Starting your own small business can be exciting for the budding entrepreneur, but it can also be scary and intimidating. You can have the best business idea in the world and execute poorly and end up killing your business before it ever has a chance. While many businesses fail within the first five years, the highest percentage within the first year doesn’t have to be the same for you and your business.
Growing up, you can likely look back to your successes and failures and realize that the common thread to whether you were successful or failed was preparation. Entrepreneurs can’t just come up with a business idea and jump in the deep end without being prepared to swim. Besides writing a great business plan and lining up financing, here are five keys to business success every entrepreneur needs to know.
Stand Out
Your business could be an innovativeidea no one else has come up with; however, it doesn’t need to be the next new thing to be successful. Even if you decide to start a business that is in a saturated market, don’t let that discourage you if it is a business you have a passion for the business you want to start. The key, in this case, is to be unique within the market. Have a product or service in addition to the standards that no one else has and make it your focal point.
This is the time for you to be bold and creative. There are no limitations for the eager and forward-thinking entrepreneur, not afraid to stand out.
Network!
Networking has been in existence since the beginning of time and is nothing new to the business world. While larger businesses have staff dedicated to networking and partnerships, networking is up to you for the small business entrepreneur. You can start by joining every local small business group that makes sense for your business.
You can also use your social media to network with friends and family, and if you use hashtags, you can connect to others outside of your direct connections. Networking with all types of businesses can be rewarding. You can be a source if other business owners need the products and service your business offers, or they may send referral business from their customers that need what you offer through your business that they do not.
Watch the Competition
Every business should be acutely aware of their competition. This awareness is not reserved for direct competition but also indirect competitors. To be the most competitive in your market, you should begin by knowing your closest competitor almost as well as you know yourself. Research them, know their best practices and what works for them, and determine their weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.
Knowing the competition can also lead to other networking possibilities. Competition doesn’t have to equal contention. There can be opportunities to partner to increase revenue and your customer base.
Take Care of Your Business Credit
All credit, whether personal or business, is important. While your personal credit score can prevent you from making large purchases or cost you in high-interest rates or loan denials, if it is negative, your business credit is even more critical to keep positive. Businesses can have downturns, emergencies, or unforeseen circumstances that will require capital that may not be on hand. If you need a small business loan, it could be the difference between survival or total failure if your credit prevents financial assistance.
Always pay your accounts payables on time, early, or better yet, in full. Ensure that all business loans and credit cards are paid quickly and consider your business credit score one of the most important things for you to protect.
Pricing
Many small businesses make one crucial mistake they shouldn’t be making and incorrectly set their prices. There is a fine balance between overpricing and underpricing. Pricing is a lot easier than you might think. Some market and competitor pricing research and calculations on operations costs will ensure that your pricing will not only be competitive but keep your operations running.
Conclusion
Every entrepreneur has a lot to consider and plan for when starting your own business. Focusing on standing out, networking, knowing your competition, taking care of your business credit, and pricing will ensure your business not only succeeds but flourishes.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
6 Strategies to Keep Investors Happy While You Grow
Keeping investors happy while you grow requires transparent communication, consistent updates, clear financial reporting, realistic expectations, strategic engagement, and building long-term relationships based on trust and credibility. The secret is simple: informed investors are confident investors, and confident investors support your vision even during challenging times.
When I started Complete Controller over 20 years ago, I made every mistake in the investor relations playbook. I communicated sporadically. I soft-pedaled bad news. I treated updates as an afterthought. The result? Nervous investors, strained relationships, and a founder constantly in firefighting mode. Today, after working with thousands of businesses across all sectors, I’ve learned that investor relations is your competitive advantage. This article breaks down exactly how to transform your investors from fund sources into trusted advisors, with frameworks tested across our diverse client base and tactics you can implement immediately.
What does it mean to keep investors happy?
Keeping investors happy means maintaining regular, honest communication that aligns their expectations with your company’s actual trajectory and challenges
Research from PwC’s 2024 Global Investor Survey found that 83% of investors believe companies that communicate effectively perform better—and 77% are more likely to provide strategic support like introductions and mentorship
Happy investors become advocates, referring new capital and opening doors for partnerships
Unhappy investors create noise, distraction, and friction that divert your focus from building the business
The foundation of investor happiness is trust, built through transparency about both wins and obstacles
Strategy 1: Master the Art of Consistent, Strategic Communication
Communication is the guardrail that prevents investor worry from spiraling into panic. The mistake most founders make is thinking communication means one annual update. In reality, it’s about maintaining a rhythm that keeps investors in the loop without drowning them in noise.
Build a quarterly update schedule
Your investors should expect communication from you on a predictable cadence. While quarterly updates are the industry standard, data from 870+ founders reveals that 60% are actually sending monthly updates—a practice tied to stronger investor relationships and follow-on funding success. These shouldn’t be lengthy; a two-to-three-page letter covering milestones, financial highlights, and near-term objectives works perfectly.
What to include in your quarterly update:
Key metrics (revenue, user growth, product milestones)
Challenges encountered and your response strategy
Market developments that affect your trajectory
Upcoming initiatives investors should track
Share the good news generously
Don’t wait for perfect moments to communicate. Share press coverage, product launches, customer wins, and team additions as they happen. This habit does two things: it keeps investors energized about the business, and it establishes a track record of forward momentum that contextualizes harder conversations later.
Create a tiered communication approach
Not all investors are created equal. Your lead investors and board members warrant deeper engagement than passive investors. A tiered approach respects everyone’s time while maintaining relationships.
