Let me start this post by asking you this question. If you were told that you will be given 30,000 Dollars only if you were willing to start up a business, will you take it? Now let me take the question further and more challenging. If you saw someone ready to give you 50,000 Dollars to set up a business and pay back the money in 3 years with no interest, would you take the money? If your answer is YES, then you may be courageous.
But let’s see how courageous you are. If you were told to take 100,000 Dollars and pay back in 3 years, with interest of 5% per anum and a mortgage of some landed property worth that principal amount, would you?
My reason for asking these questions is for you to measure just how courageous you can be. While many people think that the biggest barrier of starting a business is capital, I think the biggest barrier is often FEAR. And so in this article, I try to share with you a few ways to deal with the fear you have, of starting a business.
- They doubt their competence to manage the business to grow
- They are not sure the idea they have is a good one
- They doubt if the money they have, is enough to start
- They have tried and failed before
- They have listened to more people tell them all the reasons why it will fail
- They are simply chicken-hearted
- They are surrounded by chicken-hearted people
- They fear the unknown
While some of the above are genuine reasons to be afraid, they are not legitimate enough to stop anyone who knows what is right and do it. The following are some ways to deal with the fears you have, to start a business.
1. Deal With Your Misconceptions About Failure
All the reasons advanced above and even more, stem from this one fear: the fear to fail. And so dealing with this fear is dealing with many reasons why people fear to start up a business.
One thing to know is that there are many misconceptions about failure. Many times what we call failure is success in the making. Your understanding and approach to failure is really very important in your business adventure. Some of these statements could help:
- No one has ever really succeeded without failing
- We never fail until we quit trying, and even quitting could sometimes be the first step to success
- No one else but you, can really say that you failed
- You will never achieve much when you fear to fail
What do you think about failure? To set up a business, you need to have a rugged mindset towards failure that makes it impossible to be deterred. Develop such a mindset. Who first of all told you that you will fail? Just do the right things and you will succeed.
2. Connect With Achievers
The eagle that chooses to dwell amongst chicks will never fly. You want to start that business and be an achiever, then spend your time with people who have started one business or the other and are achieving. These people are everywhere you find people buying and selling. Some are even your friends. When you want to stir the passion for business in you, you need to identify people who have gone a few steps further and spend much time with them. Look for wise and daring people to connect with and not skeptics.
It is only a foolish person who will have a flight to catch and spend all his time with people who are not traveling.
3. Prepare for the Worst but Plan & Work for the Best
It is easier to deal with failures in life when we are prepared for them. In planning to start your business, you have to ask yourself what the worst thing that could happen could be. Then make plans for the best but have a prepared mind to face the worst.
The interesting thing is that when you prepare for the worst, the worst never happens. The reason is because preparing is about taking the necessary precautions. Preparing for the worst could mean having a plan B to take care of failures and disappointments. The fact is that not everything you plan will work out as you planned it. Your staff could leave without pre-notification; your business could be robbed; your competitors could come up with a big strategy; your goods could get bad or expired; etc. These and more are why you need a plan B.
When you prepare for the worst, you plan and make contingency plans. Then serve that with hard work and you will get the best.
4. Start Small & Grow
Starting small is obviously a good way to manage your fears of starting a business. It is generally recommended that you start small so that you can have a good mastery of the business terrain while taking low risks. It is certain that in the first few years of your business you will be learning so many things that you did not know at the beginning.
When you must have gained substantial knowledge and experience on the business, you could then expand. One easy way to fail in business is to try to start business so big when you are a novice. You will be overwhelmed by many issues, even if you have enough capital. Take a step at a time and don’t be yet excited about setting up many branches in different towns.
5. Go for Partnership
Partnership brings to any business idea, more fuel to start. Although partnership is very often challenging to manage, it has a great strength in fueling the passion to start any business. When an idea is bought by more than one person, it receives more strength; more heads are put together in planning, more resources are harnessed, more experience is brought to the table and so the tendency to fail is reduced. However, for this to happen, you must get the right kind of person for a partner. See my post titled: “Six Questions To Ask Before Going For A Business Partnership” for more on this.
I am sure at this point you are figuring out how to face the fears you have and go to work, bringing that business idea you have been nursing, into action. Let me see your comment below as I also look forward to hearing how you have started that business and are waxing strong.
Well said and well done sir.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sir
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