Three whales of our indecision, or Why dreams to create a business remain just dreams?

In the modern world, private enterprise has become fashionable and desirable. Almost all of us dream of opening our business, but only a few venture to take the first decisive step towards our dream. Full-time freelance work and work on the Internet seem to be quite real chances to earn money without leaving your home and develop your company with “little blood”. But, nevertheless, people still do not find the strength to change something in their lives, even if reality does not suit them. What is the reason for this? As a rule, among many factors, time, money and fear are the main factors. In this article we will talk about all three reasons, and most of all we will pay attention to the last (fear) and tell you about some of the life hails of the struggle against this bad weather. I hope that this article can be useful to those who wish to open a private business, dreams of freelancing or business over the Internet.

So, let's analyze in detail the essence of the three whales, on which our indecision at the base of our own business rests.

TIME
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With regard to lack of time, then, perhaps, this is the easiest. Trite, but true: 24 hours a day, and this figure is the same for all mortals. How do you like this argument? And while someone finds time for his business, and someone - no. I remember my mother often told me: "If you have no time for anything, it means that you are not loading yourself enough." And in my case it was absolutely true, no matter how surprising it might sound. When, in addition to my main job, I enrolled in a foreign language course, a fitness club and a kung fu section, I had the time and energy to do something else and meet friends more often - I just had to plan my day more intelligently. .



Of course, this cannot be applied to everyone and everyone, but basically the problem of people still lies not so much in lack of time as in the inability to manage and cherish them. On how to build your work schedule and make the most effective use of precious hours, you can read in other articles of our blog .

MONEY

If we talk about money, more precisely about their absence ... We can draw in our imagination a magnificent blooming business with a wonderful office, a staff of workers and first-class equipment and weary from the fact that we have no means for all this. Yes, you need to mark high, but start small: from working alone from your home office and with the technology that is available to you.



If you do not do without certain investments, then there are many ways to get the necessary funds - there would be a desire. First: make your own. Yes, in our present reality, venture funds and third-party investments have become a new trend. As a result, thinking about their own business, start-up entrepreneurs immediately dream of the tightly packed wallets of business angels and various crowdfunding platforms. If there is such an opportunity, then it is better to allocate a certain time to collect the necessary funds on your own. Strange as it may seem, but experts recommend not just attracting outside capital (at least at first) - this will save you from falling into the debt trap in case of failure and teach you how to manage funds more efficiently. If you are not satisfied with this option, then you can find a lot of funding programs for startups that will help you start your business. And if your ideas do not interest investors, then it is worthwhile to think carefully - this may have very real reasons.

At the very beginning, you can try to reduce the cost of their business. You can save in many different ways. For example, in the case of a business via the Internet, you can buy a domain for little money, and build a site based on a free template to reduce waste. Instead of permanent employees, you can use the services of other freelancers who will devote a couple of hours a day to your project — this is much cheaper than maintaining full-fledged employees. I'm not saying that this is the best option - free cheese has its drawbacks, but, nevertheless, all this can help start a business and stay afloat, with a small capital.

AND LAST: FEAR

This is perhaps our most serious enemy. We all fear the uncertainty with which the prospect of opening our own business is connected. We all fear failure, stress and loss. In the end, people tend to fear change. What does it mean to start a startup? First of all, this is a farewell to his old work, stability, well-established rhythm of life. And even if we are not satisfied with our gray, but the usual today, we are still afraid to take a decisive step, fearing that we are making a mistake, because of which our tomorrow will turn into a complete disaster. We are not sure about a thousand things, but most importantly - in ourselves. The fear is connected with the fact that being an entrepreneur (especially when it comes to small business), you must be a universal fighter, because you will have to shoot at all fronts.



Suppose you are a translator. You adore your work and know a lot about it. So why not create your own company and not do your favorite business, working for yourself? Just keep in mind that in addition to your “favorite business”, you will also need to deal with a bunch of unloved (and incomprehensible) questions: finding partners, clients, negotiating and many organizational issues that are very far from working with texts. Add to this the creation of the site, the organization of the office (optional), advertising and promotion of your company in the media, as well as a ton of bureaucracy, reporting and communication with the tax. Oh yeah, and at the same time - no stability and constant stress. No one guarantees you a monthly cash reward of a predetermined amount. As a rule, at first the founders of a small business work from morning till night without breaks and weekends. And this does not mean that you will succeed.

Let's think about what can be done to overcome this fear.

1. Failures

You need to change your attitude to failures. From childhood we are accustomed to the fact that defeat is bad and shameful. In fact, you should try to perceive them as part of the evolution of your business and yourself as an entrepreneur. No one expects your company to become a market leader in the very first days of its existence. There will be both victories and defeats on your way - and this is an integral part of a huge exciting adventure. If your product or service does not take root in the market or it is too difficult to support them, this is not a tragedy - it is just a signal that you need to reconsider your ideas, your tactics and still have a lot to learn.

2. Plan B

Think over the worst case scenario. This will help you avoid a lot of unpleasant surprises and also give you an idea of ​​where exactly the straw should be spread to mitigate a potential fall. As a rule, when failure brings a person by surprise, things are not so tragic as it seems. Make a plan for retreat. Even if your undertaking with your own business fails, life will not stop there: having learned from your mistakes, you can try to restore it from the ruins or start a new business. And you can completely abandon these "adventure ventures," and even then you can still find a job. By the way, this approach is good not only for business, but also other areas of life.

3. Lost Opportunities

Understanding what you lose if you don't open your business. To begin with, you need to realize the simple fact that if you spend your whole life in fear, and not daring to take an important step, you will lose in any case. You are afraid that the business you have built will collapse, that you will lose money, that you will spend time in vain. But, without changing anything, you deprive yourself in absentia of your own business and the prospects of working on your favorite work. Just think, you are afraid of losing what you don’t yet have, and therefore refuse from it in advance.

4. Motivation

Make your motivation overcome fear. Surround yourself with people who have already achieved something in the area that you plan to do. Ask for their advice, learn from them, be inspired by their stories. Nothing motivates like people. Seeing that they were able to succeed, you yourself can overcome the doubts associated with opening your own business. They will be able to dispel some fears and teach how to deal with others. Chat with coaches, watch motivational videos, go to seminars.

5. Purpose and plan

Since we are afraid of the unknown, it is worth as much as possible to determine exactly what we want, and figure out how we plan to achieve this. Setting a goal is great. Making an adequate plan of action is half the battle. And if you see your own business as a huge complex mechanism, then you should disassemble it into components and study it in detail. The more detailed your plan, the better. So you will know what to do and why, and the frightening uncertainty will become quite understandable. In setting goals and creating a plan, our SmartProgress service can help you, and in our community you will find like-minded people and teachers who will support you and motivate you to turn your dreams into reality.



In this article, I described those methods of dealing with fear, lack of time and money, which I tried myself and became convinced of their effectiveness. If you have other interesting and effective life hacking, then feel free to share them in the comments. The more ideas, the better.