Entrepreneurship is a difficult road to take. From actually choosing it over other, more ‘conventional’ and ‘safe’ career options, to successfully setting up a company, to keeping it going for the long run, an entrepreneur has to face several obstacles, some more challenging than others. It’s very easy to find yourself seemingly crushed between these hardships, and very hard to stand back up. But what you should never do is be afraid. When you’re at a turn, you’ll find ahead either a monster or a cute harmless puppy, but your fear is more than enough to make even the puppy look like a savage beast.
So, a good entrepreneur should know how to reign in that fear. Here is a list of things you might find yourself fearing and the reasons why you shouldn’t:
#1 Taking risks
Have you ever heard of an entrepreneur who got big without taking risks? Probably not! That’s because taking risks is an integral part of the career you have chosen. If you want to stand out, you have to risk being unusual and different. If you want to be heard, you have to risk shouting your opinions. If you want to be understood, you have to risk being vulnerable.
#2 Making hard decisions
You cannot hope to run your enterprise without making decisions. In fact, you’ll find yourself facing a decision ever so often, and it’s only natural that not all of them would be easy to decide. Don’t chicken out. The worst thing that could happen is that the result won’t be a desirable one. If so, then go back and change it, or start anew, now wiser. So, the worst thing that could come of it is either reversible or rectifiable –what are being afraid of? And if you made a difficult decision successfully, it will give you some excellent confidence boost –think of that!
#3 Asking help
You cannot do everything by yourself, and it’s okay. It’s very important that you understand this fact and remember it for life. There would be so many things you excel at and only some that you’ll need help for. Accept them. Because with acceptance will come the ability to overcome the fear that rises every time you think of –or rather dread- asking someone for help. Asking someone’s help will show them that you respect their advice and opinion, and they’ll reciprocate. Also, they might bring a new angle to the table.
#4 Exploring possibilities
Fearing change is not very uncommon. But in the industry that you are, it can’t be tolerated. With every day bringing in new advancement in technologies and research, you’ll be left way behind if you don’t move with the times. Moreover, your business is set up to solve someone’s problems, which might fluctuate due to various factors. There, also, might be a number of ways to get a job done, you can’t remain stuck on one, or you’ll miss out the more efficient one. Reigning that fear is the only way to do your best.
#5 Crazy ideas
Your startup was probably founded on a crazy idea. So, don’t start shying away from those now. Sometimes crazy is what you need to look neon pink in a crowd of dull brown. The idea might work or it might not. But, if you don’t put it in action, it most definitely won’t. Just ask yourself –can the customer do with a little crazy? If yes, go ahead, full force. If no, try taking it a notch down.
#6 Failing
If you never fail, all the experience you’ll gain will be of winning. To be successful, and to actually know success, you’ll need a mixed package of winning, losing, coming very close to either of them, and then the tides turning, shots in the dark, missing those shots, and luckily getting them. You’ll first need all of these experiences and more, to know how to never go wrong again. So embrace the failures, to never let them happen again.
#7 Hard work
Success never comes easy. Hard work is hard –it says so in the name. But that’s no reason to be afraid of it. Come to terms with the amount of work you need to put in at an early stage and try to not get overwhelmed by it later. That’s all you can do because there is no skipping hard work, not if you’re after success. Brace for impact!
#8 De-motivators
You’ll always have some people by your side who’ll support and motivate you, also those who don’t, and the ones who put in the negative efforts. They’ll try to bring you down because of their own vile tendencies and incompetency. Why should you waste time in being afraid of what they’ve got to say when you can easily make them your greatest incentive. You’ll work hard because they irritate you so much. So, to keep them quite –succeed!