If you want to get your business off the ground, planning and hard work are required. Doubly so if you are in a highly competitive environment such as a large city. In New York City, this is particularly evident. In order to explain why, let’s take a look at the biggest challenges for small businesses owners in NYC.
Operation costs
The first of the challenges for small business owners in NYC is also the most brutal one: operation costs. New York City is not cheap, and anyone who tries to claim otherwise is a bold-faced liar. Standing firmly as one of the three most expensive cities in the entire world, it is only a question of which first three places NYC is filling at the given time. This means that the prices of doing business in this city are almost literally cutthroat. The cost of literally everything is exponentially increased. Which is something most keenly felt if you had been operating in a smaller city and decided to move to NYC for more business opportunities. Even if you keep yourself appraised of the latest news in the world of business and finance, the change in prices is sure to catch your off guard.
Securing real estate
Obviously, combined with our previously laid out info, the first issue most would think about when discussing securing office space in New York City would be the prices. However, this is hardly the only one of the challenges for small business owners in NYC when trying to get their hands on a decent office. A more serious issue is availability. Most good and cheap office spaces are almost immediately snatched up. The sheer number of businesses competing over them is such that you need to either work with a top tier professional realtor or have immense luck. Otherwise, you are stuck having to compromise. You can pay a lot more and get a ‘perfect’ office. Or you can put up with all sorts of inconveniences for a slightly cheaper office space. And with an office being one of the crucial things all business owners need, you can’t just give up.
Business competition
Speaking of competition, office space is hardly the only thing businesses in NYC compete over. New York City is an enormous city with a surprisingly bustling economy. This means that there’s a ton of businesses in the same vein as your own. And they are all competing over the same customers. This means that in the work of NYC business, you will either make it or spectacularly crash and burn in record time. If you are trying to open a branch or move your business here, the situation is not as bad. However, one of the biggest challenges for small business owners in NYC is carving out their own space while trying to tackle all the other issues with no budget to fall back on if the market doesn’t immediately respond well. This makes for a hellish crucible, so if you want to survive you better prepare some backup funds!
Finding a niche
Of course, even just deciding what sort of business you want to get into is difficult in New York City. The city suffers from an oversaturation of the market. Meaning that there is a ton of businesses in every conceivable niche. If you want to make it as a small business owner, you need to make sure that you have something unique enough to offer in order to catch the eye of your customers and make yourself recognizable. So, before you even think about competing with others, very carefully and exactingly craft yourself a business plan. Make sure you know which market leaves enough leeway for someone to butt into. If you try and get into a business where large names have already completely divided the market you will only waste your money and fail. Thinking you’d be the exception to this rule is, unfortunately, just pure arrogance.
Logistics challenges
For a strong business front to be presented, a million little things need to be handled in the background. And for a business to keep going strong, their logistics need to be thoroughly mapped and functioning without a hitch. Which, in NYC, can be a real challenge to small business owners. We’ve already mentioned the harrowing prices. However, an even more serious issue is finding someone willing to work with you. There are, naturally, databases of businesses such as the Best Movers NYC database, and its experts encourage the use of the same. But the recent worldwide logistics issues have left smaller companies floundering. This is especially noticeable in cities like NYC. Small logistics businesses are declaring bankruptcy with alarming regularity. And yet, for bigger businesses, working with a small business might not pay off. Thus, presenting one of the biggest challenges for small business owners in NYC to overcome.
Hiring employees
The final of the challenges for small business owners in NYC unfortunately once more partially doubles back to costs and competition. Namely, they struggle to recruit and hang onto talented personnel. Now, is it entirely impossible to hire someone young and talented? Not at all, in fact, that part is often surprisingly easy. The real trouble stems from the fact that ‘talented’ young professionals often accept the training a small business offers, learn the ropes, and then just apply to a larger company. The bigger businesses have no reason to turn down trained personnel they wouldn’t have to waste their own resources on, and so the vicious cycle goes. If a small business wants to make it in NYC, just working hard and trying to increase your brand awareness to attract employees doesn’t work. You also need to plan out incentives to keep them.
Final word
Now that you are familiar with the biggest challenges for small businesses owners in NYC, you will be able to better prepare for them. Just know that making it in New York City will take a lot of grit, especially in the current worldwide economic situation.
