recover and not deal with company affairs.

In order to survive in a difficult situation, it is important to find purpose and meaning in something more, for example, in helping others, and to link the company's activities to this. You need to believe that as you continue to develop the company and strive for your dream, you are doing an important job.

3. Loss of a major client

Typically, a company has several important customers that generate most of the annual income. And if one of them decides to go to a competitor or simply ceases to need a service or product, this can lead to serious financial stress.

Anyway, thank the client for their cooperation, and then push with marketing and sales. Be sure to try to find out why you lost it. Ask them to be honest about what you should have done differently to make him happy. Use this information in the future to interact with other customers.

If it's not about your work, but about changing the priorities of the customer himself, ask to write a review about you and post it on your website.

4. Team difficulties

All people are different in character, so conflicts arise over time in any team. At the initial stages, when everything is still uncertain, the risk is especially high. Author «Business founder ledger"Harvard professor Noam Wasserman writes that 65% of startups fail because of personal conflicts between founders.

The reasons for disagreement can be very different, but conflicts usually arise when something remains unspoken. And in order to resolve them, you need to pull out what is not spoken. For example, it can be an unmet desire for power, respect or recognition, problems with cohesion. Discuss and resolve these issues - and tension in a team will subside.