If you’re looking to give your business a boost this year, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the challenges you might face. Each year, businesses face new and difficult challenges they need to overcome and 2019 is no different.

So, let’s take a look at some of the key challenges facing small businesses in 2019 and how to overcome them.

Hiring the right talent

One challenge that’s plaguing businesses right now, is recruitment. In order to grow, it’s vital to hire the right staff. However, due to the economic uncertainty at the moment, many businesses are putting off recruitment, choosing to err on the side of caution.

It’s important to not only make sure you’re hiring the right staff, but that you’re retaining existing ones. Just some methods to help retain employees include offering training, exclusive perks and ensuring employees feel appreciated.

Invoicing and cashflow

Invoicing and cashflow are a consistent challenge for small businesses. However, it’s an especially tough challenge to maintain a healthy cashflow with all of the economic uncertainty in 2019.

It can be difficult funding the day to day operations of the business when your money is tied up in invoices.

If clients pay late, it can leave a significant cash flow gap which you could struggle to fill. That’s where services such as invoice discounting come in useful. This ensures your business can keep running even if clients do pay you late.

Brexit11

By far one of the biggest challenges for small businesses in 2019, is Brexit. Due to be decided by the end of March, we are still no closer to knowing what is going to happen and how it will impact the UK’s economy.

However, there are things you can do to minimise the impact Brexit will have on your business. Stockpiling is a good example. Many businesses are choosing to stockpile goods before Brexit kicks in, in order to account for the potential increase in trade prices.

Data security

Finally, data security is something else you need to be aware of. After GDPR was introduced last year, it’s become crucial for businesses to ensure they are compliant. Failure to comply with the updated regulations could result in an excessive fine, which could spell the end for a small business.

These are just some of the major challenges small businesses are facing in 2019. Being aware of the challenges helps you to come up with an action plan to overcome them.

Although Brexit is causing huge uncertainty, small businesses have the opportunity to not only survive the outcome, but to thrive in spite of it. So, if you want to make sure your business is a success this year, be sure to plan ahead for the challenges outlined above.