Four fears to conquer before starting a business
Becoming an entrepreneur is a frightening prospect. So try to conquer these four fears before starting out.
While every entrepreneur and new business is entirely unique, to be successful you will need to prepare for the risks and conquer your fears accordingly.
1. Running out of money
One of the major concerns entrepreneurs have is the health of their capital. In the majority of cases, starting a new business requires a lot of money upfront, which can come from the entrepreneurs’ life savings, or from independent investors. If you can’t acquire a steady revenue stream by the time your initial capital investment runs out, you could lose your business and all the money you have invested.
If losing your life savings is too much of a hurdle to surpass, try to secure funding from somewhere else. Crowd funding and government grants are two ways that can help get your business started. Although if you don’t have enough faith in your business model to achieve a strong enough revenue stream, you may not want to start.
2. Not being good enough
You might be worried that you don’t have the business acumen to succeed, or your product isn’t good enough to be competitive. These fears can be debilitating for entrepreneurs.
Remember this: no product ever starts out perfect. If your product is acceptable on release, that should be good enough. You will have plenty of time to improve it.
3. Failing
Failure will always set you back, but you cannot be afraid of it. It can range from a misstep in an email marketing campaign to your business going under. Try to think of failures as learning opportunities, ways to improve your product or business processes so the same things don’t happen again.
4. Becoming overwhelmed
Entrepreneurship isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a tough challenge with many rewards littered throughout the journey. You will experience the largest workload you have ever experienced, as you will be in charge of almost everything in the beginning. Just remember you are in control – deal with problems in your own way.
To conclude
Starting your own business isn’t for the fearless; it’s for the prepared. If you are strong enough to learn from your mistakes and move past them you are most likely on the right track. Instead of avoiding fears, embrace them and try to prevent those disasters from ever happening.
If you are starting a business and you think stress is getting too much, you might want to consult a life coach. To find a life coach in your area, please use our advanced search tool.
Read and comment on the original Entrepreneur article.
