I know this isn’t a mind-blowing or revolutionary thing to say, but being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. It takes a lot of guts, persistence, business acumen, and strategic thinking — and even having those qualities in spades isn’t always enough for a business owner to stay afloat.

The challenges of entrepreneurship can exist well beyond any entrepreneur’s control — but those troubling roadblocks aren’t insurmountable. Here, I’ve surveyed 200+ entrepreneurs to get their takes on the most common challenges of entrepreneurship and their advice for overcoming them.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

• Top Entrepreneurship Challenges in 2025
• Challenges Entrepreneurs Will Face This Year
• Inclusion and Opportunity-Related Barries for Entrepreneurs

Top Entrepreneurship Challenges in 2025

1. Work-life balance

Entrepreneurs told me that their biggest challenge is managing work-life balance (36%), which was also the most significant challenge in 2024. Those who selected work-life balance as their top challenge also said it’s the challenge they’re most eager to solve.

The definition of a good work-life balance is different for everyone, but to me, the main idea is that one doesn’t have to sacrifice work or personal life to accommodate the other.

Evan McCarthy, President and CEO of SportingSmiles, told me he faced this challenge when he started his entrepreneurial journey. He said, “I launched my company 15 years ago, and as a business owner, there’s always a mountain of tasks to tackle. The main challenge I faced was finding a balance between my work and personal life.”

He was single when he started his business, which he says made things easier, but he worked nonstop for two months straight without taking days off. He said, “I was completely dedicated to making my business succeed, without any backup plan if things didn’t work out.”

He adds, “Looking back, I realize I should have paid more attention to my personal life. Taking better care of myself would have reduced stress and probably helped me focus more on growing the business.”

How to Overcome This Challenge

One of the biggest benefits of entrepreneurship is being your own boss. It gives you the freedom to set your hours and develop the work-life balance that works best for you, but things like hustle culture can make it seem like it’s important to always be on and ready to work.

My recommendations for maintaining a work-life balance include:

• Setting boundaries: This can be as simple as setting work hours that you stick to whenever possible. Busier days happen, but you have a primary schedule.
• Take clear breaks: I’m a strong proponent of taking breaks. It helps me clear my head and come back with fresh eyes.
• Set realistic expectations: Overcommitting can make you feel like you have to keep working until everything on your list is complete, so aim to be honest about what you can accomplish every day.

• Have fun when you’re not working: I’m sure this is a no-brainer, but it’s worth saying anyway. When you’re not working, do the activities that bring you joy, whether being with loved ones, setting aside time for a hobby, or even sitting around and doing nothing.

2. Finding and keeping customers.

Finding and keeping customers is the #2 challenge entrepreneurs face, rising one spot from just last year.

This makes sense to me — having customers is one of the (if not the) most fundamental tasks to address if you want your business to take off, especially since you can’t bank on customers simply finding their way to you.

I spliced the data and found that entrepreneurs whose businesses are younger (five years old or less) say that finding customers is their biggest challenge, which adds up: you can’t get your business off the ground without someone buying what you’re selling.

How to Overcome This Challenge

As an entrepreneur, it’s on you to get the word out about your business — self-promotion is how you get the ball rolling.

The first step to finding customers is knowing who your ideal customer is. Buyer persona research will help you learn about your target audience, their interests, pain points, and the best way to attract them. You’ll also be able to determine your brand positioning, which helps you create targeted marketing efforts to get in front of customers.

I assume you’re proud of your business, so boast about it at every opportunity. If you serve a local customer base, ask if you can leave a business card or flier at local establishments.

Go to industry events and trade expos and really put your business on display. Keep an active presence on social media, and ask your friends, family, and anyone in your support network to get the word out. Create a referral program for your existing customers.

It comes down to visibility, so make your presence known. Customers won’t find you if you stay isolated.

3. Keeping up with industry trends.

Markets are always changing, so it’s understandable that entrepreneurs struggle to keep up with industry trends. Unexpected hurdles can arise, and even with contingency planning, pivoting can still be a challenge.

Scott Williamson, VP of Sales and Engineering at R. Williamson & Associates, said, “My biggest challenge as an entrepreneur was learning how to pivot and adapt quickly.”

Williamson adds, “When I first started my company, I had a vision for what I thought the business would become. But as we launched and started gaining real customers, the reality of the market and the competitive landscape became clear. Things weren’t evolving exactly as I had imagined.”

