Loads of people want to start their own business, probably more than you think. Why? Surely owning a business just means that you’re going to have to do more work. More responsibility is more stress, after all. As much as many of us complain about our bosses because we’re certain we could do a better job than them, the truth is that there surely can’t be that many of us who would willingly swap places. We might want a promotion, but actually having to run things? That would take up way too much time and energy. There’s more to life than work, right?
Perhaps it’s because everyone has a dream of becoming a billionaire; the sort of awe-inspiring, renegade entrepreneur that appears in our headlines every so often and makes us a little envious. That, certainly, is what drives many people. Heck, the possibility of that happening may very well play on the minds of everyone who has dreams of starting their own business. But there isn’t much evidence that infinite riches and influence is what drives people to create businesses.
For the most part, people want to start their own businesses because they want the independence. They want to work for themselves, be their own boss, avoid being under someone else’s thumb. When you work for someone else, a lot of aspects of your future rest upon their actions; this is one of the responsibilities that a lot of people aren’t so attracted to, because other people’s livelihoods are often on your shoulders. But your own livelihood is further in your own control. If you play your cards right, there’s so much more stability in your life if you run your own businesses.
So why aren’t more people actually starting businesses, despite such widespread desires to do so? If you want to start your own business, then why haven’t you done it? We’re going to take a quick look at some of most common reasons that people end up stalling and never getting their business ideas out of their own heads and into reality.
Not having the right idea
You want to start a business – but you don’t actually know what the business will do. Maybe you do know what the business is going to do, but you don’t have that unique a selling point. If your problem is the former, then you need to go back to the drawing board – if you ever visited it in the first place! Liking the idea of starting your own business isn’t enough. You need a killer idea that will get you customers. Build your business around an idea. Don’t try to do it the other way around.
If you have the latter problem, then at least you have an idea. Still, back to the drawing board with you! You need more brainstorming to come up with a way of making your product or service unique. What will make people come to you and not someone else? Check out guides on defining your unique selling proposition. With this better defined, you’ll have more confidence, as well as a higher chance of success.
Lack of capital
The most common roadblock! After all, you’ve got to spend money to make money! If you don’t have the capital, then your business may have a hard time getting started. Some people will give up at this point. However, you may be overestimating how much capital you need. Many budding business owners manage to convince themselves that they’ll require millions to even get the business off of the ground. Reassess your needs; this may be very far from the truth. A lot of entrepreneurs can get started without any capital.
But if you do need it, then how do you get it? You need to take your idea to the right people. This may require building connections via networking. Of course, venture capitalists aren’t your only options. There are also business loans from banks or a different sort of commercial finance broker – something we’ll look into with a little more detail in the following section. There’s also crowdfunding to consider, a very modern, Internet-oriented way of attaining capital that has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years. Check out a list of business-oriented crowdfunding platforms to see if the right platform is out there for you.
Unable to get a loan
Of course, the alternative to crowdfunding and venture capitalist investment is simply to get a loan. But some of you may have already attempted this. You’ll probably know that the word “simply” doesn’t really belong before the words “get a loan”. Many budding business owners assume that all you have to do is ask your bank. They seem to think that there’s nothing to stop you getting a loan outside of your own fear of not being able to pay it all back, or whether you stand on the ethics of getting a loan in the first place. But when it comes to getting a business loan, the problem most individuals will face is either a bad credit report or an underdeveloped business plan. Your business may sound great, but perhaps there are a lot of reasons to reject the application due to you as an individual. Inversely, the fact that you’ve been an upstanding, affluent, and tax-paying citizen may not land you a loan if your business idea isn’t all that great.
The most common reason for loan applications being rejected? A bad credit score. A creditor has to assess your financial and employment records to figure out how trustworthy you are. They need to know the likelihood that you’ll pay back the money within the determined time frame. However, you need to understand that your credit score isn’t universal; a bad credit score from one credit doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get a bad score elsewhere. Be sure to visit a few creditors; three or four might be best. If you’re still getting rejected, then you may need to look into fixing the issue by working with a best credit repair company. If you haven’t applied for anything yet, then consider getting a free credit score check before you start applying!