If you still haven’t started your business, it is the real time to think about the possibilities that can give you your own business, developed on the basis of your biggest strengths and enabling to do what you want to do with a highest possible fulfillment.
So, what’s stopping you to start and run your own business? In my research of this phenomenon, I come to the hundreds of reasons collected in the last five years. Here, I will share four categories of reasons why you haven’t started the business that I think is one of the most important to you in order to overcome them.
1. Business Ideas as the Main Problem Why You Haven’t Started Your Business Yet
When we talk about business ideas as a reason why you haven’t started your business yet, there are five different excuses that come to mind:
Excuse 1: You simply don’t have any type of business ideas
This is possible. Simply, you never think about the business startup. You never think about new possibilities and opportunities on which you can build something worth, something that will change the world.
But, it is not the right excuse for why you haven’t started your business yet. In most of the cases, you already have a large number of possible business ideas. Maybe they are possible business opportunities. Maybe they are your biggest strengths, or experience, or skills that nobody else has it.
Probably you have already developed some solution to solve your own problem or satisfy your own need. Why you don’t think about this? I am sure that there is more than one idea ready to be transformed into the high potential business startup.
How to Start a Business With No Business Experience?
Excuse 2: You simply don’t have enough good ideas
Many times people complain to me that their ideas are simply ordinary ideas, something that everybody else has it and everybody else can start it. But, that is OK to go ahead. It is not something that must stop you on your entrepreneurial future.
You cannot know what ideas are the good one and what ideas are bad ones. You need to take the next steps in order to approve some better than others ideas and reject the rest that your own research and your customers will tell you they are really bad ones.
Excuse 3: You simply don’t have exceptional ideas
Also, I have seen potential entrepreneurs say to me that they have good ideas, but still they are not exceptional ideas for their business startup.
You cannot allow yourself to come up with exceptional ideas that will guarantee the success of your startup. You aren’t the person who judges the ideas. Your potential customers will tell you whether some idea is exceptional, good or bad. Your business idea is only the starting point of your entrepreneurial career and its transformation into excellent products and services will require many improvements and change.
Excuse 4: You simply have too many ideas and don’t know what to choose
Sometimes there are people who have too many business ideas, and they don’t know what to chose. They are simply paralyzed by their large amount of possible ideas that they can start as a business.
If you find yourself in such a position, you will need to be systematic. That means you will need to make a research of your ideas in order to prioritize them. Then you can start talking with potential customers in order to choose the best ones. Sometimes, there are possibilities to merge several ideas into one. In this case, you can categorize them to see which ideas can be combined and merged.
Excuse 5: You have a winning idea, but you are still not sure about is the idea something that will work
You will never be sure that an idea is something that will work without testing it with your potential customers. So, it is better to start doing something with your idea, before it will be too late.
Winning ideas easily can lose their business potential energy if you delay the implementation process. Again, talk with potential customers, try to close sales with them. Don’t forget to measure their interest in solving the problems that will be solved with your winning idea. That’s the way how you will start on your startup journey.
2. You Haven’t Started Your Business Because You Are Afraid to Start
The next important reason why you haven’t started your business yet is the fear to start and run your own business. There are five most influential reasons for fear:
Reason 1: You simply afraid of the unknown
Starting a business has too many unknowns and too many directions without a clear picture of the road you will need to walk. But, with a clear vision about what you want to achieve at the several middle points on the road and at the end of the road, you will not use the same road, but you will create a totally new road only for you and your new company. When you start creating your road, you will not fear of unknowns.
Reason 2: You simply afraid to make a mistake
Mistakes are an integral part of each startup, and you cannot change this. You can’t find a successful entrepreneur who doesn’t make mistakes in his early stages. So, try to remove this fear.
If you have a vision, you know your strongest competence, and you are sure that you have a winning idea to start your own business, your fear will go away.
Reason 3: You simply afraid to succeed
Another fear comes from possible success. What will be if I and my startup succeed? What will change in my closest environment because of my success? What will be my new role in a society?
These and many more similar questions many times will increase the fear of potential entrepreneurs. This fear will stop them to start their own business.
Starting and operating a company is experimentation. You cannot say that you have guaranteed success in your own hands. So, why you need to think about something that is not for sure that will come. Simply, continue with your experimentation, learn new things, and learn how to not bother yourself with what will be if something happened.
Reason 4: You simply afraid of what will talk other people
There will always be other people who can say good or bad things about your action steps related to entrepreneurial career. If you want to eliminate this fear, simply put all your focus on your company and the customer’s development process. That is the most important job you will need to do with your startup. Your job is not to think about sayings of other people who have not related to the success of your company.
Reason 5: You simply afraid of the possible loss of money and time
Yes, there are many examples of entrepreneurs who have lost their money. There are entrepreneurs that lost not only the money, but also time, and effort invested in building a business that failed. But, if you start with this premise, how you can expect that you will build success.
Even there probably will be many losses, they can be covered with many more gains you will get with your company. As you know, starting a new business is something like experimenting. On the other side, experimenting will bring you more knowledge, skills, and experience. If you are enough persistent and use what you have learned and experienced in the next steps you will cover your losses in the form of money and time.
3. You Haven’t Started Your Business Because You Think You Don’t Have the Competence to Start
Competence is another reason that stops many potential entrepreneurs to start their own businesses even they have a winning idea. Here are some reasons why you haven’t started your own business in this category that you need to know:
Reason 1: You don’t have a university degree related to entrepreneurship
Having a university degree was never an influential factor in the success of startups. There are too many examples that approve of this fact. I don’t say that entrepreneurship is something easy. But, I can say for sure that it is something that can be learned on the go. Even more, it is better to learn from your own experience. So, remove this barrier on your way to start a business.
Reason 2: You don’t have experience with startups
You will never have experience if you don’t start your startup. That’s the fact. How you can expect to increase your experience in something without starting doing that something? You need to build your experience, or to hire other people that will bring that required experience. So, it can’t be an obstacle or reason in your entrepreneurial journey why you haven’t started your business.
Reason 3: You don’t have the knowledge, skills, and experience in running a startup company
Developing the startup means developing totally new products and services, totally new processes, and totally new business models. So, why you want to expect to have the knowledge, skills and experience for something that still doesn’t exist. On the other side, you can hire other peoples or bring partners. With them, you will compensate low level of knowledge, skills and experience in something.
4. You Haven’t Started Your Business Because You Don’t Have Enough Money to Support Startup Process
Some business startups will require more, and some will require a less amount of money. But, unavailability of money can become reasons why you haven’t started your business yet. Here are two of them:
Reason 1: You are waiting to collect enough money in order to start your business
You will never collect enough money to start your company. There will always be new things to spend more money.
If this is the reason why you haven’t started your business yet, instead of waiting to collect enough money, try other ways to support financing your startup as adding partners, borrowing from someone, bootstrapping and so on.
Reason 2: You don’t have partners who will co-finance starting up of your company
Probably you don’t want to share the piece of cake with additional partners. But, it can be the biggest mistake that you can make and something that will stop you to start your winning idea. Partners will bring the required money, but also additional competence in your startup team.
