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Why Are People Afraid To Start Their Own Business


November 17, 2022


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Why are People Afraid to Start Their Own Business

Fear of Failure:

For some would-be entrepreneurs, one of the biggest challenges to taking the leap into business ownership is how it might affect their status. If you want to know why people are afraid to start their own businesses, one way is to look at what they might have to lose. They may be a highly prized employee who’s shot up the ranks in whatever firm they work for. This brings a certain prestige to family and friends. However, to go from a hotshot to a struggling or failed businessperson would, to their mind, affect how the people around them view them. This most likely isn’t the case, but thinking too much about what they have to lose rather than what they could gain is undoubtedly a major obstacle to starting a business.

Fear of Success:

Another answer to the ‘why are people afraid to start their own businesses’ question is the opposite of the previous’ problem.’ They worry about what might come with success. It might seem weird to some, but others have a very particular picture of what kind of attention success might bring. They feel that people might start seeing them differently. They might ask for favors, jobs or discounts, and it might also push them away from their old circle of friends. Those may be valid issues, but the truth is that real friends and caring family will be overjoyed for your success, and the opportunity to help others might also bring greater contentment.

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Lack of Experience or Training: 

A major stick with which potential businesspeople use to beat themselves up and convince themselves they can’t open a business is that they don’t have the skills or experience necessary. You might be thinking about opening a restaurant franchise, but you can’t fry an egg or opening a business in home improvement, but you’ve never used a drill. The secret is it doesn’t really matter. In pretty much every field, you can learn the job as you go, but for important positions, like a restaurant’s head chef, you can always hire people. You don’t have to do everything yourself, and the best businesspeople don’t. They hire someone better. Whatever business you decide to start, you can be guaranteed that after six months on the job, you’ll have taken a crash course on whatever the basics are to help you see how to succeed.

Not Knowing your Own Skills: 

Similar to thinking you lack experience in your chosen field, another reason why people are afraid to start their own businesses is that they haven’t been able to recognize the many skills that they actually have. Veterans, for example, are great fits for franchises as they work well within a structure but can also assess situations quickly and react rather than getting stuck in indecision. It’s highly likely that you have a whole range of skills that would make you a great business owner, but you haven’t recognized them yet.

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Financing: 

Of course, one of the major issues behind why people are afraid to start their own businesses is a lack of capital. Reaching into your savings to invest in yourself can be a big call, but it can also deliver great rewards, and it’s all in your hands. Luckily, well-planned and researched business plans are looked upon favorably by financial institutions, so if you can show that you’ve put the work into a dream you believe in, then it’s very possible to borrow the money you need to get started.

Fear of the Unknown: 

If you’ve never owned a business before, then there are going to be a number of things to be worried about and an awful lot more that you don’t even know you should be worried about. It’s understandable to be a bit anxious about taking everything on your own shoulders, making your own schedule, being responsible for yourself and your staff’s financial well-being, and creating a whole new lifestyle. But if you don’t trust yourself and your capabilities, then it’ll never happen, and you’ll never know. As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Indecision: 

Another factor for why people are afraid to start their own businesses is that they just aren’t sure when is the right time, they’re afraid to start. Look, it’s understandable. The economy always seems to be one broken tentpole away from the whole thing collapsing, but when has it really been any different? If you have the idea, the desire and the capacity to start your own business, then the right time is probably now.

Don’t be Scared to Bet on Yourself!

The question of why are people afraid to start their own businesses has a number of answers, and for some, it could be one of them or a combination. A lot of these arise from uncertainty about the future, which is understandable, some businesses fail, but many also succeed and give their owners a whole new freedom and independence over their own life. If that’s something that you’re looking for, you can’t let the fear hold you back.

Starting your own business with a franchise can ease a lot of these worries as you’ll be walking into a business operation that has been honed by the franchisor and other franchisees in the system, plus you’ll have that support network to look to for knowledge if a situation gets tricky. To find out more about starting a franchise in a booming industry with a franchisor with a 99.5% renewal rate, why not think about Screenmobile? To find out more about becoming a Screenmobile franchisee, you can read more about it here or talk to our team.

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  • Ranked #100 in 2023
    Top Home-Based & Mobile Franchises

  • Ranked #23 in 2023
    Top Franchises for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

  • Ranked #64 in 2023
    Top Franchises for Less Than $150,000

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