How to Overcome This Challenge

Keep up to date by reading industry news, monitoring consumer trends, and seeing what people talk about online. You’ll get a sense of the state of your industry and whether any changes are coming down the line.

Williamson’s tip is to recognize that entrepreneurship is not about rigidly sticking to a plan: “It’s [entrepreneurship] about having a vision, testing it in the real world, listening to feedback, and being willing and able to adapt. The market is always changing, so entrepreneurs have to change with it.”

4. Earning recurring revenue.

Earning recurring revenue is tied for third place for entrepreneurial challenges, and it’s the number one challenge (along with managing a work-life balance) that entrepreneurs are most eager to solve.

I understand this sentiment: revenue keeps businesses afloat, especially so for younger ones as it’s what helps them go on to survive that first year of business.

How to Overcome This Challenge

Earning recurring revenue centers around satisfying your customers and product innovation. Why? Both keep people around, and people who stay around (whether paying for a recurring subscription or repurchasing products) drive revenue.

To satisfy your customers, focus on solving for them. Loyalty programs, acting on customer feedback, and proactively offering resources to help customers get the most out of your product (like a knowledge base) help you keep satisfaction levels high.

When it comes to your product or service, continued innovation takes the form of upgrades, added features, and bringing new products to market. Focus on improving your product(s) also pays off when innovation sets you apart from the competition and solves a direct user need.

5. Recruiting and retaining talent.

24% of entrepreneurs told me that they struggle with recruiting and retaining talent, and this makes sense — you need people for a business to run smoothly, especially as you scale.

How to Overcome This Challenge

According to entrepreneurs, they’re finding and hiring new employees through referrals from existing employees — 77% of them. They also use job sites, recruiting agencies, and hiring events to find talent.

When it comes to employee retention, it’s essential to craft an experience that leaves people motivated and excited to continue working. I recommend:

• Creating opportunities for employee development to empower individuals to grow their skills and advance their roles (like on-the-job training, shadowing, mentorship opportunities, etc.)
• Benefits and perks that improve quality of life and offer security, like health insurance, special deals or discounts, and even flexible work options (like hybrid work).
• Encourage work-life balance so employees aren’t always stuck in work mode and continue to have a life and prioritize their well-being.

If your entrepreneurial journey began as a one-person show, building and empowering a team might be something you have to become comfortable with, which is what Gauri Manglik, CEO and Co-founder of Instrumentl, told me: “As an entrepreneur, the biggest challenge I’ve faced has been finding the right balance between leading my team while also allowing them the autonomy to thrive.”

To get comfortable, Manglik shifted her role and learned to provide support through coaching and mentoring while trusting her staff to complete their tasks successfully. Embracing this approach brought greater engagement, output, employee job satisfaction, and better business results.

6. Accessing capital and funding.

Accessing capital and funding is the #5 challenge survey respondents face, and it’s an even more significant challenge for businesses under five years old.

Truthfully, I expected funding to be higher on the list because you can’t run a business without any money. Nonetheless, I’m not surprised it’s in the top five: no money, no business.

How to Overcome This Challenge

Some tried and true ways that entrepreneurs get funding include:

• Crowdfunding: Websites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter give you financial backing from online campaigns.
• Small Business Loans:Local small business organizations and development centers often offer loans for early-stage businesses to apply for.
• Bank Loans: Bank loans are a common funding source. I recommend reviewing interest rates and repayment terms to make sure they align with your ability to repay.
• Angel Investors: Angel investors are accredited professionals who offer funding. You typically have to pitch to these investors or apply for their funding offers.
• Friends and Family: Some people have friends, family, and loved ones willing to pitch in and support. If this is the case for you, it’s a worthwhile source to take advantage of.

Before seeking funding from other sources, I recommend creating a budget. It will give you a clear overview of how much money you need and should have to run operations.

Challenges Entrepreneurs Will Face This Year

The challenges listed above are the most significant among entrepreneurs, but there are other roadblocks that entrepreneurs regularly have to manage throughout their journeys. Let’s talk about those now.

1. Staying motivated.

Justin Silverman, Founder and CEO of Merchynt, told me, “The biggest challenge for me was staying motivated during the early days when revenue was nonexistent and growth was slow.”

Motivation can be a struggle for everyone, regardless of business stage. It can become harder to maintain if you’re also struggling to manage a work-life balance.

