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In this article, I want to discuss the fear of starting an online business and how to overcome it. Starting a new online business can change your life in many ways. For some, that may sound exciting or amazing. However, for many, it can sound scary. Self-doubt, uncertainty, and fear are common feelings that many people experience when considering starting their own business.
Entrepreneurs of all experience levels and ages face fears when bringing their ideas into reality and taking on a new endeavor. In this article, I want to discuss the fear of starting an online business and how to overcome it.
When you’re starting an online business, you’re trying to prove yourself to friends and family that you can make your idea happen and have the passion to follow through on your concept. You might also feel the pressure to be successful because of investors, partners, or employees that are now relying on you. That can feel like a lot of stress.
The fear of starting an online business isn’t a new fear. According to a study by Wakefield Research, Americans are more afraid to start their own business than to jump out of a plane. What are the most common fears associated with becoming an entrepreneur? How do you build a successful business and overcome it? It’s all about taking the first step, believing in yourself, and committing to your idea.
Below are a few of the most significant barriers and fears most entrepreneurs face when starting a new online business and ways you can overcome them.
Worried About What Others Think
When you put your ideas into the world, you’re opening yourself up to other people’s opinions. It might seem scary that millions of people could read your content. People from around the world who have different ages, backgrounds, and knowledge may view your ideas and criticize them.
However, starting your online business and putting your thoughts into the world means that you have a voice and an audience who will listen to you. Plus, feedback on your ideas can help you develop or shape your business plans into an even stronger concept.
To overcome this fear, start slowly to build your confidence by getting yourself in the habit of asking friends who you trust to give you feedback on your ideas. Once you feel comfortable receiving feedback from friends, you can ask colleagues or co-workers for feedback.
Allow yourself to sit with the feedback you are provided, find the positive, and learn to discard the input that is not important to you. Eventually, you will feel comfortable with criticism and will be able to start posting your ideas or business online without fear of what others will say. Instead, you’ll look at it as an opportunity to speak to an audience worldwide and receive constructive feedback.
Fear That You Don’t Know What You’re Doing
When an entrepreneur decides to create an online business, it may cause a lot of anxiety or fear that they might not be an expert yet in their field or know what you’re doing. It might feel hard to become an expert when there’s always going to be someone who knows more than you.
There will always be competitors in whatever field of online business you choose. However, the more people you see in the same industry or business line as you mean that there is a market in that industry for business and growth. Use your competition as proof that people need your online business.
To overcome your fear of what others might think, remember that everyone must start from the beginning when creating an online business. Experts weren’t always considered knowledgeable in their field when they decided to pursue their industry.
The more you work in your business, and the more you develop your business, the more knowledgeable you will become. Before you know it, you will become an expert in your field. Remember, you don’t have to be an expert on the first day of your business. Plus, you probably already know more than you realize about the topic if you’ve decided to create an online business around it.
Fear of the Cost of an Online Business
Creating an online business does not need to mean that you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. First, the advantage of creating an online business is that there is no storefront. You won’t have to find a physical location, pay rent or mortgage, or hire employees.
Instead, with an online business, you can start with minimal resources to grow your company. For example, you can create your online presence by using an affordable domain name and hosting your website (bizemcee offers domain names starting at $8.99/year and WordPress managed hosting at $8.99 a month). Even when considering your web design, which can cost thousands of dollars, you can use one of the free themes that websites, like WordPress, offers.
While free doesn’t always mean you’ll receive the best quality, it can be a good starting place if you’re tight on funds. Suppose you’re selling products and will have to find a manufacturer or source materials. In that case, there are plenty of online manufacturers, like Alibaba, you can start with to find less expensive sources.
To overcome your fear of cost, use the above tips and map out the realistic cost of starting an online business. It usually will cost far less than you think. First, you can always find free resources, and as you build and grow, you can invest in better, high-quality websites or hosting.
- For further reading on starting an online business: How To Create a WordPress Website In 3 Easy Steps
Fear of Failing
The most common fear of starting an online business is the fear of failing. The idea that we could put all our money, effort, and thoughts into a project, and it might not turn out the way we had hoped, can sound scary. None of us want to feel like a failure.
It’s Essential To Turn The Narrative Around.
However, what’s the worst that can really happen? Will you lose the little bit of investment money you used to start your business? Will you feel bummed telling friends, family, or coworkers it didn’t work out? Failing can be one of the most important lessons we learn.
If you start a business and it doesn’t work out, you can analyze what went wrong and learn from it. Plus, leaving a failing business behind gives you the room to create something even bigger and better. Failure is not a bad thing.
When starting an online business, it’s essential to turn the narrative around. Instead of focusing on what you might lose, you want to focus on what you can potentially gain. What type of freedom would your business allow you? How could your online business help others around the world? How big and successful could your business become? If you focus on what you can gain from experience, you’re less likely to have a fear of starting an online business and failing.
Fear of Where to Start
You came up with an exciting online business idea, and you can’t wait to get started. However, the long list of tasks you must do to get it up and running can cause the fear of starting an online business to kick in and become overwhelming to the point that you don’t do anything. How can you possibly get it all done? Does this sound like you?
There is indeed a lot of work that goes into starting a business. It requires you to do extensive research, learns new processes, and spend many hours executing your ideas. However, it’s very manageable to get your online business started and running.
To overcome this fear, first, start by writing what you need for your online business. Example topics might include things like website, products, packaging, etc. Try to write down as much as you can.
Then, go through each topic to add tasks within each subject. For example, if you’re diving into the topic of your website, you might also include the pages you need to create (About me, Our Story, Products), Website Domain, Hosting, and so on. Finally, create actionable tasks within each minor topic. For example, If you dive into the About Me page, you might list ideas like our business’s history, reasons why you started it, or a bio about yourself.
You’ll start to see a massive task list form with everything you need to do to get your business started. From that list, only choose one or two tasks to begin with. Solely focus on those specific tasks; don’t jump around to different parts of your business.
Starting with small, actionable to-do’s will slowly help your list decrease until you’ve completed everything on your list. Only do what you can, and remember that even five minutes of working on your business a day will contribute towards your goal of starting an online business. You will become more and more confident as you see your accomplishments, and you will see the fear of starting an online business diminish and be replaced with joy.
Fear of Starting an Online Business and How to Overcome It
Fear of starting an online business is huge for many people. Over 57% of people have had an idea of a product or business solution, but only 30% have executed the idea. There might always be a little bit of fear associated with pursuing your dream or starting your own business. However, by using our tips above, you’ll begin to see that it’s not so scary, especially if you take small, actionable steps towards your goals.
