Overcoming the fear of becoming an entrepreneur

Why too many business ideas simply go no further than that… an idea…

Ever once been at a friend’s place for dinner, or just hanging round the student bar with friends in between lectures, or even during one of those tireless boringly quiet periods at work when your fellow colleagues are just sitting round chatting, and you hear the famous old sentence of “I have come up with a really great business idea!”
At first, the whole group around you are always intrigued. It’s a fact of human behaviour. The thought of having that million dollar idea to get you out of the rat race and launch you to entrepreneur stardom is something most people have dreamt of once and hence why you will always have all ears pinned waiting for this incredible idea to be shared.
I have to say in my experience that every time that so-called ‘brave’ person has revealed his or her idea to me, I have rarely (if ever) said that would “simply not work” or “that’s already being done” because the point is even if it’s already being done, there are always different techniques you can use to make an existing product or service better for the customer.


So the question I ask is why? Why is it that such people who are either in a job that they are clearly bored of, or studying some degree for the sake of it possibly getting them a “well-paid job” are not actually pursuing this idea if all those close around them are saying “that’s a really cool idea”. Personally I think it’s a combination of reasons. You could write a book on the excuses as to why it’s so hard to turn the idea into reality. “I don’t have the time”, “I lack the seed capital”, “I don’t have the experience”, “I lack the confidence”, “what if I fail?”


My point to anyone who is perhaps quietly saying these things to themselves right now is that it could not be a better time to begin your own business! Lets weigh up the reasons now.

  1. Big companies are downsizing and outsourcing: Students leaving university now already know that even graduating with 2 PHDs and 3 Masters degrees will still not guarantee you a job after university, let alone one that pays well! More and more students these days are leaving school to go to university, with most of them striving to achieve good grades, to then pursue a career which they may not even know what it is yet. Whilst I believe university offers young people a lot of valuable life lessons early in their adult life such as independence, self discipline to perform and a work life balance, I personally cannot remember a single thing I was examined on that I now apply to running my companies! Am I alone on this? I highly doubt it. The point is technology has now changed the world of business and how companies operate. In various industries worldwide, competition for the big corporations has increased dramatically and therefore business costs have never been so monitored. The point I am making is if it’s easier to outsource the internal procedures of a business to a smaller (and in most cases sharper) company to handle it for them they will do so. You have seen this massively in IT, Recruitment, Marketing and PR, Telephone services right up to where they buy their office furniture from… The world has opened up. What an exciting time to be an entrepreneur!  

  2. Your potential customer is no longer one you need to meet face to face: Internet businesses are the future… let me rephrase that. Internet businesses have been the future and have continued to change our lives for over 10 years! Some of the most wealthy people on this planet have achieved it through believing in an idea that soon turned into one of the most commonly used tools in our lives. Obviously you can include Bill Gates and Microsoft in that category and the google boys but most recently, has been the explosion in social networking sites like myspace and the very well built facebook. The younger generation that is coming into the world of business truly understand the power of the internet and the opportunities that are now endless. Again a great time to turn your current business idea into reality!  

  3. Funding, mentoring and entrepreneur networks are now available to help you do it!: It would almost be too easy (and indeed pointless)  for me to simply state these opinions to you without any way of helping you turn these business ideas into growing businesses. My reason for this article is that I truly believe there are too many smart young people with business ideas but simply lack the experience, guidance and capital to make it happen. I have been assisting young ambitious entrepreneurs make it happen for a long time now and I still feel I have only just scratched the surface!

    Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from each other. Not only from their successes but of course, from the many mistakes that have been made along the way to achieving a strong cash-flowing business.

    I began mentoring entrepreneurs in 2 main business fields; investment property and share trading, 2 business fields that I have been actively involved with now for over 8 years. Whilst these two industries continue to give me a lot of satisfaction and offer plenty of opportunity for others to grow their businesses, I have a real passion for assisting entrepreneurs with businesses in many other fields. Whether it be online, new hospitality, music, green technology…  the list is almost endless!
    It is simply too easy for people to come up with all the excuses in the world as to why they ‘cannot’ turn their idea into a business, my question to you is this; “what is the cost to you if you never even try to do it?” believe me its more than any dollar, yen, swiss franc or pound figure you could come up with. It’s the cost of regret.