How To Overcome Your Fear Of Starting An Online Business

How do you overcome your fear of starting a business?

It is a question that I hear often when speaking to people who want to start a business and just never get around to doing it.

It is an interesting concept.

Strong, confident women – who are smart – both intellectually and street smart – quake in their high heels at the thought of starting and launching their own business.

Starting your own business can bring a lot of emotions to the surface – anxiety, uncertainty and self-doubt.

These emotions create fear in new entrepreneurs.

Fear is an emotional response to a situation that is perceived to create pain or a threat.

It can cause us to respond in a variety of ways – usually to run away, freeze or hide.

This blog post explores the reasons why people fear starting a business, as well as some advice as to how to overcome your fears of starting a business.

 

Reasons Why People Fear Starting A Business

 

1 – Not enough knowledge

Some people believe that you need to know everything about running a business before you start a business.

Starting and running a business is a journey.

You will learn something new every day.

It is one of the most exciting things that I found about starting my own business is the fact that I learn at least one new thing every single day.

How awesome is that thought?

You are guaranteed never to be bored.

 

2 – No Money

There is a common belief that you need a lot of money to start up your business.

It depends what type of business that you want to start.

You can start a business with just a laptop and internet connection and as you grow, you can get more fancy as to you along.

 

3 – Won’t Be Successful

Some people believe that they just won’t be successful – so they don’t bother trying.

The challenge is that how do you actually know that you aren’t going to be successful if you don’t at least, have a try.

Those of us who are perfectionists (I can be guilty of this at times), get caught up in the thoughts of not getting it right and being good at it first time, so they don’t try at all.

Or spend their time procrastinating.

 

4 – Fear Of Failure

Then you have those who just have a fear of failure.

This is when we allow ourselves to let that fear of failure undermine any of our efforts to get anything done.

Some of the symptoms of this fear of failure include:-

• An avoidance or reluctance to try new things
• A degree of self-sabotage-  whether that be procrastination, anxiety or just not willing to achieve achievable goals
• Perfectionism – it has either got to be perfect or it is not good enough
• Lack of confidence
• Low self-esteem

 
It comes down to our mindset, and how we view failure, and how we address failure as to whether this is a factor for you.

 

5 – Fear Of Not Making Enough Money

“I don’t know if i will make enough money to be able to live the life that I want to lead..”.

Many people get caught up in this and it is a major contributor to why so many businesses become unsuccessful and fail.

Business owners need to understand the basic principles of supply and demand.

When starting a business, you need to make sure that you can answer in confidence two questions:-

• How is my business going to make money?
• In regards to money, how much money will my business make?

 

How To Overcome Your Fear Of Starting A Business

 
There are some simple strategies to helping overcome your fear of starting a business.

 

1 – Invest in yourself

The most important asset in your business is you.

Make sure that you are spending time learning new things that will help you be successful.

That might be in teaching yourself how to use a particular social media platform or a piece of technology.

Or researching your niche, so that you understand them intimately.

You may want to spend some money on developing a particular skill or set of skills.

Check out my signature course, Investing In You!

 

2- Start with the basics – an idea + a laptop

Start small.

All you need is an idea, a laptop and access to WIFI.

That way, it is low risk and eliminates any fears that may exist about spending money that you may or may not have.

 

3 – Focus

Make sure that you spend you time focused on activities that are going to help you and your business be successful.

There is a difference between working in your business, and working on your business.

The key to being successful in focusing on activities that will make your business be successful and make you money rather than other activities (the rats and mice).

 

4 – Set achievable goals

By ensuring that you are setting SMART goals(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound), you can ensure that you overcome that fear.

In the beginning, if you set yourself a goal of selling 5 products a week, instead of 100 products a week – it allows you to achieve these goals, celebrate them and then, create a bigger goal.

By achieving realistic goals, you will gain confidence and be willing to go bigger and better when setting your next goal.

 

5 – There will be ups and downs

Recognising that being a business owner has ups and downs, is an important part of overcoming your fears.

Being prepared for the rollercoaster ride makes it easier to manage as it comes around.

Developing resilience is an important part of this journey as well.

 

6 – Save money, budget + sacrifice

Understanding some of things that you need to do as a new entrepreneur will help you overcome your fears.

These include:-

• Saving money for a rainy day. Ensure that all your finances are in order, and you have money for living expenses. It may mean that you need to start your business as a side business until it earns enough money to support the lifestyle you want to have
• Budget – having a budget for the business and your personal life – so you know what you can and can’t spend.
• Sacrifice – as a business owner, there may need to be some sacrifices when starting out – you might need to forgo going out with friends to work on your business as an example.

 
By understanding what you may need to do, it helps you to be prepared for the start of your business journey.

 

There you have it, some advice on how to overcome your fear of starting a business.

It is over to you now…

Erin Hanson said it perfectly – “What if I fall? Oh,but my darling,what if you fly?”