How To Avoid Discouragement In Your 1st Year of Business.
Starting a business is usually sparks enthusiasm and excitement. But it is also natural for your heightened enthusiasm to drop like a ball during your first year in business. As a new entrepreneur, you will most likely be disappointed at the results, especially when expenses and situations come up that you didn't expect. But don’t let that discourage you because most successful business owners today will tell you they had the same experience.
One way to survive disappointments and failures is to stay focused on your ultimate goal. It is very easy to get discouraged and give up when things aren't going the way you anticipated. But if you keep striving, you will realize through the years, that the mistakes you made during your first year was part of your learning curve.
Usually when a business collapses during the first year, it is probably because the owner’s entrepreneurial drive evaporates and they convince themselves that business is too hard.
How to Survive Your First Year In Business
1) Don't get caught up in hypes. When you start your business, you will receive lots of emails from people trying to sell all kinds of products they claim will enhance your business. That’s because your information has been sold. You have no control over that because you won’t know who did it. Since it's usually sold to more than one person, there's nothing you will be able to do except you unsubscribe..
2) Your curiosity to accept “free trial offers” will be tested. If you don’t need it, “delete” or “unsubscribe” quickly. Understand that there is a difference between what you “want” and what you “need” for your business. If you don’t need it at that moment, simply hit the “delete” button or “unsubscribe.” If it is something you really need, make sure to read the fine print before you take out you wallet.
3) Commit to the passion of your business. Let whatever motivated you be the driving force behind the business. You may not readily see the results, but with time you will.
4) Start small to grow big. It is always advisable to start your business in your local community. Doing business with the residents of your community is a great source for referral marketing which is always free. After your business have saturated in your community, then you can start planning to go big.
5) Don’t act on impulse and treat your business like a get-rich-quick scheme. Carefully plan your strategies and test them out to see which ones work.
6) Don’t readily quit your job. If anything, get a part time job to ease the financial stress you may face at some point. 
7) Avoid using your profit to sustain your personal needs. Decide on a set amount to pay yourself weekly or bi-weekly. This will help take care of your household or personal expenses while you grow your business.
8) When you’re cash-strapped, it is better to rent than to buy. There are some equipment that you can rent short-term if you can’t avoid to buy one. If you can afford to buy a used one in good condition, that is another alternative if you are on a budget.
9) Let additional borrowing be a last resort. If there are things around the house you can sell to raise money for your business, that will be better alternative compared to borrowing which usually has interest.
9) Test different marketing strategies to see what promotional methods work and stay with the ones that does.
10) Use Freelancers and Virtual Assistant for your clerical and administrative tasks if you can’t afford to hire full or part-time employees. It will save you thousands of dollars in payroll and employee benefits because maintaining employees can be very costly if you’re just starting out. For example, you can contract with a reputable company take care of your clerical or administrative tasks while you focus on building and growing your clientele.
11) Develop a consistent social media presence with major sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Using the smaller ones like Alignable is also good because it helps you connect with other business owners.
Lastly, be passionate about your business but don’t be overzealous. Being overzealous will lead you to crash and burn. Always keep your long-term goal in mind and consistently work towards development. When your business is stabilized, your opportunities will be unlimited.
