創(chuàng)辦一家公司時，你一定知道創(chuàng)業(yè)是有風險的。你知道，至少在短期內，你的公司不可能獲得穩(wěn)定的收入流，你也知道自己必然要犧牲前一份工作的潛在發(fā)展前景。你還知道，創(chuàng)業(yè)失敗的風險還是很高的。這些都是常識。大多數(shù)創(chuàng)業(yè)者對這些可能性已經(jīng)有了充分的準備。

但如果你一直在商海拼搏，你就會知道這些挑戰(zhàn)并不是創(chuàng)業(yè)的全部風險。現(xiàn)實中將你打倒的，往往是那些意想不到的挑戰(zhàn)。不幸的是，這些挑戰(zhàn)很少被人提及。

1、意想不到的支出

對預算一絲不茍的人肯定非常討厭這一點。比如說，你已經(jīng)非常仔細地計算了所有產(chǎn)品成本，包括原材料的成本、租賃必要生產(chǎn)設備的成本、甚至是生產(chǎn)最終產(chǎn)品所需的勞動力成本。你的計算不留一個死角，你甚至算好了35%的利潤率，你知道它也是這個行業(yè)的平均利潤率。

但任何一種差異都會影響到整個模型。比如，如果塑料的成本上漲了怎么辦？如果你選擇的機器有瑕疵，你只能升級到一個更昂貴的版本怎么辦？如果你估計的勞動力成本太低怎么辦？這只是其中的幾種可能性。毫無疑問，這些意料之外的之處會蠶食你的利潤。怎樣彌補這部分利潤空間，則要看你的本事了。

2、工作流程不統(tǒng)一

創(chuàng)業(yè)剛剛起步的時候，一切都處于不穩(wěn)定的狀態(tài)，你沒有時間、能力，甚至也沒有經(jīng)驗為每項工作制定詳細的指導標準。因此，你的員工會各盡所能——但你的運營流程也會出現(xiàn)多樣化。

在創(chuàng)業(yè)的早期階段，這并不是一個大問題——反正你在大多數(shù)領域都要“見招拆招”。但當你需要規(guī)范流程的時候，你就該頭疼了。所以要盡量將操作規(guī)程統(tǒng)一起來，從一開始就為之努力。

3、遭遇欺詐

總有人想占你的便宜，這是現(xiàn)代企業(yè)面臨的一個現(xiàn)實問題。如果你通過一個電商平臺為顧客服務，就會有人利用你的退款政策謀取不當利益。如果你服務的是高級的企業(yè)客戶，他們也可能會用高級的手段坑你的錢。你可能會因為一件極小的事被告上法庭，最終有可能支付賠償金。

顯然，你知道騙子是存在的，有些人總會想方設法地損人利己。隨著生意節(jié)奏漸漸加快，被意想不到的人擺一道也不是不可能的。所以你一定要時刻對潛在的欺詐行為保持警惕。

4、失去干勁

創(chuàng)業(yè)公司有很多艱苦的工作要做——不光是你自己。長時間工作、周末加班、遭遇重大挫折、時常面臨較大的財務壓力，都是常事。照理說，你已經(jīng)做好了迎接這些挑戰(zhàn)的準備。但一旦這些問題真的發(fā)生了，它們造成的心理壓力還是非常難熬的——對你和你的員工都是如此。

保持高昂的干勁，對于企業(yè)的生存和發(fā)展至關重要，但干勁并不是用錢就能買來的。保持干勁沒有“秘訣”，這也是正是干勁難以保持的原因。不過作為一名領導者，你有責任保持干勁。

5、承受孤獨感

很少有人談論創(chuàng)業(yè)者承受的孤獨感。不停變化的運營數(shù)字，所有的債務，客戶流失等重大打擊，只能由你一個人來承受。每一個決策所帶來的壓力，都只能由你一個人扛。最難熬的是，你只能把自己的恐懼和壓力掩飾在堅毅的“領導”面具下，不能流露出來。

另外，長時間的工作和周末加班，導致你留給自己和家人的時間將越來越少。你將會覺得自己很孤立，無法尋求或獲得幫助。這種處境是非常艱難的，但如果你想繼續(xù)前進，就必須克服孤獨心態(tài)。