Thankfully, motivation is something you can build back, and here’s what Silverman did: “I took inspiration from The Messy Middle and set a mix of small and large achievement goals. I put them on a board in front of my desk and checked them off as I went. This approach helped me see that little wins add up to big achievements over time. It kept me going when I had previously given up on other ventures.”

Doing this taught him the importance of celebrating small victories to maintain momentum and motivation.

Breaking down your goals can make responsibilities more manageable, help you feel less overwhelmed, and help you prioritize the most important tasks. It’s a win every time you meet one of your smaller goals, and every win can leave you feeling accomplished, excited, and motivated.

2. Self-doubt and fear.

Self-doubt and fear are common among entrepreneurs, and 50% of entrepreneurs say these feelings are a major challenge.

Impostor syndrome is a common manifestation of self-doubt, and research shows that 82% of people have experienced it. The business world is always in flux, so there’s no easy answer for remedying this issue, but there are ways to mitigate it.

Patience and persistence can help combat self-doubt because, in reality, you don’t know how things will turn out if you don’t give things a chance to turn out.

For example, if you’re doubting that you won’t be able to turn a profit, how do you confirm that to be true if you haven’t given yourself the time to bring in revenue?

I know it’s easier said than done, but be kind to yourself if those feelings arise. How you respond can impact how long they last. Positive self-talk and affirmations can help you avoid stress and anxiety.

If you have to fake it till you make it, you’re still building a positive habit that will benefit you in the long run.

3. Being comfortable asking for help.

Entrepreneurial endeavors can be challenging to navigate alone, particularly so for younger, first-time, or just-starting-out founders. Being comfortable asking for help or getting help along your journey can be a learned skill because you might prefer to be autonomous or even view asking for help as a sign of weakness.

I think it means the opposite — it shows a willingness to learn, and it can leave you better off in the long run because you’re getting support, and the opinions of others can push you to consider new ideas. Jody Swain, Founder of Hire & Fire Your Kids, struggled with asking for help when she started her journey. She told me, “By far, my biggest challenge as a first-time entrepreneur was trying to do it all by myself and not asking for help.”

Swain adds, “I didn’t want to bother people, take up their time, be judged, or be rejected, so instead, I did what I thought entrepreneurs were supposed to do. I hustled. Working too many hours in a day, for weeks that turned into months, triggered my family to host a full-blown intervention with me.”

She says the intervention caused her to slow down and start seeking help: “What took me way too long to learn was that there were actual people out there who wanted to help. The answer will always be no if you don’t ask. Once I realized that all I had to do was be brave and just ask, the doors of support opened, and I haven’t looked back,” Swain says.

Asking for help or seeking advice, insight, and direction from seasoned entrepreneurs can help you keep things on an even keel, but pinning down that direction is easier said than done if you feel it’s hard to ask.

My recommendation is (I know, again, easier said than done) to reframe your thoughts around asking for help. View it as a sign of strength, not a weakness. It shows you’re self-aware, willing to receive feedback, and eager to grow.

Inclusion and Opportunity-Related Barriers

I run Breaking the Blueprint, a HubSpot Blog column dedicated to the unique challenges of underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Many of the professional hurdles these groups can face are because of historical practices that exclude them from equal opportunities. Because of this, minority-owned businesses still struggle to achieve the same level of success as their white counterparts.

I recently surveyed 300+ entrepreneurs in six underrepresented groups to ask exactly how they felt and:

• 50% agree that their businesses are judged more because of their demographic group (i.e., race, disability status, or sexual orientation),
• 68% agree that they have to work harder than those outside their demographic group to achieve success,
• 59% agree that there isn’t enough social, financial, and governmental support for entrepreneurs in their same demographic group.

I do a deep dive into how underrepresented entrepreneurs handle the hurdles that they face in this State of Underrepresented Entrepreneurs piece, but here are some quick tips:

• Seek out resources specifically for underrepresented entrepreneurs. (Another shameless plug for Breaking the Blueprint, where I publish this kind of content)
• Network and build relationships with people who have similar experiences. You can share advice, discuss challenges, and uplift each other through your entrepreneurial journeys.
• Seek out business mentors who are willing to share their experience and expertise.
• Apply for grants, loans, and funding opportunities for minority entrepreneurs, like minority business loans.

Over to You

The roadblocks that entrepreneurs face can be imposing.

I mentioned it earlier, but the best policy for anyone facing these challenges is to remain patient and persistent. Overcoming these issues can take time, but doing everything you can to cross the hurdles gives you the best shot.