Tier 3 (Passive Investors): Semi-annual or annual updates via email or portal
Strategy 2: Build Trust Through Radical Transparency About Money and Metrics
Investors have one primal fear: that their money is being mismanaged or that you’re hiding bad news. Transparency is the antidote. This doesn’t mean sharing every micro-decision; it means being forthright about financial performance, roadblocks, and changes to your original plan.
Provide regular financial statements
At minimum, investors expect quarterly financial statements showing revenue, burn rate, runway, and key unit economics. A recent survey found that 80% of investors now expect higher transparency from companies they back, particularly regarding how capital is being deployed. Vague or delayed reporting actively erodes investor confidence.
Pro tip: A one-page financial dashboard is more effective than a 20-page report. Investors want clarity, not complexity. Understanding financial statements becomes easier when you focus on key metrics rather than overwhelming detail.
Reframe setbacks as proof of honest stewardship
When bad news arrives—a delayed product launch, lower-than-projected revenue, a key customer loss—the instinct is to hide it. Resist that instinct. Founders who communicate challenges early and with a clear recovery plan earn investor respect. Those who hide problems destroy credibility.
Research shows that investors who set realistic expectations from the start are more likely to sympathize with setbacks and provide constructive support during difficult periods. Your honesty becomes your greatest asset.
Create an investor deck that tells your story, not a fantasy
Your investor deck should be a straightforward, transparent tool that explains where the company is heading and how you plan to get there. Avoid hype. Instead, showcase your competitive advantages, market opportunity, and proof points (customer traction, revenue growth, team strength) without overselling.
Strategy 3: Tailor Your Engagement to Your Investor Type
One-size-fits-all investor relations doesn’t work. Angel investors, institutional VCs, and strategic investors have fundamentally different needs, time horizons, and expectations. Misaligning your strategy with your investor type creates friction.
Angel and early-stage investors: Build the relationship, not just the report
Angels and friends-and-family investors invest in you. They want to feel part of your journey, not just receive financial statements. This investor type benefits from:
Invitations to company events, office tours, and customer meetings
Explicit opportunities to provide advice or introductions
Annual business update letters that celebrate milestones and acknowledge their role
Growth-stage and institutional investors: Demonstrate sophistication
As your company scales, institutional investors expect professional IR practices. They treat your company as one of many investments and want evidence that management is capable and credible.
Prepared investor decks aligned with your company story
Regular financial reporting with clear variance analysis
Formal board meetings with documented decisions and follow-ups
Annual audited financial statements (especially once you exceed $750K in annual expenses)
Strategy 4: Set Realistic Expectations From Day One
Investor disappointment rarely stems from bad outcomes alone—it stems from missed expectations. A founder who projects 100% growth and achieves 50% has failed. A founder who projects 40% and achieves 50% is a hero. This is why expectation management is foundational.
Research on venture-backed companies shows that 75% never return cash to investors. A key differentiator among the 25% that do? Those founders set realistic expectations early and communicate transparently about progress and setbacks, building credibility reserves that help them secure follow-on funding and investor support during challenges.
Be explicit about what you know and don’t know
The worst thing a founder can do is pretend certainty about an uncertain future. Instead, communicate like this:
“We project 15% monthly growth based on current customer acquisition trends. However, we’re uncertain about how our largest customer renewal will affect Q4 projections.”
“The product roadmap is on track for Q2 launch. That said, we’ve identified a potential technical challenge we’re currently stress-testing.”
This approach demonstrates thoughtfulness and invites investors into your decision-making process rather than creating adversarial surprise.
Strategy 5: Create Systems That Keep Investor Relationships on Track
Investor relations shouldn’t live in your head or an email thread. Smart founders build systems that ensure consistency, capture valuable feedback, and create an audit trail of investor engagement.
Implement an investor portal or CMS
Tools like Forge, Carta, or even a simple Notion database centralize investor information. Moving from spreadsheets to CRMs transforms how you manage these critical relationships:
Investor contact details, investment amounts, and entry valuations
When an investor raises a concern or offers advice, document it and circle back. After investor meetings, summarize key discussion points and flag outstanding questions with due dates. This signals that you’re listening and taking their input seriously.
Strategy 6: Position Yourself as a Credible Thought Partner
The best investor relationships transcend capital and enter advisory territory. When investors see you as a serious operator—knowledgeable about your business and industry, open about shortcomings, and clear-headed about strategy—they shift from skeptics to advocates.
Harvard’s 2024 survey of institutional investors found that 85% said meaningful engagement and dialogue significantly influenced their major decisions about the company. This data proves that one-way broadcasting isn’t enough.
Demonstrate deep knowledge of your industry
Investors are pattern-matching against their experience with other companies. When you reference competitive dynamics, regulatory headwinds, or market shifts with nuance, you signal sophistication. Weave market intelligence naturally into your updates.
Example: “Our CAC has increased 15% YoY due to rising paid ad costs across our category. We’re offsetting this with an expansion of our partner channel.”
Be authentic about limitations
Founders who admit what they don’t know are more credible than those who pretend omniscience. Your investors have seen thousands of companies; they’ll spot BS immediately.
Building your position as a thought leader requires authenticity above all else. Instead of “We’ll dominate this market,” try: “We have a clear advantage in product innovation. We’re uncertain about regulatory headwinds. Here’s what we’re doing to gather data.”
