5 Top Reasons That Stop You from Entering into Entrepreneurship
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be
In present day world, Entrepreneurship is certainly a key economic driver. The journey starts with a handful of creative minded individuals with a small-yet-powerful idea and the entrepreneurial spirit later results into big businesses and wealth. It is the feeling of many successful entrepreneurs who have claimed that having your own startup business makes you feel alive, increases self esteem, allows you to nourish your creative talent and makes you have a much greater and stable control over both your professional and personal lives.
But as we all know, every coin has two sides of it and entrepreneurship is not an exception. On one hand, there are people who aspire to be entrepreneurs to taste a whole new cocktail served by one’s life whereas on the other hand there are people who get afraid to step into the world of entrepreneurship. Failure is the most common fear that comes along with the word “startup businesses”. But what are the other reasons that make people backtrack when it comes to start your own business?
1. Lack of funds
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Funding to start your business is extremely important. But sometimes people with extraordinary talents are taken aback because they don’t have the sufficient amount of funding required to build the necessary setup. It’s not easy embark on the journey if they are unable to pursue crowd funding, microfinance or incubators. This eventually stops people to think of becoming an entrepreneur as they can’t afford the money and take up some regular 9-5 job to make ends meet.
2. Not Dumb enough to leave the comfort zone of a regular paying job
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“No Regular Salary!” This mere thought of instability in professional life is something that freaks most of the people out who wish to become entrepreneurs deep down their hearts. For many people becoming an entrepreneur is another name of giving up the security and stability and also the comfort of a regular paying job. The psychology goes like, if the business slows down on growth or revenue generation; one’s personal income is at stake which is not the case in a corporate job (except for the recession which is an extreme exception). And even in economic turmoil in corporate worlds, there are ways to compensate the employees but in case of startups, once the game is lost, it is lost! And the only option left is to start afresh all over again.
3. Fear of Failure
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“What if I fail?”
This question is undoubtedly the biggest and also the most common fear experienced by an aspiring entrepreneur. Even if somebody overcomes the funding problem and manages money to start with the business venture, it is extremely difficult to overcome the fear to fail in the effort. A lot is at stake. The money, the arrangements, the physical effort, the mental pressure, creativity— all go in vain. And it is certainly not easy to digest. And the intimidating statistical data which shows that 50% of startup businesses fail usually within the time limit of 5 years makes the situation even more complicated for the want-to-be entrepreneurs.
4. Don’t have the skills required
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In order to become a successful entrepreneur, an individual has to possess different types of skills and not just one. First and foremost are the personal skills that a person has to have within himself such as vision, optimism, self-confidence, and self-motivation. Then comes the interpersonal skills where one has to well communicate with others in order to build a business relationship. And there are also creative skills and technical skills and knowledge that are very much required to be possessed by a startup founder.
The good thing here is all these skills can be generated with time. But at the initial level, people usually worry about their credibility regarding pulling off the skills and experiences. They also doubt whether they’ll ever be able to develop these skills whereas as a matter of fact, they can be learnt by anyone!
5. Family Responsibilities
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Another reason that repels people from getting into entrepreneurship is the fact that the pressure of carrying one one’s own business can sometimes take a toll on a person’s personal life. Both during the early stages of the journey when an entrepreneur has to build up the base strong and also during later stage when there is too much pressure to handle, he/she has to neglect family responsibilities. It also makes them sacrifice their leisure time with family. Again on the other hand, all the monetary issues that have been discussed before are also intrinsically related to family responsibilities.
All of these reasons become enough to scare people away from engaging in startups. Money, security, comfort, stability— so many risks are to be taken in order to become an entrepreneur. But whatsoever, it has to be reminded that after every dark tunnel there is a way out to the light. Similarly, if there are reasons to be afraid of there are certainly enough ways to overcome them. Ambition, energy, effort and a little organized prior planning— if these four pillars can be built up steady and strong then no one has to stop him/herself to become an entrepreneur— the most exciting, challenging and rewarding life one can ever think of! 🙂
