Small Business Owner Mo Muhidin is a man who likes a challenge. When he was 14 years old, he founded a small business in Kenya to support his family after his father died. After putting himself through college, Muhidin and his family immigrated to America, where the young entrepreneur worked for companies like IBM and Alltel. Muhidin employed the skills he learned with those companies to start a trucking company with his family. But he set off on his own after an experience working with a nonprofit organization made him want to do more than just earn a good living.
Mo Muhidin (Photo courtesy of Mo Muhidin) On that note, Mo Muhidin founded Kitamu Coffee in Hilliard, Ohio, a coffee shop that allows him to fund two interconnected projects: Flick Artist, a platform that allows musicians and music fans to connect at the local level, and a nonprofit called Ukuwa that strives to lift African children out of poverty. Muhidin discusses the difficulties he encountered fulfilling his staffing needs and how he found low-cost solutions to overcome his human resources problems. As a small business owner, what have been some of the biggest challenge you've faced in regards to human resources management? How have you solved them? "Your question makes me think of my newest company, Flick Artist. I needed to figure out how to bring an IT person in to build and manage the website without having the necessary cash flow to pay them what they are worth. "I tried using companies in Indonesia, but I found it too difficult to get my ideas across, and couldn't find competent people here willing to work with my budget. I finally found the right person who understood my vision, loved the idea, and saw the potential. Unfortunately, this took over two years. Human resources problems like this occur often and take a long time to solve. "At Kitamu Coffee I ran into a similar problem. My growth was limited by my cash flow. Do I hire four baristas to bring in additional revenue, or do I find another way to bring in revenue so I can hire more baristas? This is a common problem I think all entrepreneurs face in the early stages of growing their business. Finding the right balance between funding operations and marketing requires a lot of creativity. "I addressed the issue by connecting with the community, getting volunteers involved, making street teams and engaging with social media. These are all low-cost, high-return methods I've used to grow my business. I had to get more creative with it." Mario McKellop is a freelance writer who has covered the pop culture beat since 2010.