Managing Bad News Without Losing Investor Confidence
The true test of investor relations arrives when you have bad news to share. Missing revenue targets, losing a major customer, or pivoting your business model can feel like an existential threat to the investor relationship. But handled correctly, crisis communication can actually strengthen your credibility.
Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, faced a similar challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the company faced a 67% revenue drop in 2020, Chesky shifted to direct, transparent communication about both challenges and recovery plans. This shift in communication style coincided with Airbnb’s turnaround to profitability within a year, demonstrating that authenticity builds trust even in crisis.
The 48-hour rule
When you discover a significant setback, tell your investors before the wider organization knows. This prevents information asymmetry and positions you as a steward of their interests.
Pair bad news with a clear response strategy
Never deliver bad news alone. Always include:
What happened: Be factual and brief
Why it happened: Show you understand root cause
How you’re responding: Outline specific actions and timelines
What support you might need: Introductions, strategic advice, etc.
Final Thoughts
After two decades of running Complete Controller and working with businesses across every sector, I’ve seen how transformative strong investor relations can be. The companies that thrive don’t just have great products or markets—they have investors who feel informed, valued, and engaged.
The six strategies outlined here aren’t theoretical. They’re battle-tested approaches that turn nervous investors into enthusiastic advocates. Start with one strategy. Build the habit. Then layer in the others. Your future self—and your investors—will thank you.
Ready to level up your financial operations and investor communications? The experts at Complete Controller specialize in helping growth-stage companies build the financial infrastructure and reporting systems that keep investors confident. Contact us today to learn how we can support your journey from startup to scale.
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Keep Investors Happy
How often should I really communicate with my investors?
While quarterly updates are the baseline, 60% of successful founders send monthly updates. The key is consistency—pick a cadence you can maintain and stick to it religiously.
What’s the best way to deliver bad news to investors?
Follow the 48-hour rule: communicate within 48 hours of discovering the issue, pair the bad news with your response plan, and be specific about what support you need from them.
How detailed should financial reporting be for angel investors vs. VCs?
Angel investors typically want conversational updates with basic metrics. VCs expect professional reporting with variance analysis, unit economics, and detailed financial statements.
What if an investor becomes overly involved or demanding?
Set clear boundaries through your tiered communication approach. Schedule specific times for investor interactions and redirect excessive requests to your regular update schedule.
How do I rebuild trust after a major setback or missed projections?
Acknowledge the miss directly, explain what you learned, share your adjusted strategy, and then over-communicate progress against your new plan. Consistency in follow-through rebuilds credibility.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
Jennifer BrazerFounder/CEO
Jennifer is the author of From Cubicle to Cloud and Founder/CEO of Complete Controller, a pioneering financial services firm that helps entrepreneurs break free of traditional constraints and scale their businesses to new heights.
Brittany McMillen is a seasoned Marketing Manager with a sharp eye for strategy and storytelling. With a background in digital marketing, brand development, and customer engagement, she brings a results-driven mindset to every project. Brittany specializes in crafting compelling content and optimizing user experiences that convert. When she’s not reviewing content, she’s exploring the latest marketing trends or championing small business success.
Many millionaires that were not born into the money became a millionaire by turning their talent into a lucrative business. While your talent may not make you a millionaire, it can still be your business’s basis and be a fulfilling career you will love. Here are five steps you need to take to turn your talent into a business.
Question Your Level of Passion
Talent alone will not make your business a success. You have to have a deep passion for your business to not only survive those first crucial years of the business but to have a long and lucrative career.
If your passion is temporary, your business will be temporary and fail within the first year or two. Passion also drives your knowledge. If your business based on your talent requires education or certifications, if your passion is fleeting, you won’t complete the education required, and your business will fail.
Starting and operating a business is hard work and often takes up more hours than working for someone else, so your passion is essential to drive forward even when challenging.
Push Through the Challenges
Most entrepreneurs who start a business of any kind will tell you that every stage of starting and operating a business is a challenge. If you have assessed your passion and know you want to use your talent to create a business, you will still need the stamina to work through the inevitable difficulties of running a business.
Some of the challenges that come with running a business can be overwhelming and even a little scary. You have to keep going despite these times. However, you don’t just have to endure the challenges. You can develop your business and come up with creative ideas to meet these challenges.
Develop Your Brand
Your talent and passion got the business started and helped drive you through the challenges, but your business’s success and longevity rely on customers. The best way to gain and retain customers is to develop your brand and market it.
To develop your brand know what makes you and your business unique or find the focal point of your business, which could be the talent or a specific product or service your business offers. Whatever makes your business stand out from others in the market is what you should build your brand around. That unique quality will be the strongest foundation for your business and your brand.
Also, having a strong brand will make it easier to develop marketing strategies. Go back and think about the millionaires you are aware of that built a business on their talent and identify their brand. Their brand is likely what you thought of first, not the millionaire.
Keep Focused
Keeping your focus on the overall operations of your business is a given. If you allow outside influences and challenges to distract you, your business may fail. Some of the distractions are unavoidable issues. It would be best if you gave some attention to resolve them. Other distractions can be people who don’t support you or your business.
Starting and operating your own business, especially one based on your talent, can draw a lot of negativity from your friends and family who don’t see the potential you do. Despite this negativity, keep your focus. This is not their business or life, it is yours, and it requires your entire attention and efforts.
