Afraid to start a business? Read this…

You probably have a legitimate fear: Failure with often leads to poverty. You’re not alone. Your challenge is the same for every aspiring entrepreneur trapped by a monthly salary that’s dangerously addictive. It’s even more difficult if you have a family depending on you.

With a salary comes expenses. And, the higher your expenses, the less financial risk you can take. Now, if you can’t take financial risk, you can’t start your own business. This is because a new business needs two years of personal runway, ie: enough money to last you two years, assuming your business makes no money.

To increase your runway, save and reduce expenses. The safest course is to live a simple life. Keep your personal overheads down.The first step you have to take to eliminate your fear of chasing your dreams is reduce your financial risk to increase your runway. Here are five things you might fear ad how to overcome them.

1. Not knowing where to start.

Most entrepreneurs don’t know where to start. Once you have your business idea, start by finding someone who started a business similar to yours. Read about the person, the structure of her business and if you can, reach out to see if they can offer advice or information. The most important step is the first one. So, take a step forward and do what makes sense. The path will unfold as you continue to walk.

2. Not being an expert

You wouldn’t start a business you know nothing about. You most probably know enough about your product or service. Therefore, don’t worry if you don’t feel like a complete expert in the field yet. You can always find answers for the things you don’t yet know. There is no shame in continuing to learn. In fact, this is a requirement for continued growth.

You might also like: Five things to consider after starting a business

3. Not finding funding

When you’re a business owner, you know won’t just walk into a bank and receive a loan or attract an angel investor. This is not a dream world. Therefore, if you don’t have an investor, you have to jump-start your businesses anyway. Even if you don’t have the necessary start up capital, you’ll soon learn that a slow and steady process of building the business may be the best thing after all.

4. Not attracting customers

It’s scary to take the risk of offering your skills to the world, wondering if they’ll be someone to value them. Unless you start your business with an established audience, you won’t have a stampede immediately swarming to knock your door down.

Therefore, my advise to you is that you approach your business with joy and consistently deliver. You’ll undoubtedly grow and experience a turn of the tide. In the meantime, study to increase your level of expertise, work on your marketing plan and be kind to yourself because you’ve already made it further than most.

All the best!

5. Not earning enough to recover an investment

The definition of entrepreneur is all about a person who organizes and operates a business taking on greater than normal financial risks. If you happen to invest in your business and don’t see an immediate return, keep working. Should you quit before you earn a profit, you’ll never earn a profit. And if you do decide to quit before your business sees a profit, remember that you raised the investment capital once. You can always do so again.