So here comes 2025. What, already?
Weren’t we just getting started on 2024 about 10 minutes ago? Certainly does seem that way. In any case, another year rings forth plenty of new challenges, especially in a business frame that is shifting at incredible speed. That rush to hit the ground running leads me to one of those “Top 10” lists gathered from what I’ve gleaned looking back and anticipating forward.
That’s when it hit me. In a mentally speaking sense, of course. I mean, nothing physically “hit” me, but whatever slammed into my consciousness forced me to stop typing and reconsider the whole “Top 10” thing. Sure, it’s easy reading, and people just love lists because of their snappy textual repartee. But as I was about four topics into the list, the hit occurred.
Damn, this was some really boring stuff. I mean, it’s informational, topical, and had real bearing on what we will all face in the new year. However, it was about as exciting as the Dolph Lundgren Film Festival. I mean, once you get past Ivan Drago mulling to Rocky Balboa, “I must break you”, everything is downhill from there. Just like Dolph's film career.
Let’s be real, shall we? Running a business of any size in this environment is like juggling flaming chainsaws while riding a unicycle on a tightrope—blindfolded.
So let’s tear off the eye covering and dig into a Top 10 list that does more than just spill the same corporate babble where people try to impart some wisdom, but instead are only regurgitating something they found on Forbes from the 2000’s.
Top 10 business challenges that are making entrepreneurs everywhere reconsider their life choices.
1. Artificial Intelligence: The New Overlord
AI was supposed to revolutionize business. Instead, it’s become the temperamental genius employee who either automates your entire workflow or crashes five minutes before a critical deadline. Need customer service? Enjoy talking to “ChatBot-9000,” which can answer everything except the one question you actually have. In the meantime, find yourself ferreting thru the submitted work of those in your employ (or simply working with) who have relied on AI for every facet of their presentation. Pay close attention to their summation and always be on the watch for tip-off phrases such as “Klaatu Barada Nikto”.
2. Finding Employees Who Actually Want to Work
The job market is thriving—if by "thriving" you mean filled with candidates who think showing up is optional. Interviews now resemble hostage negotiations: "I’ll work three days a week, remotely, and need unlimited paid time off… for mental health, of course.” Most of the mental health issues stemming from this spot on the list is what employers and project leads have to face when confronted with work being delivered featuring the equivalency of smudged grape jelly on the pages.
3. Career Shifting: From Astronaut to Barista
Thanks to rapid tech advancements, half the population has been forced to pivot careers, and most not because they were looking for a new field of employment. Aerospace engineers now make artisan pizzas, while data analysts are launching Etsy stores selling "emotional support succulents." LinkedIn profiles, when you actually find them having to sift thru the political hack nightmare the platform has become, read like Mad Libs. But let’s not entirely blame those actively seeking work. Employers have their “Help Wanted” ads written by word salad AI bots seeking new ways to obfuscate job positions by referring to salespeople being asked to work on commission only as “aggressively driven & seasoned sales professionals seeking to be part of something larger by sacrificing the present and working for free”. Exit, stage left.
4. The "Always Online" Workplace
Who needs work-life balance when you can have work-life blending? Thanks to 24/7 connectivity, vacations now mean answering Slack messages from the beach while pretending to enjoy your overpriced coconut drink. Welcome to the world of "remote work," where you’re never truly remote. Talk about mental health issues and drop that dime on people who either can’t put the work tablet down for one half-day or those being forced to deliver month-long research projects within 15 minutes to meet some arbitrary deadline. Actually, that overpriced coconut drink might soon become the single most important part of career research.
5. Compliance and Regulations: Legal Sudoku
Government regulations have become an Olympic-level mental challenge. Every business now needs a team of lawyers just to interpret tax laws that seem written by someone using predictive text while sleep-deprived. Congratulations, you’re now fluent in “bureaucratese." While we’re here, does anyone still play Sudoku? I actually had a 20-something tell me that in-between work assignments and when they have a mental block while preparing responses they snap out the smartphone and play a Star Trek battle game as “motivation”. Most of them don’t know it but they’re already one of the “red shirts” and better hope they’re not in the first landing party to be beamed onto the surface.
6. Supply Chain Games: Hunger Games, but with Shipping Containers
Want products delivered on time? Too bad. The global supply chain still behaves like a soap opera plot twist. One week, shipping containers are stranded in the middle of the ocean; the next, they vanish entirely like your free time after starting a business. When your boss or client starts to look and sound like Coriolanus Snow, time to reach for one of those coconut cocktails.
7. Consumer Expectations: Faster Than Light
Customers in 2025 expect products faster than Amazon Prime on steroids. They want two-hour delivery, personalized thank-you notes, and maybe a handwritten poem—all for free. Businesses now run on the hope that consumers don’t realize teleportation isn’t a thing. Heaven forbid business owners once they figure out how to beam everyone and everything in seconds. You’ll wind up servicing your clients by having to personally deliver everything with a double mocha-whipped latte in a crystal coffee cup emblazoned with the phrase, “Yes, you may have some more”.
8. Data Security: Good Luck with That
Hackers are more creative than ever, stealing data like it’s Black Friday at a tech store. Businesses must now invest in cybersecurity systems that cost more than their annual revenue, just to avoid becoming the next headline on “World’s Dumbest Data Breaches.”
9. Marketing Madness: Social Media Circus
Marketing today means creating TikTok dances, launching viral hashtags, and begging influencers with questionable credentials to endorse your product. Your marketing strategy is only as good as your ability to go viral—or at least avoid public humiliation.
10. Environmental Responsibility: Save the Planet, Please
Customers demand eco-friendly everything, but expect prices lower than a gas station burrito. Businesses must be carbon-neutral, water-positive, and biodegradable—while competing with companies that think "going green" means changing their logo color for Earth Day.
Bonus: Hiring Experienced People Without Nonsense Job Ads
I mentioned this in #3 but it bears repeating as it’s become so tragically ridiculous. Modern job ads are filled with word jumbles such as “synergistic team player” or “innovation evangelist.” Meanwhile, experienced candidates are ghosted because hiring managers prefer tech-savvy newbies willing to accept low pay. The real challenge? Finding someone who can actually do the job—not just sound good on paper.
Final Thought: Just Give Up—Or Don’t
Running a business in 2025 is a feat requiring Herculean strength, infinite patience, and a sense of humor darker than your Monday morning coffee. But hey, at least it’s never boring—just mildly soul-crushing.
Good luck out there! (That line was added by AI to provide a “human touch” to the commentary).
Skynet has approved of this opinion, and invites you to read more from Ed Berliner once he is released by the mind-meld machine in 2037.
When not being held hostage by Skynet, Ed Berliner works with companies and client around the world as the first "Media Content Technical Consultant", overseeing and producing media of every kind from scriptwriting to syndicated podcasts and beyond. Contact Ed today fuzzydogsproductions@gmail.com and talk to him about your event and business needs. He promises to have a coconut cocktail if requested. Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our newsletters for more unique takes on business and more. "The Business Beagle" covers business with commentary and news other sites conveniently miss. "Shakedown Street" is the fastest-growing newsletter/commentary on news/politics/sports/interesting people who need a net and lots more.
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