Assess Your Business
It is important that you continually assess your business. Assessments are meant to test how your business is succeeding and where it is failing. You can make these assessments weekly, monthly, or yearly. If you have regular assessments, it lets you and your staff make changes to grow your business.
Sometimes your business will start strong and fizzle. This is not necessarily because your passion or desire for the business has faded. You are doing some of the same things now that you did initially, and these strategies no longer work.
Conclusion
Using your talent to start your own business is a great idea if you have a passion for owning and operating a business based on that talent. If you decide to use this talent to work for yourself instead of lending your talent to someone else’s business, you will surely succeed if you follow these steps.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
Accounting and bookkeeping are a part of every business, no matter the size. Most larger businesses have entire departments dedicated to accounting, payroll, and the business’s financial workings. Small to medium businesses may or may not have staff dedicated to accounting and bookkeeping, but most small businesses resort to handling their accounting and bookkeeping through software. While most users will immediately jump on Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software, known for its vast number of features and user-friendly design, other accounting and bookkeeping software are considered. Here is five accounting and bookkeeping software to consider for your business.
GnuCash
GnuCash is considered an extremely simple and user-friendly bookkeeping software. It is a great alternative to other bookkeeping and accounting software because it has efficient services and works with the vast majority of operating systems, including Mac and Windows PCs. Those who use it say its design is easy to use and integrated into your business no matter the size.
TurboCASH
TurboCASH is the perfect accounting tool to manage financial activities specifically for small and medium businesses. The greatest thing about TurboCASH is that it can handle more than one business at a time. So if you have multiple businesses or want your business and personal accounting and bookkeeping needs in one place, this software makes that possible. It is also an open-source accounting app that provides financial management services to financial businesses, and because of the open-sourcing, it has an incredible online community for support.
NCH Express Invoice
The NCH express invoice software is used to generate invoices, orders, quotes, and forms. Just as the name implies, this software is not as much an accounting and bookkeeping software as it is an invoice generating software. It still makes this list because users say it has great use in their business, and it is often used in concert with accounting and bookkeeping software that doesn’t have features that include invoicing.
Wave
Wave is an accounting application integrated to run home business bookkeeping and is mainly used to provide cloud-based services specifically to cater to accounting activities. This accounting application is used to manage the finances of small and medium businesses. It is also best known for having a user-friendly design with great service and features and excellent functions for small to medium businesses. Wave is also considered a highly-efficient software that is free; however, it will incur some costs if you want to include some of the upgraded services it offers for a nominal fee.
Money Manager Ex
Money Manager Ex is designed to manage accounts for small businesses and household finances efficiently and effectively. It is user-friendly, has excellent accounting features, and it is easy to use between devices. Like TurboCASH, Money Manager Ex is an open-source tool designed to deliver usable accounting services.
Accounting, bookkeeping, and invoicing software are not limited to one brand or service through some software that may be more recognized or widely used, such as Intuit’s QuickBooks. Some business needs are such that more expensive accounting and bookkeeping software would waste precious small business funds.
When deciding what software to use to take care of your business’s accounting and bookkeeping, you must do some research and get what you can afford to do the job you need to be done. When deciding what software to use, the other thing to consider is whether the software will still work if you meet your business plan growth projections. You can switch to an upgraded software to accommodate your business after growth. Sometimes, this change can cause issues, so you may want to consider an accounting and bookkeeping software your business can grow into rather than one that fits your current needs.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
Many people dream of starting their own business but better yet to start their own home-based business. The advantages of owning your own business and being at home while you do it are many. Besides the fact that you can work in your pajamas, be inches away from coffee at all times, and hold afternoon cuddle meetings with your pet if you want to, there are business advantages as well.
Because you will not be leasing space, you will have low overhead and even claim part of your home under your tax deductions. The commute savings will add up, especially when it reduces car repair costs and gassing up. Though this may all sound great, some people have no idea what kind of business to start in their home. Here are five really easy to start home-based businesses you could start today with little to no capital.
Online Sales
In the past direct sales required you to network with your friends and family and other potential customers in person. With the online environment and especially social media, you can sell anything and everything without having to leave your house or even meet face-to-face. You can post what you sell on your pages and social media profiles and even have business pages free to sell the products or services you represent.
You can also resell items you buy second-hand and repurpose or refurbish. This can also be done on social media marketplaces or apps that charge no fees to use them. The online environment can make your sales possibilities endless.
Tutoring or Lessons
Tutoring or giving lessons requires no degree nor any other requirement but that you are proficient at the subject of your tutoring or whatever craft for which you are giving lessons. If you are multi-talented, the possibilities are endless, and you could feasibly make a healthy living if the subjects are in demand. You can also have a lot of flexibility to tutor or give lessons in your home or travel to your student’s home. Also, some lessons can be done online through video chat and meeting platforms. The ability to give lessons online could open your business up to the world!
Home Baking or Food Prep
In the busy world, we live in. Many have less time to spend cooking, especially healthy meals. Also, baked goods, cakes, and other goodies are always on demand for special occasions. If you love to bake or cook, you could easily start a home-based bakery, catering, or food prep business. The most challenging part of this business, besides the possible weight-gain, is that you would have to figure out your delivery system. This might limit your business to local only though some baked goods ship well.
Freelance Writing
If you are a good writer, you can quickly start a freelance writing business. You must keep in mind that freelance writing is an extremely competitive market, so you will have to be creative and diligent to secure yourself enough work to earn a full-time income. There are sites that you can put yourself on as a writer for hire. You can also use various social media platforms and low-priced to free sites to run ads. If you can get your name out there and gain a reputation and build your writing portfolio, freelance writing can be a lucrative business that can also lead to bigger writing jobs.
