Overcoming The Fear Of Starting A Business

The nature of my job is such that I get to deal with people of all ages and backgrounds who are considering starting their own business. Unsurprisingly, a considerable part of my everyday conversations with these people has to do with their fear of starting a new venture and how to overcome that.

I want to be clear here and say that not having any worries about starting a new business is completely unnatural and if you find yourself overconfident from the first step, it is probably worth giving things a second thought - a proper business plan would help.

1. Don't listen to the naysayers. Probably the best piece of advice is to stay away from people who haven’t got any entrepreneurial experience, yet still try to scare you away from starting a business. Trying to convince them is usually a waste of time. For the most part, the best strategy is to ignore them and try to focus your energy on what is important. Empowering yourself with having positive people around, instead, is vital. Try to find a mentor, someone experienced who can guide you through everything and who you can rely upon for advice.I would like to point out here that when I first decided to run my own business with absolutely zero capital, all my family and friends thought I was crazy. When the naysayers are part of your family, then it is a different story altogether - which brings us to my next point...
2. Afraid of letting your family down. Instead of being afraid of disappointing your family, try getting them on board. Similar to my case, most of the times your family will think your decision is risky - and risk is a big fear. What I would suggest is, instead of dropping the bomb on them one day, try involving them in everything you do from the very beginning and in a way that they understand your passion and the reasons why you believe you will be successful. Collaborating with your family can actually get you much better results than going through all of it alone, plus it gives you confidence knowing you are in it together.
3. Unsure how to handle success. Silly as it sounds, there are actually plenty of new entrepreneurs who worry about what will happen if everything actually goes well. I hear questions such as 'What if I need to expand?' or 'What if I need to hire staff and manage a team?' Well, chances are that even if you don't need to hire staff immediately, things will change. You hear a lot of business managers out there talking about the flexibility of a small business as one of its main advantages - and that is because small businesses change. A lot. But that should definitely not scare you - on the contrary, it means that you have the chance to try new things very easily if something does not go as planned. The important thing about becoming an entrepreneur is to be open to learning and take action along the process.
4. Not earning enough. Income is one of the most common worries among prospective entrepreneurs. Taking the time to create a proper business plan and financial forecast will give you a good idea of what to expect. A thought out strategy is a great way to see where your business is going. If what you are doing is quite new and you are not able to carry out reliable forecasts yet, it might be worth starting it on the side whilst keeping your day job - remember that one of the many benefits of being your own boss is that you get to decide your working hours. Fundamentally, you need to have faith in your endeavour which could take a while to build.

5. Fear of failing and doing wrong. One thing you need to be prepared for early on is to fail. Making mistakes is integral. You will make mistakes and you will learn from them and that is what is going to make you successful. There is not a single successful person out there who has not failed in one way or more. The only real difference between accomplished entrepreneurs and quitters is their mindset. Having a positive mindset is essential. Realising that mistakes are only temporary and that failure is the only way forward is what gives me and most entrepreneurs the courage to keep going. Something that helps keep me confident is my vision board where I visualise where I am going to be in a couple of years time. That gives me a clear goal and an identity to try and push towards.

Most of these fears I have faced myself, as well as most entrepreneurs out there. I personally do not believe that entrepreneurs are born - most people can do it provided they want to. For some it might appear like a natural extension of their personality, for others it might come as a bit of a surprise to the rest of the world - one thing that is certain in my area of work, though, is that I have been pleasantly surprised by new entrepreneurs countless times so far.

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."
― Paulo Coelho