One of the main problems faced by the founder or CEO is choosing which business challenges you need to tackle yourself, and where it’s worth investing in outside help. Many people are drawn to founding their own businesses by a desire for independence and it can be difficult to look to others for help, even when you’re really in need.
If you’re not able to identify those key areas where your business can get some much-needed independent expertise you, risk becoming overwhelmed and burning out. This is not something to take lightly. Founder burn out is a very real phenomenon, and you should take steps to avoid it cutting your business career short.
Market Research
The value of good market research to your business is almost incalculable. Market research can help you identify opportunities and gaps in the market that you can take advantage of with new products and deals, and help you identify your audience to help you target your marketing more accurately, and get more results for less spend.
Market research can also track the progress of your business, identifying the waxing and waning of your brand strength and market share. More specifically, a brand tracking agency can help you understand how customers rate your brand for the key characteristics that define its success both in absolute terms, and against your competitors, to help you understand how you are performing and if your decisions are proving to be successful or less so.
Accounting
If you’ve never run a business before, then filing business accounts can prove to be a big challenge. Even if you’re able to get all paperwork filed on time and bills paid, there’s no guarantee you’re navigating the complicated system in the most efficient possible way. It’s well worth hiring a business accountant, either specifically to ensure you’re getting your tax return filled in correctly and on time, avoiding your paying more tax than necessary – or to review your practices in general, and ensuring you’re filing systems, expenses claims processes and invoicing are all the best they can possibly be.
Human Resources
HR is a much under-served area in the start up field. When your team is small, new and tightly knit, it can feel like a waste to spend money on HR staff, and indeed it may be that you simply don’t have enough of a workforce to justify a full time HR specialist.
It’s still more than worth looking into either hiring part time HR staff, or an interim HR manager who can help you set up the systems that can regulate annual leave, sick days and the monitoring and development of your team until you’re ready to hire dedicated, full HR assistants and managers.