Social Media Marketer
If you are social media savvy, you can make an outstanding living as a social media marketer. Many businesses, large and small, don’t have time to dedicate to social media marketing enough to do them any good. Many small to medium businesses will hire independent marketers to handle their social media presence. If you get a good client base, you can feasibly earn enough to do this full time from the comfort of your own home, pajamas, and bunny slippers.
There is an endless number of businesses you can run out of your home, but these are some home-based businesses you can start right now! What are you waiting for?
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
Every financial advisor or guru will say the word savings more than any other English language. The reason is that savings are important for financial freedom. Still, it is crucial to your future, and in case disaster strikes such as job loss, a broken-down vehicle, or an unforeseen medical expense. If you are not saving now, you need to start immediately. You don’t have to start with large and unreasonable amounts of money. It would be best if you eased into savings until you get used to being without the income in your personal operating costs and increase as you can.
You can do some things to increase savings may seem like they are obvious, and they are, but regardless of this, many don’t do them. An astounding amount of adults with great incomes fail to save any of it even though to do so would be simple. So for those that are not saving or saving enough, here are five ways you can start working towards financial freedom through some savvy savings ideas.
Retirement Fund
An amazing number of those saving nothing at all work for a company with at least one retirement fund, if not multiple retirement funds or other types of savings plans. The best thing about all of them is that they take it out of your paycheck before receiving it, so you don’t even miss it and are forced to adjust your budget around your adjusted income without it. If you are not contributing to your company offered a retirement fund, you should immediately make an appointment with the appropriate department to rectify this mistake.
If you are unsure how much to contribute, there are a few ways to decide. If your company will match up to a certain percentage, contribute at least that percentage; that match is free money. If they don’t offer a savings match, figure out the minimum you can live on from your income with some padding and contribute whatever percentage or fixed amount you have remaining. The truth is, you are not saving now, so any amount will be a vast improvement over zero.
Cut Expenses
Many people shy away from cutting expenses because, in this instant gratification, the high-consumption world we live in today, we often fulfill every desire of our heart when it comes to spending. In some cases, people spend outside their means for this fact. Now is the time for you to take yourself out of the race against the Joneses and create a budget so you can identify all your expenses, specifically the ones you can cut out.
It is not suggested you have no fun and don’t enjoy your life or hard-earned money. Rather, what is being suggested is that you don’t do so over having healthy savings. To do this, you need to create the dreaded budget, cut as many expenses as you can live without, and reallocate that money to debts first, then savings. If you have set up automatic savings account payments from your paycheck or other income with your banking institution, much like your savings at work, you won’t miss it and will adjust your budget around the new income without it.
Investments
Outside of the investments that would be made on your behalf through your retirement fund, you should participate in some level of personal investing. If you are a novice or don’t have a lot to invest, you should hire and consult a professional financial advisor or investment manager. This professional can help evaluate your risk tolerance and limits and make investments on your behalf accordingly. It is not to say you cannot or should not strike out on your own. However, unless you are knowledgeable in the intricacies of good investing, leave it to a pro.
Eradicate Debt
The easiest way to have income that can be put into your savings is to become debt-free. This freedom is not just beneficial to your savings account, but it is an accomplishment that can help you make big purchases such as a home or vehicle. Working towards eliminating debt and achieving it should be followed up with putting your new surplus into savings and then never allowing yourself to go into bad debt again. Getting into a mortgage or using credit to purchase a new vehicle is a good debt to carry as long as you pay it down as quickly as possible.
Savings Account(s)
There are many savings account types, some of which are lower in interest gains and lower risk. Others are investment savings accounts, which carry some risks but have higher interest payoffs. To decide what kind of savings account(s) to have, you should research the options, evaluate the risks or hire a professional financial advisor to help you decide best for you and your financial freedom.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
5 Small Business Challenges & How to Overcome Them
Small business challenges overcome with confidence start by tackling five core pain points head-on: cash flow, customer acquisition, workforce productivity, operational efficiency, and access to funding—each with specific strategies you can put into action within the next 90 days. When you address these five areas systematically, you stabilize your finances, attract better customers, build a stronger team, streamline operations, and unlock growth instead of constantly putting out fires.
After more than 20 years leading Complete Controller and working alongside thousands of small business owners across nearly every industry you can name, I’ve learned that most “unique” problems actually fit into a small set of repeating patterns. Here’s the good news: once you see the pattern, you can change it. In this article, I’ll walk you through the five challenges I see most often, share the same frameworks I use when turning around clients’ back offices, and give you practical steps to move from reactive firefighter to confident, strategic leader. You’ll walk away with sharper financial habits, smarter marketing instincts, stronger team systems, and a clearer path to scale.
What are the 5 small business challenges and how do you overcome them?
The five core challenges are cash flow, customer acquisition, workforce productivity, operational efficiency and scalability, and funding access—overcome with disciplined financial management, targeted marketing, intentional team systems, smart automation, and strategic financing.
Cash flow: Tighten receivables, manage payables, and use cloud-based bookkeeping plus forecasting for proactive decisions.
Customer acquisition: Clarify your ideal customer, focus on a few high-ROI digital marketing strategies, and build simple funnels that convert and retain.
Workforce productivity: Define roles, use light project tools, and invest in hiring and training employees so you’re not the bottleneck.
