Entrepreneurs are known for having strength and courage, otherwise they would never branch out on their own to start a business. They’ve succeeded by working an exhausting amount of hours and focusing on their business to the point of ignoring all other parts of their lives.
What can stop most business owners from continuing in their businesses are their fears, their ideas of how things should be and how they feel they aren’t measuring up in comparison with other business owners. Some of the most common fears are:
Not tech savvy.
For many of us, keeping up with advances in technology is not only time consuming but just not interesting enough to spend our time on. With a growing business, family and outside interests that we pursue, educating ourselves on each application that comes along is not high on our list of priorities.
A lack of support.
Asking for help is really difficult for some of us and even more so for those who cherish their independence and built their own business. Family and friends don’t understand why we continue to work at a business when we could just go out and get a job with someone else. When the workload becomes too heavy and they see us struggling, their first suggestion is that we give up, not come up with original ideas on how to keep going.
We are not skilled at sales.
Sales and marketing are the cornerstone of any successful business and for many, particularly the introverts, there is nothing more terrifying than approaching other people to purchase something we are selling. Not all of us are good salespeople. It is either part of your personality or you have to work very hard to overcome the fear of rejection of your products and services which you see as a rejection of yourself.
Fear of not being good enough.
This leads right to the fact that we have a fear of not being good enough. Inside, we are thinking to ourselves, what am I doing running a business? Lack of confidence in what you’re doing, especially after a number of years of success, is usually due to a one time business problem that leads to a feeling of failure and isn’t that what all business owners really fear? Failure, whether it actually exists or we just see it as that.
Resilience is a common trait of all entrepreneurs and facing your fears is just one more hurdle in letting go of expectations and trying to see your business from another angle, that of your customers. Rare is the business owner who does not have at least one of the above fears. Most have learned that in order to get over their fears, they need to educate themselves in the various aspects of running a business that they don’t understand or bring in outside help, such as a virtual assistant or team. This gives them the flexibility to spend time on the things they enjoy about their business and leave the rest to someone else.
© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2014
Image courtesy of incedogroup
