Fear – Entrepreneurs No.1 Enemy.

Note: It’s a fact, the No. 1 factor that prevents entrepreneurs from lunching a new company or meeting some goals is fear. Now how do you check if your fears are at the door?

After some time with my business coach, he decided to start giving me some tasks that I had to execute and when we meet discuss over coffee. Later on he revealed why he did that and not teaching me how he does business: overcoming fear. In his own words “you need to be your best, not like me or anyone else.”

We all have fears. But the good news is they're generally easy to overcome. Just look beyond them. Think it's easier said than done? Here are the common entrepreneurial fears we all face and how to attack them:

Fear of Failing

This is the most obvious entrepreneurial fear: What if the business isn't successful? What if it doesn't work out? What if I end up living on the streets? The statistics you hear about the likelihood of company failure would put this fear into any entrepreneur's mind. It's also the one you are most familiar with from the days of taking tests at school and handing in the project work at campus.

What to Do About It

Understand that every start-up is a failure at some point. If you look back on the original business plan, a company rarely, if ever, follows the plan as it was conceived. The difference between companies that succeed and those that fail is their ability to correct your course - pivoting. Make sure you pay attention to what's working and what's not, and continually work to capitalize on the positive. Remember starting out as a Fashion Boutique and ending as a successful Lingerie or Bridal shop will never make you a failure.

Fear of Success

Believe it or not, success is some entrepreneurs' biggest fear. A hesitant salesperson is actually afraid that if he makes the sale, the company won't deliver on the promise he's made. Success brings the requirement to perform, to fulfill the obligation, and to manage scarce resources in an attempt to satisfy demands. Many companies fail because they simply can't service the demand, and their customers move on to a competitor.

What to Do About It

Find a fellow entrepreneur who is in a similar space. He or she has been there before and will have connections and advice to help you through. Look for resources you can borrow: an industrial kitchen if you are making a food product or a company's excess office space; or rent another company's equipment to get the job done.

Fear of Starting

One of my colleagues once gave me some great advice about getting started on a big task. She told me, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer, "One bite a time."  OK, it's a little creepy, but you get the point. Often we are so overwhelmed by the task ahead of us because it looks too big and daunting that we just don't start.

What to Do About It

It may sound funny, but just simply start! If you are going to write a book, write 350 words a day and you are writing about a page. If you are going to start a company in a space you have never been before, find a mentor or spend some time interning with a company you respect. Do something small today for the future you want tomorrow. Then do something that will tie your leg to continue, like register the company or get at least 3 people backing your move and encourage them to as for your progress.

"Remember starting out as a Fashion Boutique and ending as a successful Lingerie or Bridal shop will never make you a failure." 

Fear of Loss

This fear grips entrepreneurs who have built something up and are afraid to make a change or go in a new direction. They are afraid that the new direction will put what they already built in jeopardy or those that got a career to learn and the job got sweet and lucrative, change becomes the problem here.

What to Do About It

Realize that the second you stop innovating your company, you are already slipping. There is no such thing as maintaining the status quo in the entrepreneurial or small-business space and if you think you are afraid of losing what you already have, like a job then know that unless you take some risks, you are already headed down that path.

Entrepreneurs are a resilient breed. You know how to take a need, problem, or bad situation and capitalize on it to build something great. If you can remember that your entrepreneurial instincts make you more likely to succeed and to learn from a failure, you have nothing to fear.

Go start!!

If did like this article, please don't forget to make official our friendship and follow Business insights on Facebook

 

By Andrew Ekwang. Business writer with Business Solutions