What Frustrates You the Most about your business right now?

[dwdaniel]

I am trying to develop my own plans, to avoid pitfalls, etc. I thought it might be helpful for us all to know what the greatest frustration we have about our businesses now.

Also, it would help if we knew if your business was online or a store-front business.

Thanks

[Carsten]

My biggest frustration is the lack of time for new stuff. There are so many ideas and possibilities along the way but so less of time to push this forward.

[Paul]

My business involves working with others to complete a project. Frustration is waiting for the others to complete their part.

[Wozcreative]

When projects take longer than expected and start overlapping eachother.

[Fulcrum]

Customers that ignore suggestions and recommendations to (potential) problems that they are having then turning around and complaining that they are paying to much out on tooling repair work.

[patrickprecisione]

When projects take longer than expected and start overlapping eachother.

The best laid plans...

[Wozcreative]

The best laid plans...

Plans are ideal, but you can't help it if a client adds more onto the current project or takes longer than expected to submit content/respond etc. It's just the nature of the business.

[broudie]

I run a niche design / manufacturing business that currently sells retail over the internet. My greatest frustrations are (not in any particular order):

1) 5 years into the business, there seem to be no more "quick wins" that can grow the business more than 30%-40%/yr
2) New products or ventures more commonly fail than they are successful. Yet you can never stop innovating.
3) Solicitors and scammers who are always out there to siphon out your hard earned profits.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'd say emails are probably the most frustrating. Especially when you are trying to help someone or get their project finished.
It's actually infuriating when people ask you for help and then waste your time dragging it out for hours or days because it takes them so long to answer an email.

Equally as frustrating is people that want to send 50 emails back and forth over a period or hours or days, for something that could be handled on the phone in 10-20 minutes. Again, wasting time.

I love goofing off, but when I'm working I hate wasting time waiting on other people. I'm very impatient like that.

[billbenson]

I'd say emails are probably the most frustrating. Especially when you are trying to help someone or get their project finished.
It's actually infuriating when people ask you for help and then waste your time dragging it out for hours or days because it takes them so long to answer an email.

Equally as frustrating is people that want to send 50 emails back and forth over a period or hours or days, for something that could be handled on the phone in 10-20 minutes. Again, wasting time.

I love goofing off, but when I'm working I hate wasting time waiting on other people. I'm very impatient like that.

Looks like you have something in common with Huggy. He hate's email to :)

To me, the beauty of email is it's not real time. It sounds like you are using it with the expectation of a real time response. I would rather wake up in the morning with 20 emails to respond to than 20 voice mails - or worse, 20 phone calls on top of each other which does happen.

While if someone who is paying you who doesn't respond to an email for days or weeks is extreme, waiting a period of hours shouldn't be. For most people it's not a real time medium. In fact, with my web designer I use email to schedule a phone call so as not to interfere with our schedules.

[Wozcreative]

I dislike the phone calls after an email was sent. The phone call usually is "did you get my email? And then they go on to re-iterate what the email says".

[Carsten]

Even better are those who call you in order to say that they will send you an email.

[billbenson]

I dislike the phone calls after an email was sent. The phone call usually is "did you get my email? And then they go on to re-iterate what the email says".

Interesting Woz. With the number of daily emails and and phone calls I get, I don't recall that ever happening. Industry thing I guess??

[Wozcreative]

Interesting Woz. With the number of daily emails and and phone calls I get, I don't recall that ever happening. Industry thing I guess??

It happens way too often. Certain clients that do that, and I notice in the beginning, I weed them out.. but a few clients that I have worked with too long to weed out like that lol.

[kewalkhanna]

My biggest frustration is my competitors, when they get more success in their business than me.

[patrickprecisione]

My biggest frustration is my competitors, when they get more success in their business than me.

Haha. Sorry, not laughing at you, this just struck me as funny.

I agree in regards to the phone call that is about the email sent. I prefer the phone as it's more immediate, but if I don't get an answer, I'll usually send an email. If it seems like a customer is more of an email person, then I'll try to keep the calls to a minimum.