Many people dream of becoming an entrepreneur, but they often don’t realize their dream due to the fears associated with it and their inability to overcome them. Regardless of how potentially brilliant your idea may be, it means nothing if you cannot find the courage to overcome these six fears:
1. Fear of risk and failure.
If you wish to do anything of substance you must be able to overcome the fear of both risk and failure.
Mark Organ, a successful CEO of a marketing software firm, once said:
There is no way for an entrepreneur to make a living without taking risks.
With risk come greater and more fruitful rewards. People often see risk as a negative, but it should be embraced. Rather than avoiding and hiding yourself from it, you should understand it and take steps to mitigate it.
With risk comes failure, yes, but failure presents opportunity! You will never give yourself the opportunity to succeed as an entrepreneur if you do not embrace the possibility of failure.
2. Fear of what others around you will say.
We live in a world where people enjoy the failures of others rather than their successes. Being afraid of others waiting for you to fail can often makes it difficult to succeed.
This scene from The Pursuit of Happiness says it perfectly.
An entrepreneur will face many criticisms from friends and those close to them, so it’s important to believe in yourself and what you’re trying to achieve, or else you have no chance of being an entrepreneur.
3. Fear it’s the wrong decision.
A common fear that holds back many potential entrepreneurs is that of making the wrong decision.
People who aspire to become entrepreneurs often have full-time jobs already, but they’ve always wanted to work for themselves. People fear that if they give up their job and open themselves up to a less than secure future, they will regret it.
If you find it tough to get over the idea that striking out on your own is the wrong decision, there are ways you can feel more confident. Do market research on your idea’s profitability, talk to mentors and other successful entrepreneurs, test your product on focus groups and create a business plan to give yourself the best chance to succeed.
4. Fear you lack the experience or expertise.
The fear that you are uneducated or inexperienced is natural for the first time entrepreneur. People see all these successful individuals with extensive resumes and say to themselves “I can’t I do this!”
But you can.
Richard Branson once said:
The best way of learning about anything is by doing.
Many of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world struggled with formal education. It is not a prerequisite for starting a business to be formally educated, so why limit yourself because you lack a college degree? Take a chance! If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, that alone will take you further than any diploma.
5. Fear you will be financially ruined.
Financial insecurity is an understandable fear for the entrepreneur to have. It takes a lot of courage to put your savings and lifestyle on the line so that you can follow your dream.
According to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, most small businesses are started with around $10,000 from their founders’ personal savings. Avoiding copious amounts of debt and stretching every penny in the start-up stage of your business will help you avoid additional risk of financial insecurity.
You can also limit your financial imbalance by being prepared. A business plan, along with progress reports and sales forecasts will help map the direction of your business and ensure that you stay on track.
6. Fear it will consume your life.
Starting your own business takes a lot of time and hard work if it is to have any chance of success. It is important to become familiar with and accept this before taking the step into entrepreneurship.
Your business will need your attention and this can take time away from family and friends. Try to find aspects of the business that you can delegate to others and try to make your business processes as easy and as manageable as possible.This will reduce your workload so you can find time to spend with friends and family.
If you are considering taking the leap and becoming an entrepreneur, be prepared for hard work. Keep pushing forward and take any opportunity to give yourself a pat on the back to keep up your morale. Keep yourself motivated and you will surely be successful as an entrepreneur.