Operational efficiency & funding: Document workflows, adopt business process automation where it truly saves time, and pair cost control with diverse small business funding options.
Challenge 1 – How to Overcome Cash Flow Problems for Small Businesses
Cash flow management: The daily discipline that keeps you in business
Strong cash flow management is less about a once-a-year review and more about a weekly rhythm. The owners who win build a simple cash dashboard, watch it religiously, and act fast.
Define cash flow clearly: Profit is an opinion; cash is a fact.
Set up a weekly cash dashboard: Track inflows and outflows using cloud bookkeeping.
Align billing with reality: Shorten receivable cycles, request deposits, and enforce late fees.
Build a 2–3 month reserve: A realistic safety net for most small businesses.
Practical steps: How to overcome cash flow problems for small businesses
When clients call me in crisis mode, I follow a repeatable four-step playbook that almost always stabilizes things within 90 days.
Diagnose cash leaks by reviewing AR aging, AP terms, and recurring subscription waste.
Tighten collections with automated reminders, payment plans, and early-pay discounts.
Smooth expenses by renegotiating rent and vendor terms; shift annual payments to monthly where helpful.
Forecast conservatively with a 90-day rolling forecast and best/worst-case scenarios.
Case study: Turning a seasonal cash crunch into predictable stability
One retail client had strong holiday sales but bled cash every off-season, relying on high-interest credit each year. By building reserves during peak season, adjusting inventory purchases, and exploring microloans, they covered core off-season expenses within one year and slashed expensive debt dependence.
Challenge 2 – Small Business Challenges Overcome Through Smarter Customer Acquisition
Customer acquisition: Stop chasing everyone, start attracting the right ones
The fastest growth I’ve seen at client businesses often comes from firinglow-margin customers and doubling down on profitable segments. Clarity beats volume every time.
Identify the traits of your best existing customers (margin, frequency, ease of service).
Build messaging around the outcomes they care about—not features.
Ready to solve your biggest business challenges? See how Complete Controller can help.
Challenge 3 – Workforce Productivity: Hiring and Training So Your Business Isn’t Just You
Workforce productivity unravels when roles are fuzzy and the founder is the bottleneck. Fixing that starts with clear roles, light systems, and intentional hiring.
Workforce productivity: More output without burnout
Moving key tasks off the owner’s plate often doubles team moraleand business capacity. The trick is structure, not heroics.
Define crisp roles and responsibilities.
Use a simple project management tool to track tasks and deadlines.
Add basic performance metrics like revenue per employee.
Hiring and training employees the lean way
Hire for attitude, train for skill—especially on small teams where culture is everything.
Use a lean onboarding plan with clear 30-60-90 day expectations.
Provide SOPs and assign one mentor per new hire.
Run short, regular micro-trainings instead of rare big ones.
Cross-train to protect against turnover and illness.
Challenge 4 – How to Improve Operational Efficiency in a Small Business
Operational efficiency is where I begin every turnaround engagement. Fix the back office before you pour more growth on top of broken processes—it’s the most powerful lever you have. Per the U.S. Small Business Administration’s guidance on keeping finances in order, strong financial systems are foundational to scaling.
The four-step efficiency playbook
Simplify: Remove duplicate approvals and unused reports.
Standardize: Build SOPs, checklists, and templates.
Automate: Use business process automation for invoicing, reminders, and approvals.
Measure: Track cycle times and error rates before and after changes.
Steps to scale a small business without losing profitability
Growth without margin discipline is just expensive chaos.
Pilot new offerings before full rollout.
Watch unit economics, labor costs, and discount creep.
Plan capacity ahead of demand so quality never slips.
Challenge 5 – Small Business Funding Options and Smart Cost Control
Funding is rarely a single answer—it’s a portfolio decision. Pair smart financing with disciplined cost control and you’ll outlast competitors who rely on either alone.
Strengthen your creditworthiness first: clean financial statements, solid credit scores, and a clear business plan open more doors at better rates.
Budget optimization and proactive risk management
A rolling budget tied to your 90-day cash forecast keeps you honest.
Separate fixed vs. variable costs so you know what scales with growth.
Cut duplicate tools and vanity spend.
Build a quarterly risk register covering cash, key-person dependency, and supplier concentration.
Mitigate with reserves, insurance, and customer diversification.
Final Thoughts – Patterns, Not Panic
After supporting small businesses for over two decades, I can tell you with confidence: your situation is almost never hopeless—it’s pattern-based. Cash flow, customer acquisition, workforce productivity, operational efficiency, and funding are solvable with deliberate systems, not heroic effort. Pick one challenge to tackle in the next 30 days. Set up a weekly financial review, map one key process, and run one focused marketing experiment. Small, steady moves compound fast.
If you’re ready for expert support behind the scenes, the team at Complete Controller is here to handle your cloud-based bookkeeping, cash flow insights, and back-office systems so you can get back to leading and growing your business.
Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business Challenges Overcome
What are the biggest challenges small businesses face and how can they overcome them?
The top five are cash flow, customer acquisition, hiring and productivity, operations, and funding. Overcome them with disciplined financial management, targeted marketing, intentional team systems, smart automation, and strategic financing.
How do small businesses overcome cash flow issues?
Tighten invoicing and collections, renegotiate payment terms, build a 2–3 month cash reserve, and use accurate bookkeeping plus a 90-day rolling forecast to make proactive decisions.
What strategies increase revenue growth for small business owners?
