Launching a business is an exciting idea, one that many people would love to go on board. Some have gone a step further to draft business schemes for their idea. But some people always talk about starting a business but end up not taking the practical steps required to bring their small business dreams to reality. And this, oftentimes, has to do with deep afraid. Get to know the main reasons why people are afraid to start their own businesses.
The thing is, starting a business is like launching into an unknown journey. It is full of risks and uncertainties. People react to such situations differently – few face it headlong with self-determination, but most people become panic and freeze due to fear. They never get around to gathering confidence and starting their business.
Many risks of the business are related to finances. Will people pay a good amount for the product? What if there will be no money in the next months? What if a business can’t go well enough to pay the bills? It needs a lot of upfront expenditures to fix things up and running, and even when you set up all, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be on the profit side. Even if your business grows well, it could take a long period to make back the money you spent to fix it up.
READ: 9 Tips For Young Entrepreneurs in Business
Why people are afraid to start their own businesses?
Risk is pretty common as people enter the initial stages of entrepreneurship, especially where money is invested. After all, no one is going to be given a paycheck anymore. There will be feelings of doubt, inadequacy, and future tripping. In reality though, other than risks and insecurities, there are many reasons why people are afraid to start their own businesses.
1. No exposure to entrepreneurship
People who are afraid to start their own business have never been exposed to entrepreneurship. They do not consider starting a business to be a choice for them. We all have worked, or are working, for someone else, and love exploring the new options. But, these kinds of people have been conditioned to think that being an employee is the only path for them. Many entrepreneurs have relatives and friends who have started or run their own businesses. They inspire them to do the same and precede the paths of entrepreneurship.
READ: Social Media Marketing Trends That Could Break or Make Your Business
2. Lack of marketing skills
Some people are pretty much programmed to doubt themselves their whole lives. They also blame marketers for it, but to be honest, money is the main villain. Salesman always tries to sell us something — either his product or someone else’. What is an effective way to do so? To convince us that we need this… or this product is extraordinary.
If your skin isn’t good enough — here, buy these 10 ultra-expensive products to fix it. Your hair is bad too — why don’t you buy an amazing serum for $100? Your body type is not the same as what the magazines are selling — all you need to do is purchase a million other things and sign up for services to get it fixed. And then? Only then, you’ll be the happiest person on this planet! Lack of marketing skills is the biggest reason people are afraid to start their own business.
3. Fear of Success
Many people don’t start a business just because of the fear of success. They are afraid of loss of money, waste of time, and many more things. This is something natural. Overcoming the fear of success and taking a risk is what business demands!
“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”
Denis Waitley
Once people have gotten over their fear of success, they will be ready to take risks. A successful business can take on a form of its own, and businessmen should be concerned that their idea will turn into something bigger than they can handle. Trusting in confidence and abilities is essential to growing a business intelligently.
People need to delegate it appropriately whenever necessary. And remember that the ‘overnight success’ is extremely rare — some businesses grow quickly, but they’ve often been working beyond the ground for years.
READ: 6 Business mistakes that you should avoid
4. Lack of experience
Lack of experience and not being good are two different things. There is a big difference between not having a lot of expertise, being new to the business — and not being good enough. Are you opening a clothing brand? The initial plan you did probably has answered all your questions, and you are most likely unaware of all the tricks of the trade.
Remember that being a new entrepreneur doesn’t constitute a total lack of experience, knowledge, and skills. You simply need to admit that there is a long way for you to learn. There will be a specific amount of time required for that. You also need to avoid being too uneven with self-critiquing.
5. Stress of entrepreneurship
Starting and running a business can be very stressful for some people. It may be because of the market understanding and development of the right products. Right understanding and best manufacturing address the needs of the target market. To run a business, one should possess the skills to jumpstart and run the business.
All of these activities can be stressful and challenging. People are afraid of doing their own business due to the stress of entrepreneurship and especially if things do not go well. They are scared of several problems from raising capital for the venture to generating more sales to finding suppliers for the products.
6. The anxiety of Running Out of Resources
Most of the time, small business entrepreneurs start their businesses with their savings. They couldn’t secure a loan for business, so launched with their limited resources. Ultimately, they have to deal with anxiety if they run out of resources. Borrowing money has its pitfalls as it can take a long time to start and run a business to a point where it starts turning a profit.
The fear of shortage of resources also rears its ugly hydra-head here as well. People should create a solid business plan to overcome this anxiety. They need to highlight every aspect of their business along with the calculated risks involved.
READ: Importance of Leadership in Business
7. Being Indecisive
“Having made the decision, do not revise it unless some new fact comes to your knowledge. Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.”
Bertrand Russell
Not all of the reasons why people are afraid to start their own businesses have to do with their anxieties and money. Sometimes, it simply comes down to being indecisive. People do not know what they want to do. Many office employees want to start a business for themselves, but they just don’t have an idea what it is they want to sell. They are indecisive about a lot of things from selecting products to business methodology.
What about the option of franchising? It can provide several absolute opportunities. But even when people decide on what they want to do can lead them to indecision. While launching a business on their own and facing uncertainty, people should handle their feelings first before they proceed.
READ: What makes a CEO successful?
The Bottom Line
Starting a business isn’t an easy game and everyone can’t do this! Entrepreneurship might not be for the people who are afraid to start their business. The internet has been around us for long period, yet people are still passive about giving it a try. They are quite scared of trying many other things in life, not just online business! Avoiding doubts and insecurities, what matters is self-improvement and confidence. If they don’t give it a try, they’ll never know if their opinions were good.
If they make the solid decision to leap into entrepreneurship, they will soon see that these anxieties are very real, but they should overcome them. Developing a workable action plan to move on can help start a business on the right foot. Business is all about taking a risk which means believing in oneself. Even if there is no success on the first try, a lot of things will be there to learn and seek.
Stop being afraid! Or, even if you are afraid— keep going. After five, ten, and many more years, you should not regret things you didn’t do and the chances you didn’t take. So, what are you waiting for?
READ: 5 Small Business Ideas for Teens
