Entrepreneurship is becoming more appealing among the youth today. Though it’s harder than being an employee, the rewards are greater in the long run. You are your own boss, and you have more control of your time. But starting a business, especially in a remote area, is more challenging than many people expect.
The requirements for starting a business can be overwhelming. The easier and faster route is to make it home-based. But even that will become difficult after some time. It’s either your business won’t grow fast enough or so rapidly that you’d need to expand sooner than you thought. So whether your startup is home-based or office-based, the path will be rocky before you can settle.
To get a clearer idea of your entrepreneurship journey, here are the top challenges of starting and running a business in a remote area:
1. Obtaining Financing
It’s always been hard to get financing for startups in remote areas. It may even be harder today because of the pandemic. Aside from having a smaller market, startups may also be disadvantaged by their insubstantial financial activity. This discourages banks from giving them a business loan. They deem that the risk of failure for remote area startups is just too high.
Thankfully, alternative lenders are now more accessible for both startups and expanding businesses in remotes locations. But to get the financing you desire, you should plan.
Getting a business loan isn’t the same as getting a mortgage. To be approved by a lender, you need to pitch your business. You should highlight what makes it beneficial for your market. Your business plan has to include your market research, the analysis of your competitors, risks, marketing strategies, and more. The lender should share your vision for success in the end. That’s how you’ll increase your likelihood of getting the loan.
2. Financial Management
Once you started the business, you’ll deal with cash flow. To handle that, you need good financial management. That’s when banking enters the picture. All businesses need their own bank accounts. You can’t just store all your cash in a safe or deposit them in your personal bank account.
But banking can be challenging in remote areas. You could run the risk of being robbed because banks aren’t accessible from your location. In addition, banks have certain requirements regarding corporate deposit accounts. Taking care of those requirements might be inconvenient, especially if you’re a one-man startup.
The best way to mitigate this risk is to work with business financial consultancy firms. They’ll help you with everything that has to do with banking. They’ll be your bank liaison, delivering forms for you to sign and submitting requirements on your behalf. You can also ask them for advice regarding investments.
3. Getting Insured
Whether your business is located in a major city or remote area, getting insured won’t be easy. There are several types of business insurance every entrepreneur needs. First is health insurance; it protects against injuries or illnesses you might get because of running your business. If you’d hire employees, they’d need their own health insurance, too.
The other types of insurance you need are property insurance, general liability insurance, and worker’s compensation. If you’d operate an e-commerce site, you may need cyber insurance as well. It’s a type of insurance that specifically covers costs for cybersecurity threats like malware and hacking.
Getting insured is costly, so your business needs to make plenty of profits to make up. But in a remote area, meeting financial goals can be challenging. If you’re from a tourist destination, you should ideally make the most money from tourists. But since traveling is still restricted, you only have locals to market to. Thus, your best weapon for now is a compelling marketing strategy that will entice locals to support your business.
4. Growing Your Team
When your business grows, you’d need to delegate your tasks. You’ll focus on managerial duties while your employees handle administrative and sales-related tasks. Without a doubt, this is a remarkable milestone for your business. Not many startups get this far because of the high failure rates.
Growing your team won’t be as easy as it sounds, though. Many eligible candidates from remote areas would rather work in the city, where wages tend to be higher. If you can only offer minimum wage, the talent you’ll attract wouldn’t be that stellar. However, that’s not necessarily a problem. You can develop talent through training. If your employees are eager to learn, they’ll value their job experience over their salary. They’ll be like you, who started with something small but built themselves up through knowledge and experience.
Your remote location doesn’t have to be your startup’s weakness. In fact, it may be advantageous in the future, particularly if remote working becomes the norm. More people will vacate cities by then and live in provinces. Let this possibility be your motivator.