Focus on high-margin customer segments, refine your offers, improve retention through structured follow-up, and use data-backed digital marketing strategies with clear funnels and tracked metrics.
How can a small business market effectively with a limited budget?
Prioritize two or three high-ROI channels like local SEO, email, and one social platform. Lead with owned content, leverage referrals, and continually optimize spend based on cost per acquisition.
What are the best ways to improve operational efficiency in a small business?
Map and simplify your core processes, standardize with SOPs and checklists, adopt business process automation where it truly saves time, and measure cycle times and error rates before and after changes.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
Jennifer BrazerFounder/CEO
Jennifer is the author of From Cubicle to Cloud and Founder/CEO of Complete Controller, a pioneering financial services firm that helps entrepreneurs break free of traditional constraints and scale their businesses to new heights.
Brittany McMillen is a seasoned Marketing Manager with a sharp eye for strategy and storytelling. With a background in digital marketing, brand development, and customer engagement, she brings a results-driven mindset to every project. Brittany specializes in crafting compelling content and optimizing user experiences that convert. When she’s not reviewing content, she’s exploring the latest marketing trends or championing small business success.
There is an astonishing amount of people in the world who have no idea what their credit score is or how it even impacts their financial health. Even if you never need a loan or credit card, your credit score is used for many reasons that can negativelyaffect your life if your score is low.
To determine your insurance rates and premiums
To be able to rent a home, apartment, or car
Down payments to get cable, internet, or phone service
To make purchases with payment plans
To determine if a company will hire you
Knowing that your credit score can affect so many aspects of your life, you must know how to get and keep a good, if not great, credit score. Here are six simple strategies to help you get and keep a good credit score.
Pay Your Bills on Time
Paying your bills on time should be a given when it comes to your financial health, but you would be surprised how many don’t realize that some of your payments hit your credit every time you’re late. While it is not suggested that you be late on any bill payments, sometimes life is difficult, and you have to shuffle some things around to make ends meet. Make sure you pay those bills that will affect your credit on time or before they are late work with the creditor on a payment plan that won’t damage your credit.
Experian Boost
Experian has begun a program to help anyone who wants to boost their credit to do it. One of the three major credit reporting entities did something brilliant. They are allowing bills that typically are not considered on your credit that you likely pay on time every month to be considered in your credit score. You can add your utility bills and your cell phone bills into the mix of payments that will boost your credit if paid on time and see a jump in your credit score by about forty points in 90 days! Hopefully, the other two entities follow suit as this could change the face of credit if you pay these bills on time but had some credit issues that lowered your score.
Deal with Debt NOW
Debt should be the most important concern you have financially outside of necessities. If you are spending on luxuries when you are carrying debt, you make a huge financial mistake. Start with making the largest payments towards those debts that carry the highest interest rates. If you have any revolving credit such as a credit card, do not use it until all debt is paid down, or you will be back in the same boat quickly. You need to stop this debt leak. That said, do not close unused credit cards as this adversely affects your credit. Keep them open and pay any fees they have but don’t spend on them.
Multiple Lines of Credit
Even if you pay every credit card and loan on time, it will still lower your credit score if you have many lines of credit. A potential creditor will not want to see that their bill will be one among many you will struggle to pay if you fall upon hard times. While if you are paying them on time, it will help your score but not enough to overcome the hit your credit took by having too many credit lines.
Stop Applying for Credit
Just because that department store will give you a 20% discount on your current purchase for just applying for their in-store credit card doesn’t mean you should do it. Every single time there is a hard inquiry on your credit score, it lowers it. Simply put, stop doing it. Hit sales or go second-hand shopping if you want to get great deals, don’t apply for every store you shop in’s line of credit.
Dispute Your Credit Report
Many credit checking apps and websites do soft inquiries on your credit score, which doesn’t adversely affect your score even if you check it every day, multiple times a day. You need to be checking your score as regularly as possible because if there are ever any inaccuracies if you catch them and dispute them immediately, they will be removed quickly.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
Though every financially responsible adult knows that they need to budget and save, many don’t know there are some financial strategies to add to their financial plans. These plans could make a huge difference in financial freedom, the ability to make large purchases like buying a home, and having an amazing retirement instead of one full of financial struggles like so many who count on social security.
Whether you have a financial planner or don’t have a penny saved, there are financial strategies you can start implementing today that will give you the boost you need in your savings and on your path to financial freedom. Here are five easy financial strategies that work!
Vehicle Purchase Strategy
While a vehicle can say a lot about us, the truth is that if you are looking for financial freedom, your vehicle purchase can make a significant difference in obtaining it or not if you are anyone other than a person who can own a car to match any outfit. Realistically, your vehicle purchase should be well within your means, as doing anything outside of that can be disastrous for your financial health and credit.
Never buy payments. You need to know the price they are charging you, the final and the total. A common sales strategy of recent years is to find out what payment amount you can afford and sell you a car with those payments over a period that, when added up, will, in some cases, be up to three times the value of the car. Also, know the interest rate you are being charged.
Pay as large of a down payment as you can handle. If you are in a dire situation where you need to purchase the car immediately, then it is understandable that you don’t have a large down payment at the ready. However, if you have time, take that time to save to pay as much down as possible.
Do your research on the vehicle you intend to purchase and know its value. Figure out the basic payments, know your credit, run your own numbers, and be armed with them before you walk onto the lot.
