As an entrepreneur, it is easy to be paralyzed with fear. Fear often stems from the unknown – not knowing what it entails, what the processes are, and how to do it.
But guess what, success is all about taking that leap of faith. I’ve met a lot of folks who have long thought of starting a business, yet never had the opportunity nor the time to actually start it. Some just talk and talk about wanting to start a business yet never could find the time to squeeze it into their current lives. Others seem content to put their dreams on the backburner of their lives.
If you don’t start that business you’ve always dreamed of, you have failed. If you don’t buckle down and write your book, then you failed. Hockey great Wayne Gretzky said it best, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Failure isn’t missing, failure is never trying.
Success is not just about dreaming. It starts by conquering your fear and taking that first step. It is about crushing your fear of trying out something new. You need to be bold and overcome your fears, and here are ways to overcome your fear when starting a business:
Empower yourself with knowledge.
- The more you know about the industry, your business, and the process of starting the business, the less daunting it becomes.
- Research about the business and know its in-and-outs. Without knowing the nitty-gritty of the business that you want to start — especially if you do not have previous experience in the industry — you are setting yourself up for failure. Lack of such knowledge would lead to bad decisions and learning from costly mistakes is a luxury no new entrepreneur can afford.
Understand your goals and motivation
- Remember why you want to start a business. If fear is starting to creep in, recall the reasons why you want to become a business owner in the first place.
- Write down your reasons for starting a business. Seeing the words on paper has a strong effect and you will soon realize if those dreams of becoming an entrepreneur are worth fighting for.
- Why do you want to start your own business? Is it merely to earn lots of money so that you can buy a condominium and a luxury yacht? Or does something higher drive you? Entrepreneurs who are motivated by higher values than just becoming rich tend to build businesses that leave behind a lasting legacy.
- To help you identify the opportunities that you can work on, make a list of pros and cons of why you should do them. This process will help crystallize in your mind the challenges that you may face in starting the business.
Be realistic with your expectations.
- Entrepreneurship is like a roller coaster ride, with lots of ups and downs. An entrepreneur’s income gives the term “ebb and flow” a higher meaning. Particularly during the first year, money may come in fits and starts, where you may have it one minute and gone the next.
- Align your goals with your resources. If your resources are limited, then choose a business with lower risks and can be jumpstarted within your budget. If you have to start slow, then do so.
- Start the business part-time. If the idea of starting a business seems too daunting, you can opt to ease into entrepreneurship more slowly.
- Understand that tarting a new small business will not make you rich overnight. It takes a long time to build the proper foundation, get consistent customers, and maintain a nice stream of income.
Embrace the risks
- Starting a business is all about risks. As an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to understand these risks and find ways how to overcome them.
- Understanding how the nature of your business affects risk is important in determining where to apply resources in order to help mitigate those risks. Recognizing areas of business risk will help you to optimize allocation of your resources.
Plan out your business
- Good planning from the very beginning can shield you from the financial uncertainties of a new business, especially if you are leaving a full-time job. This includes knowing how much money you need to make your new business work (or until it starts to earn money), and how much money you need to support yourself and your family.
- Make level-headed profit projections on how much money you think your enterprise will be able to generate in 6 months, a year, or even 5 years down the road
- Carefully brainstorm ideas for how to reach your objectives. Come up with ideas that you can effectively execute.
- Develop an action plan by identifying the steps that you need to take. Be clear on the sequence of actions, and the amount of time needed to complete an action or milestone. Set up deadlines, responsibilities and milestones.
- Market your business from the get-go. Identify your target market and figure out ways to reach them. Even before your business opens, set the stage for marketing.
Seek out help when needed
- Accept that you do not know everything. Be open to learning, and that includes getting the help of experts who can help you in areas where you are unsure of or has no knowledge about.
- Sound off your ideas with people you trust — e.g. your spouse, your mentors or even a trusted adviser — to give you a different perspective of what you plan to do.
- Build relationships and support system. One effective way to overcome fear is to find like-minded individuals who you can trust and know that you can lean on.
- Find a mentor who can guide you. The advice of someone who has experienced it all when it comes to starting a business is invaluable.
Have faith in yourself
- Believe in yourself and in your business. Fear comes when you are uncertain, which in turn makes you question your capabilities and the value of your business.
- Arm yourself with tons of discipline. The process of building an idea into business entails working on a lot of details — some of which you may not want to deal with — but it is discipline that prods you to work on completing every task.
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Look at it as your opportunity to learn and improve (of course, that doesn’t mean you should make catastrophic mistakes!).
- Take a break. Sometimes, relaxing and stepping back can help you see everything more clearly, allowing you to think more clearly and thus easing your fears.
Remember this: it’s ok to feel scared when you are starting a new thing, of embarking on new projects and opportunities. It’s ok to sit down and spend a considerable amount of time thinking about these new things. Just know that if and when you know entrepreneurship is not for you, you can always stop.
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