If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it. -Elon Musk

There are a lot of statistics showing how businesses fare over time. The numbers show that 20% of businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years. Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more. These statics show that when you choose to start a business, the odds are already against you! They tend to scare some people into never starting the business or taking any kind of risk but this should not necessarily be the case. It is without a doubt that business is not for everyone but for those that are brave enough to walk this journey. Those that have started businesses can testify to this. Due to the high possibility of failure, the key consideration becomes how we ensure that we are the proprietors of the 25% of good, valuable and sustainable companies; those that make it to their 15th birthday.  

Research shows that some of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs, particularly new ones, don’t consist of the hard stuff. They are more of the soft issues that we are not taught in any business school. They include: 

1. Fear of failure: ]

we all want to succeed in what we are doing and the thought of starting something that has a high probability of not succeeding makes us want to buy more time (procrastinate). For many people, this usually means that they never end up doing it. 

It has also been observed that the fear is not just about yourself. It also stems from the possible judgement from others, which is even more of a deterrent. When you start a business, you’re proud of it. Everyone knows you’re an entrepreneur. If you’re not careful, it can even form part of your personality. So, when things aren’t going well and you realise that entrepreneurship is not for you, you feel like you can’t now start looking for a job. What will others think? As the old adage goes, utaambia watu nini? 

It is important to note that statistically failure is always not just possible but highly probable, but when is it not? This should not be a reason to stand in your way. If you need to fear, fear regret. For this, it is good to note that.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. - Robert F. Kennedy

2. Too much happening in your life:

‍Starting and running a business requires a lot of effort and takes a lot of time. If one is involved in so many other things one needs to declutter their lives and create the required bandwidth to focus on the business.

The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t. - Joshua Becker

3. Waiting for perfect:

When one is starting out as a business owner there is the problem you intend to solve. However, when you start you might realise that your intended customers are looking for something completely different. So, the main question becomes how you identify the what people want and how flexible are you to adopt to the new things that you have learned along the way. 

Also do not wait until something is all working before rolling it out because it could be difficult to walk away from when it does not work since you put in a lot of time, effort and resources. Remember,

Perfectionism is a dream killer, because it’s just fear disguised as trying to do your best. - Mastin Kipp

4. Scarcity mentality:

‍one of the key challenges we have is the glass half empty mentality. What this means is that we concentrate on what we do not have enough of instead of what we do and trusting that as we move along, we will get what we need. Some of the key excuses we end up with include: I don’t have the right skills, I do not have money, no partners etc.

‍The key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts. - Marianne Williamson

5. Lack of complementary relationships:

when you think about business think about your network of relationships. When running a business know and internalise that businesses don’t work with businesses; people work with people. People are involved around each touch point of your business, from your staff, to the customers, your suppliers, partners etc. So, if you’re going to do well in business you must master the art of working with people. People who communicate well and easily tend to have a lot of things going for them. This is important irrespective of your personality type as long as you are authentic and you come to the table with clean hands. ‍

Business after all is nothing more than a bunch of human relationships - Lee Lacocca

Most of the other things can be well sorted out if and when one decides to work on the soft skills and inner environment. Things like capital and systems are accessible if you are ready to look in the right places and are willing to put in the time and effort. Since we come from different schools of thought, one of the things that might help is clarity of thought, and this could only be possible if one is willing and ready to seek help and speak to people who have either walked the journey you want to take or speaking to a coach.  If this is what you need, you can reach us on liz@elizabethnkukuu.com for tailored personal finance advice or subscribe to our free weekly trainings and newsletter on www.elizabethnkukuu.com. If you are ready to embark on your journey of wealth creation, you can also sign up for our Personal Wealth Creation masterclass here, that is launching in November 2021.