I know how difficult it could be to resolve to start a business. And when you have little or no formal/informal education on running one, it becomes even more challenging. This is the reality: a business idea spins in your head but something else keeps you back from taking action.
In this post, we will look at some of these potential hurdles and how best to overcome them, as you think along the line of floating your business:
You play the excuse game:
At the start of every project, there is a moment of inertia when you feel rather reluctant to take chances. You give a million and one reasons to yourself as to why the time isn’t ripe enough. Because that is how humans are wired, you pass on the idea and feel that the right time will beckon some other day.
It’s the case with a choosy lady/man who keeps finding fault in all their prospective suitors, and prefers to wait not-minding-how-long for their Mr/Mrs Right to come by. Since it’s a natural occurrence, we can only display maturity by understanding this phenomenon and not falling victim, to the detriment of our promising business ideas.
I have met a lot of people who ordinarily were capable of turning things around for themselves but won’t desist from giving excuses. Age, sex, location and current earning power aren’t good reasons to kill a promising business venture. Instead, making consultations, collaborating with others and leveraging on one’s network can do the magic. I will shed more light on this later in the post.
You give up because of criticism:
You are probably someone like me who loves to share ideas with people, and perhaps you got criticised after doing so. This criticism nailed you down outrightly and you felt stupid. Anyways, it’s a way of life. This should not dampen your spirit; instead, it should help you review your idea and possibly reshape it.
As a matter of fact, one way to measure how your would-be customers will receive your business idea (product or service) is a reflection of those criticisms. One thing is certain, not everyone will see your idea. And, you must be sincere enough with yourself. The moment you detect that negative reviews outnumber the positive ones, don’t turn a blind eye. It is dangerous for you and your business. But then, it could just be another fluke.
A better thing to do is to rework your idea or simply modify it. Always see reviews in two ways: good or gifts. Good when it flatters you and celebrates you, a gift when it is negative.
You are afraid of failing:
No one wants to fail. No one. This holds true across all ages and for both genders. Your exhibition of the fear of failure is, thus, not unique. What can be unique is that you have mastered the art to demystify failure.
You are simply afraid of failing because you see other people living fine without experiencing any disruption, so, you think it will be unwise to enter into a venture with only a 50% chance of scaling up. You are just not physically and psychologically ready.
What you must understand instead is that failure is an integral step on the ladder of life, and as much as we do not want it, we must learn how to deal with it because it can land it sledge hammer on our heads at the least expected time. Preparing for failure is an art in itself, and it takes diligence to master it. For every plan you make, goal you set, and target you mark, ensure to build (in between) allowances. This allowances should cater for failures.
Like me, call it the worse-case scenario plan. This is hoping for the best while preparing for the worse. Like this, nothing hits you unaware. Personally, I have had times when I laughed over a misfortune. I could do this basically because it didn’t happen as a shock. After calculating the pros and cons of your business idea, never allow fear of the unknown to keep you back.
You want to save enough:
You are employed already and feel it is only wise to save some cash before you switch to being a business owner yourself. You are not wrong. As a matter of fact, that’s the reasonable thing to do. But when you keep using this as a constant barrier as to why you can’t test the waters yet is when you are getting it wrong.
Often times, it is very difficult to save funds to start a business idea. You either never get to meet the target or keep raising the bar on excuses of the-ripe-time-is-not-now. The better way to go about it is to save up a reserve enough to see you through a reasonable period, while your business generates income.
What is important is to first ensure that your business idea is feasible and that you have the expertise/resources to carry out its operations. Instead of waiting and thinking money, think about your business idea and its potential. Here, if you must partner with others, please do. The world’s richest guys are never selfish with ideas. Why? Because collaboration is the new competition.
Your business idea is unrealistically too big:
You don’t have your finances sorted. You don’t have investors yet. You don’t have business partners. You don’t have any collateral to apply for loans. But, the only idea you want to push is a multimillion dollar idea. Like that of the son of a silicon valley-based billionaire. No!
Now, think about it this way. You don’t have to be super wealthy to chase a massive idea but you should sort out your finances. This can be via partnership, securing investment from investors or just using a property to stand as a collateral for loans.
If you are very helpless like me. The way to go is to keep chasing the idea while you venture into something smaller and realistically achievable in the interim. Like the adage goes: cut your cloth according to your pocket. You should find smaller ideas to push while working towards your bigger idea.
You think your idea is too simple:
On Forbes, recently, I stumbled on this: many people think that for an idea to be successful, it must be complicated. That, a business idea appearing simple reveals its porousness and lack of potential to succeed.
The reverse is usually the case; when you complicate an idea, people don’t connect easily and you put them off. What should be your goal in forming a business idea is to see how the said idea solves a problem. You can enter any market when your idea is solving a known problem or enhancing an existing idea.
Bottom line:
To summarise, never allow cheap things as attempting to save enough, phobia of failure or peer criticisms to dissuade you from delving into your business ideas. Ideas rule. And, the world can only get better when we give our ideas wings to fly. Calculate risk, plan, consult, adjust if need be, and fly.
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