- by Don
5 Horrible Excuses for Not Starting Your Business
In the last several videos, I shared insight as to why businesses fail. Now that we know our “why,” let’s delve deeper into the excuses people create against starting their own business.
“Fear of failure” is one of the top reasons I often hear for not starting your own business.
Let’s look at some of the other reasons I frequently hear:
- I might fail.
- I want job security.
- I don’t want to have to work 24/7/365. There’s actually several variations of this one. For example:
- “No thanks! I tried that once and worked all the time! No way I’m trying that again!”
- “Ugh! I tried that once and ended up working all the time. My wife would divorce me if I tried that again!”
- I don’t know how to run a business. Another variation of this is, “But I wasn’t born as an entrepreneur.”
- I’d love to have my own business, but I have no idea what I’d do. Or a more pessimistic version I frequently hear is, “I don’t have any skills that could be used to create a business.”
Now, sometimes there’s a fine line between “reasons” and “excuses.” Yet I’ll submit that each of these are really just “excuses.” Let’s take a quick look at these today. I’ll cover them in more detail over the next couple of weeks.
#1: I might fail.
Not to scare you, but you absolutely will fail. The only way to ensure you never fail is to never do anything. The key to avoid this is to embrace failure, learn from your mistakes, and keep going. As the old saying goes, “Fail fast; fail cheap; fail forward.”
The road to success is paved with failure. After enough failures, there is success.
My last videos described several reasons why businesses fail. So knowing the “why,” you’re already at an advantage by avoiding those mistakes.
By having a plan, and doing the work, you have a much greater chance of success! Here at RV Business Coach, it is my goal to help you make that leap into success. If you’re thinking of starting a business, but are afraid of failure, set up a phone call for a free consultation with me – I can guide you past your failures into success!
#2. I want job security.
I guess, in some ways, this is a different take on #1. It’s a fear that the business will fail, you won’t be able to pay your bills, and you’ll have to shut it down, and find a “real job.” And that’s certainly a risk.
But is a corporate job any more secure? When the economy sours and sales drop, companies begin laying off employees. So, there’s no real security there. I even know people who were laid off just a few months before they became eligible for a pension!
While a “real job” may feel more secure, it may not really be. On the other hand, running your own company gives you the ability to change and adapt to market conditions, greatly improving your odds of success. There’s security in having direct control over the work you do, rather than depending on an employer for it.
#3. I don’t want to work all the time.
I don’t blame you! No one does! I don’t want to, either!
One of the major advantages of working for yourself is the flexible hours. You don’t have a boss watching over your shoulder to ensure you’re putting in 40 (or, in some companies, 50 or more) hours a week. Complete your work, and you are set to go.
My goal, as a business coach, is for you to have a business that allows you to enjoy your dream RV lifestyle. You absolutely won’t be able to live an RV lifestyle if you’re working all the time!
And, one key here is to set yourself up for scalable delivery. Because here’s the thing: your clients won’t care how much of your time they get; they want measurable and impactful results.
4. I don’t know how to run a business.
Okay, I might be able to give you that. But it’s still an empty excuse. You can learn. You don’t have to be born with a certain set of skills; the skills you need to run a successful business can be learned.
Here’s a life spoiler alert: no one starts out as an expert in their field. It takes time to learn and grow. But, you want to know the difference between and expert and you? The expert started and persisted.
You will always “not know” how to do any activity until you go out and learn, then execute. Or execute, then learn. But you need to act rather than wish.
Do I sound preachy? My personal background is in electrical engineering and computer science. If an introverted programmer like myself can learn to run and scale a successful business, odds are pretty good you can too!
5. I don’t have any skills to offer.
Sorry, I’m not buying into this one. I’m convinced that everyone has a profitable idea hidden away inside of them. Chances are, there are things that you are so good at, that you just do them naturally, without even realizing that other people have no idea how to even get started. So all you need to do is break down what you’re doing so that you can teach it to others.
Sometimes we suffer from “The curse of knowledge:” we know so much about a given area that we don’t even recognize how much we know or how little others know about it. That’s where having someone help you “tease it out” and recognize the value of your skills and knowledge can really help.
Now what?
Part of what I do—indeed, one of the most fun parts of my job—is helping people who have no idea what kind of business they could create figure out what they know, what they’re great at, and how they could create a profitable business. If this is you, let’s talk. I can help.
If you found yourself nodding along to any of the above excuses, but still don’t know where to begin, schedule a FREE 30-minute consultation phone call with me through here.
