A look at what to do if you're beset by any one of a number of common problems, such as with your paperwork, with your employees, or with your facilities.

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs failed several times before doing extremely well. So, if you're failing, fail. And fail fast. And learn. And try again, with this new wisdom. Do NOT give up. Yet, do not suffer, either.

Recognizing and Resolving Problems
To achieve success is one thing, to sustain it is another. Like housekeeping, identifying potential problems in your business is a daily chore. And often, once identified, some problems defy resolution and must be managed as conditions to be endured rather than situations to be solved. At whatever level or stage your business is in (infancy, survival, nominal success), vigilance in the following areas will improve your chance of continued success.

Cash flow clogs. What to do if the cash isn't flowing in fast enough.
A lack of sufficient capital is the most common dilemma for a new business. Working capital is the source from which all cash blessings flow; it's the blood of your business. Cash flow is king. Even if profitability has eluded you, survival can be attained if cash flow is maintained. Planning around cash flow is essential. When cash starts getting tight, sit down and determine what sources of cash are available and to what uses cash has been put. Prepare a cash flow budget worksheet to identify sources and uses, help you diagnose where the problem is, and guide you to its remedy.

Working smarter.
What to do if you feel you're wasting too much time or just can't seem to get the business off the ground.

Don't over-engineer.
You had a great idea and developed a nice prototype of your product.... but it's just not quite ready, you say? Tweak and dabble all you like, but over-engineering has killed more than one small business in its infancy.

Be very careful not to rely on one supplier, one customer, or even one bank for your business survival.
Any one of these could sink the ship. Don't give anyone this kind of control over your future.

Learn to distinguish necessary expenses from "perks".
Self-discipline is not just a virtue, it's mandated by the IRS. And the temptation to start out with "first class" facilities and equipment should be overcome by better judgment. There will be time for that when you're farther down the road to true success.

Don't ignore the details.
One of the most vulnerable aspects of a small business is the tendency for its owner to concentrate all energies in sales, promotion, and production while neglecting the back-of-the-house detail work. The more rapidly the company grows, the more severe this problem becomes.

Entrepreneurs generally dislike detail work (who doesn't?), but that doesn't relieve them from the necessity to deal with all the "stuff" that's piling up in the office. Keep track of your paperwork _ every small business owner should have a file cabinet of some sort. What it looks like doesn't matter _ it can be an electronic file cabinet if you're fortunate enough not to deal in printed pages. What is important is how it's organized.

If you want to organize your files by customer or client name, that's fine, but you should also have a series of general files that will allow you to file away every piece of paper that comes across your desk that's worth keeping. Get in the habit, early on, of doing the detail chores every day. A little effort daily will go a long way to reducing the problems later on. When things become so hectic that your sales or production work starts to suffer, retain some competent help to "do the details" for you.

Give some thought to an exit strategy, if you haven't done so already. This is not planning for failure; it's planning to succeed at a later date in a different way.