RACO Investment founder Randall Castillo Ortega explains common challenges entrepreneurs face

The simple fact of undertaking a new business is already a real challenge that few usually overcome. There are a lot of things that need to be taken care of and they all deserve detailed attention so that the project finally reaches the outside world. Randall Castillo Ortega, a successful entrepreneur and SME investor, provides insight into the common challenges new entrepreneurs face.

Only 20% of startups manage to survive the first year. After five years, about 50% of companies no longer exist in the market. Another article published by Neil Patel in collaboration with Forbes ensures that 90% of startups fail and only 10% manage to succeed.

“The entrepreneur of today does not have it easy,” asserts Castillo. “However, who steps out of his or her comfort zone doing what he or she likes has a greater chance of success. It all comes down to who works with passion and dedication has better results.”

It is true that when starting a business, the first thing to do is a marketing mix to know the behavior of the market. It is necessary to make a study of the environment to understand how to sell our product or service and to whom, that is basic.

But, as the business goes on, it is making real transactions, with real customers, where entrepreneurs usually experience a hard shock. This is because what we had planned, can be slightly changed by real experiences. And not only the experiences of the business, but how the real customer perceives us.

The trends and demands of the current market are constantly changing, and in mind, we only have foreseen what we thought at the beginning of the project. Therefore, adjusting to this new change that is real, can be one of the challenges that entrepreneurs find in the progress of their business.

Keep in mind that the more competition you have in the market, the more business and competitors will be attentive to what you are doing. As good healthy competition, they will be able to anticipate the wishes of the public and improve their position in the market to leave you, well below expectations.

New entrepreneurs are constantly fighting conflicts. They are always working under trial and error, and that is perhaps one of the main reasons why a business does not survive its first year. Every day new problems, new challenges and new ways to solve them arise, but before that happens, we usually feel that nothing is going well. Before these sensations, it is best to take a break.

All our hopes are placed in the business, that everything goes well is what we ask once we are already in the market, but it turns out that without a good work team, everything can go overboard. Alone, with so many slopes, it is impossible to guarantee that the business begins to climb position in the market.

Hiring the first employees is another challenge that entrepreneurs encounter in the running of their business. Explains Castillo, “The process of recruiting, identifying and selecting the human talent that will lead our business to success, makes us free up many doubts: are we hiring the right person? What if I’m wrong? That is, many questions have to be answered, and that generates concern.”

To avoid being the target of unwanted people or people who do not add value to your business objectives, you need to create a great company culture that attracts the best talent, one that combines everything you are looking for the growth of the business, skills, attitude and adequate aptitude to assume the position, in short. Take care of creating an impeccable corporate image and human talent will come as a consequence.

The odds of something coming out more are there, latent, even if you do it yourself or put the best of your team in charge. You have to learn to deal with the mistakes of others. In fact, making mistakes is key to business growth. When you make mistakes, you can discover new paths, solutions, etc. And that, in the end, will make you grow as a business.

The cash flow in the first months and the way we manage it is another of the most common drawbacks of an entrepreneur when he already has his business going.  Part of the inconvenience with cash flow comes from the overdue accounts. While that happens, you have to solve the accounts, debts and the payment of employees, among other things.

If your business is B2B, you have to devise a plan that you can ask for an advance payment and the other remaining once the service is fulfilled. At least that way you will be calmer because you will be able to get out of your debts while the second payment arrives.

Or you can set a shorter period to make payments, that is, if in principle you had defined a period of 30 days, now reduce it to 15 days, or perhaps less, that will depend on the way you are managing cash flow. Either way, the idea is that you can keep up with accounts, so find your payment deadline before creating cash flow chaos in your business.

How you see the day-to-day life of an entrepreneur is full of challenges and depending on how you look at it, you will find them as something exciting or as the cause of your visit to the therapist every month. The important thing is that as an entrepreneur, you call for calm and that you can enjoy every stage and every process you go through while giving stability to the business.

About RACO Investment

RACO Investment is a financial investment firm serving small- and medium-sized companies in Panama and Costa Rica. It was founded by Randall Castillo Ortega, an expert financial adviser who has his roots in the import and export industry in Latin America. The firm has helped numerous startups find the financial support they needed to get off the ground. It has also contributed bridge loans to assist those looking to restructure or improve their operations.

Contact Information

Randall Castillo Ortega

Communications Manager

Randall Castillo Ortega

(506) 8829-0729

info@racoinvestment.cr