Insurance Strategy
Insurance is an unfortunate necessity in every person’s life, and in some cases having insurance is the law. However, just because it is a must does not mean you have to accept what you get. It would be best if you exhausted every money-saving strategy at your disposal.
Shop, shop, and then shop some more. With healthcare, vehicles, homeowners, and other insurance that you may need, there is a lot of competition. Therefore if you are a savvy buyer, you can save hundreds a year in insurance. And don’t use those sites that say they will impartially compare. You do the research. You do the comparisons. This strategy will save you so much money.
Also, take healthy preventative precautions or driver’s education classes to lower your health and car insurance rates. Insurance doesn’t have to break your bank to be good and affordable.
10/10/80 Strategy
There are a few percentage financial strategies out there, but the 10/10/80 is among the most popular and easy to apply. This strategy says to give 10%, save 10%, and spend 80% of your income. This strategy is excellent and simple, but at some point, you will need to readjust those percentages if you want to make a more significant impact on your financial future.
50/30/20 Strategy
50/30/20 is another money allocation type of strategy with a similar formula to 10/10/80. The significant difference is that this strategy has savings built-in, but only after debt is paid. This strategy wants you to be at zero when it comes to debt before even thinking about saving. It breaks down as follows 50% goes to bills and necessities. There is no exception to this allocation. 30% towards paying down debt, and once your debt is zero. This percentage would go to savings. 20% goes to wants. This would be anything you pay for outside of bills and necessities or debt relief and savings. This is the lowest percentage on purpose. It would be best if you never were spending on wants and missing bills or leaving debt hanging over your head.
Down Payment Strategy
The down payment strategy was already touched on a bit when discussing vehicle purchases. It doesn’t take a mathematician to understand that your payments and interest rates will be lower if you put more money down on large purchases. It is suggested that you put down at least a 20% down payment, which is a great suggestion. When implementing the down payment strategy, the most important thing is that you put something down. This strategy can pay off big in the end.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
When running a small business, there are many aspects of the business that need your attention. While every aspect of your business operations is essential, marketing is essential as if you don’t have customers, the rest of the business will crumble. If your business has a good business plan, you should already have a marketing strategy. Still, there are a few areas of marketing you should highlight that can make a world of difference and drive customers to your business. Here are five simple marketing strategies you can implement that will boost your business.
Know Your Customers
Knowing your customer should be a given when it comes to business. Surprisingly, many business owners don’t take the time to get to know who their target customer or demographic is, which hurts them tremendously. First, no matter how big your business gets, you need to realize that your customers are responsible for your success and growth.
While it is understood that some businesses have a wide or unlimited target consumer, most businesses have a specific target clientele. Having this knowledge will direct your marketing strategies to have a laser focus on the intended target. This strategy will gain you customers, but it will save you valuable marketing dollars if you direct your marketing strategies this way.
Use Your Social Media
Social media marketing is perhaps one of the most popular marketing strategies because it’s free (or low cost) and easy to execute. Most people have an online presence on one or more of the three major platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. All three can be effectively used to promote your business and specific products and services you offer.
Facebook has some fairly inexpensive adoptions, and you can create free business pages that will allow you to reach potential customers and interact with existing customers. Twitter and Instagram allow you to interact with customers and potential customers in real-time and inform them of what products and services you offer. You can also answer questions or concerns on all of these platforms and receive reviews on your business page on Facebook.
While you will need to supplement social media marketing with other marketing types, if you have a strong online presence through social media, you can focus the majority of your marketing attention on this area and have great success.
Reward Your Loyal Customers
Sometimes business owners and marketing strategists get hyper-focused on gaining new business and forget about loyal customers. Just take a look at any cable/internet provider and see how many offers they have for new customers and how many they offer loyal customers; those large corporations don’t have to care for you after they get you because they already have your dollars and regular payments. Small businesses should never take on this mentality even if they grow to be a corporation. If you take care of your loyal customer, you can trust they will tell everyone they know about your business. So place in rewards, make them feel loved and cared for at every turn, and keep them happy. Your most loyal customers can be key to ideas and changes that will improve your business, product, or service.
Build Your Network
Networking over the years has almost taken on a negative reputation. When people think of networking, they dream up scenarios of people wandering around, drink in hand, handing out business cards, and having pretentious and shallow conversations. Today’s networking is done more in the digital world and, when brought into real-life, usually culminates in meeting for coffee one on one or social events that have more of a “getting to know you better” vibe than hitting as many people as possible in the palm with your business card.
With this in mind, when building your personal network, keep the word personal in mind. Your network needs to be filled with true “go-to” people you can call upon when you have a need, and they will do the same. Some of the best businesswomen and men have strong relationships, even with their competitors. There are times when your business or theirs cannot fulfill the need of a client, and if you send them their way, that will be bankable networking credit that can prove useful and profitable.
Change Your Strategy
Change is good, especially when it comes to marketing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it is an old adage that carries over in our business world today. However, if your marketing strategies that were working before are now letting you down or not as effective, change it up! Nothing says you have to do the same marketing you did at the beginning week over week or year over year. Your business should be a living and breathing thing, and so should your marketing strategy. Why do you think large and even medium businesses have entire marketing departments? Do you think they would need them if they were doing the same things repeatedly?
Conclusion
When it comes to marketing strategies, something is better than nothing, but if you follow these simple strategies, there will be a large and positive impact on your business. None of these take a lot of time or focus, but they do take some time, focus, and strategy. Try these ideas and see what happens. What have you got to lose?
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.
