I’m a big fan of owning your own business, even if you’re “workin’ for the man”. Keeping many income irons in the fire helps to keep your finances more and more in the black and allows you to better weather the bad economic storms. Even with all the benefits of entrepreneurship, there are still fears attached to “breaking free” that boil down to these ten areas.
List of The Top 10 Reasons Why People Don’t Start Their Own Business
1. Not enough money to start
While it’s true that many start-ups require some capital to begin, not all businesses have to be that way. For information marketers, such as myself, you may only need about $200 to start. Some ideas to think about are, can you “stair-step” your way to the money you require, meaning, can you work an aspect of your business on a smaller scale that would require no capital and make a little money? You can then use that money to “stair-step” your way to buying equipment and work a little more, doing the same thing. This process is slower, but it will keep you from borrowing and getting yourself into debt. This is the process I used and it worked great!
2. Security
Most people like the idea of a sure thing. Security is one of the basic needs that everyone must have and a constant paycheck is, in most people’s minds, a sure thing. I’ll go ahead and say it now…there’s no such thing as a “sure thing.” To leverage your need for security, it’s always best to have multiple streams of income, both active and passive at all times. if you love your job, GREAT and if you love security, getting involved in entrepreneurship along with your job / career is even better.
3. Fear of selling
Most of us are taught at a very early age that we should be modest, humble and not toot our own horns and those that do are “bad”. Being an effective salesperson is not about self promotion, but getting to know your ideal client and wanting to help him / her. Everyone has been a salesperson at one time or another. When you believe in what you’re saying about a product or service, you don’t need to try, your feelings come across and you influence others around you to act.
4. Competition
Competition shows us that money is being made from a particular product or service and you want to go where the money is. Just because there are no competitors in the area of a peanut butter machine on a bicycle with machine guns doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Once you realize this, your job is to find out what your competitors are not doing and how you can fill that need. Perhaps they charge too much or their customer service is not that great. Maybe they’re only selling to “client a” and not doing the rest of the alphabet. Competition keeps you sharp. Competition keeps your product / service on the cutting edge. Competition will make you think and think again, “am I serving my customers to the best of my ability?”
5. No idea what business to start
You are taught at an early age to focus on our weaknesses and not our strengths. When you think about starting a business, one of the first things you should ask is, “what am I good at?” Nine times out of ten, we draw a blank, but the answer(s) are there. Instead, ask yourself this, “What are the things that I do that are effortless?”, “In my past, what have I succeeded in?”, or “If I didn’t have to work, what would I do?” Areas of your strength will seem easy and we glaze over them thinking that “hey, everyone can do this” which is not true at all. In thinking about what business to start, think about your areas of strength and go from there.
6. No resources
BALDERDASH!!!! Everyone has resources, skills and other things to start a business. The first thing I did when I started was, I got a pen and paper and listed EVERYTHING I HAD. This included my skills, items around the house, people I knew, experience…EVERYTHING! You have resources to spare. Don’t compare yourself to others who may have more, work with what you’ve got and start from there.
7. It’s too hard
I won’t lie, starting your own business is hard work and anyone who tells you different is a liar. You will be marketing yourself, doing your own website, spending time creating your product launches and a whole list of other things too numerous to mention and on top of that, you’ll have friends and family members that won’t support you all the time…that is, until you start bring in the cash. Once you start earning, you outsource all that “smaller” stuff and concentrate on your craft. It’s work, but for me, it seems like play.
8. Fear of failure
No one likes to fail, but failure can be a great tool that tells you that “this didn’t work, so don’t do it again.” You can minimize failure by educating yourself about areas of business that you’re not familiar with. If you’re working a job that you can tolerate, do your home-based business part-time until you feel comfortable taking the big plunge. Everyone has fears of failure, but not everyone can put them aside and for those that can, they’re the ones you hear about making a lot of money.
9. I’m alone in this
No you’re not. There are so many groups online and in the real world that will support you and guide you along the way. If you pick your area of expertise right, there will be others making money and most of them are more than willing to give you advice. Read biographies about people in your area and realize that there are several billion people on this planet…surely someone is doing this, unless it’s the peanut butter machine on a bicycle idea.
10. Poor view of people with money
This is a biggie and it will stop a lot of people from being successful. This is yet another learned behavior that “rich people are bad” and “it’s good to be poor.” My suggestion to this is, be the first “rich” person to be different. Be the one to “break the mold” and don’t let your peers or family members stop you from having a better life for yourself. Having a lot of money can enable you to do a lot of good for your loved ones and community.
After being fired from my job of over 5 years and at the height of the bad economy, I said “enough is enough!” I started on my consulting career that very same day…two days before my birthday, I might add. I vowed to myself, “I will never work outside my talents again and I want to empower people to take charge of their money and business” and out of that came Desire a Difference.