Excerpted from USA Weekly. See the full article here.

Starting a business is a big achievement for many entrepreneurs, but maintaining one is the larger challenge. There are many standard challenges that face every business whether they are large or small. It is not easy running a company, especially in a fast-paced, ever-changing business world. Technology advances, new hiring strategies, and now, political changes coming with the new administration, all add to the existing business challenges that entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives have to deal with.

Maximizing profits, minimizing expenses and finding talented staff to keep things moving seem to be top challenges for both SMBs and large corporations. We have been interviewing companies from around the world to discover what challenges they are facing in their businesses. We also asked each company to share business advice they would give to a younger version of themselves.

Below is our interview with Scott Moody, Partner & CMO at PK Grills:

What does your company do?

Our company builds high end cast aluminum barbecue grills. Cast aluminum is perfectly suited to barbecue grill construction because aluminum is so durable and such an efficient conductor of heat. It’s also inherently rust-proof. Pouring cast aluminum the way we do is labor intensive and thus, expensive, so not many companies make grills like ours. Stories of folks using a PK Grill that they bought in the 50s and 60s or one that a parent handed down to them are not uncommon.

What is your role? What do you enjoy most about your role?

I am a partner and the Chief Marketing Officer of PK Grills. When I got involved with PK in 2014, the brand was unchanged since it’s introduction in the 1950s. My partner and I saw an opportunity to build a lifestyle around this beloved, nerdy little charcoal grill. That’s the fun part for me, building the brand. Even if it’s just a re-brand, which is what PK was in 2014. Telling the story of a product through the eyes of its users is such a great way to communicate the features and benefits of any product.

What are the biggest challenges in your business right now?

Our biggest challenge is brand awareness. We believe the PK Grill is the best all-around charcoal grill and we work hard to get that message in front of as many customers as possible because PK should be on the list of anyone in the market for an outdoor cooker. We sell many grills via our website, pkgrills.com, and Amazon.com, but it is a priority to increase the number of physical PK dealers. Physical distribution combined with a strong digital presence can work together to promote brand awareness as customers discover products virtually and are then reinforced when they see one in the wild. Two equally important experiential shopping processes.

If you could go back in time, what business advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?

My younger self would probably not have listened to this old guy, but I would have told him to engage with and listen to his users at every opportunity. Starting a company and growing a new brand, especially a lifestyle brand like PK, is a team effort where the customer is an important part of the team. At PK, we want to lead the market with great design and execution, but we are constantly trying to integrate the needs of the customer in a way that we hope will surprise and delight in what has become a fairly boring field of products.