以前可能從來沒有人跟你談起過上述這些挑戰(zhàn)。希望你善用本文所傳達的信息。你可能會接受其中一些觀點，并且積極地加以應用；你也可能覺得其中一些挑戰(zhàn)只是個別現(xiàn)象。反正，只要這些可能性都進入了你的“警戒雷達”即可，怎樣看待這些挑戰(zhàn)，就是由你自己來決定了。

要說面對這些挑戰(zhàn)，我還有什么“干貨”可以建議的話，那就是：保持靈活性。你永遠不知道那個拐角背后有什么在等著你，你也不可能準備好每一件事，所以要時刻關注你周邊的環(huán)境，并及時應對。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：任文科

When you start a business, you know there are going to be risks. You know you won’t have a steady stream of revenue (at least for a while), you know you’ll be sacrificing potential development in your previous career path, and you know there’s a relatively high risk that your business is eventually going to fail. These are common knowledge, and most new entrepreneurs are prepared for these possibilities with understanding and determination.

But if you’ve ever been in business, you know the challenges you’re prepared for are rarely the ones that ruin you. It’s the challenges you don’t see coming that end up dragging you down, and unfortunately, there are plenty of entrepreneurial challenges that aren’t so readily discussed.

Unforeseen expenses

The meticulous budgeter is going to hate this. Let’s say you’ve calculated all your per-product expenses meticulously, including the cost of the raw materials, the estimated cost of renting the equipment necessary to produce it, and even the labor cost it takes to make a final product. You’ve left no stone unturned, and you’ve calculated a profit margin of 35 percent, which you know to be the average in your industry.

All it takes is one discrepancy to compromise this model. What if the cost of plastic rises? What if there’s a flaw in your chosen machinery that forces you to upgrade to a more expensive model? What if your labor estimates are off? These are only a few possibilities. Undoubtedly, unforeseen expenses will start eating into your profit margins, and it’s up to you to compensate for them.

Logistic consistency

When you first start out, almost everything will exist in a state of flux. You won’t have the time, capacity or even the experience to draft out detailed guides on how to perform every job in the company. As a result, your workers are going to do their best — but your logistic processes are going to vary.

This isn’t a big problem in the early stages of your startup — you’ll be improvising in most areas anyway — but when it comes time to start formalizing your processes, you’re in for a major headache. Try to consolidate practices as much as possible and strive for consistency from the beginning.

Fraud

People are going to take advantage of you. That’s a reality of modern business. If you serve customers via an ecommerce platform, they can use your return policies against you. If you serve high-level business clients, they could stiff you on the bill. You could even be taken to court over a trivial matter in an effort to get money out of you.

Obviously, you know that scams exist, and that people will do whatever it takes to make a quick buck, but after establishing a good pace of business, it’s easy to be blindsided by an unexpected source. Always keep an eye out for potential fraudulent actions.

Motivation

Startups demand a lot of hard work — and not just from you. Long hours, weekend work, major setbacks and periods of high financial stress are common. When you start out, you can logically prepare yourself for these instances, but when they actually come, their psychological effects are more trying — and that goes for you and your workers alike.

Staying motivated is critical to keep the business alive, but motivation isn’t something you can buy. There’s no “secret” to motivation, and that’s what makes it hard to sustain. Still, as a leader, it’ll be your job to sustain.

Loneliness

Few people talk about the challenge of loneliness that entrepreneurs face. You’ll be watching the numbers, taking on the debt, taking the brunt of major blows like client departures, and stressing about every decision you make. But the worst part is, you can’t express your fears and stresses under the guise of the unshakeable leader.

Furthermore, the long hours and working weekends will leave you with less personal time and time with family. You’ll feel isolated and unable to seek or get help. It’s a tough position to be in, but one you’ll have to overcome if you want to keep moving forward.

I’ve broken my own claim by telling you about the challenges purportedly nobody would tell you about. Use this information wisely. You might accept some of these and start preparing actively to handle them, or dismiss others as being rooted in anecdotal evidence. That’s for you to decide, as long as these possibilities are all on your radar.

If there’s one solid takeaway I can offer you in light of these challenges (and more to come), it’s this: stay flexible. You never know what’s around the corner, and you certainly can’t prepare for everything, so stay aware of your surroundings, and don’t hesitate to adapt when the time comes.