Fear Factor

I think every entrepreneur, and especially the first time one, gets very familiar with fear. And if he/she doesn't feel any fear ever, chalk it up to a severe and lamentable shortage of imagination.

The fear can come in different flavors with differing levels of intensity. The fear of not making payroll, or having funding fall through or a customer renege - all these come and go, and possibly become less potent with repetition. On the other hand, the 'getting started' fear is a strange one as it insinuates itself very subtly into the general exhilaration and obsession that permeates the ground-zero stage, and if you haven't committed to your new venture it could paralyze you from ever doing so.

A lot of this fear is due to the 'what if's. And much of it can be diffused by thinking them through.

- What if you don't have what it takes? Hunh? You should be past this if you're seriously exploring your startup idea. Most would-be entrepreneurs can just make like the little blue engine and barrel through this one.

- What if you don't get funding? That's when you look at Plan B, or C or D, bootstrapping, services, whatever, but you need a Plan B.

- What if you can't find the right people? If you look hard enough they'll be there, and again, Plan B may involve growing your team with creative options.

- What about the competition? Hmm. If there's no competition, maybe you should take another look because there may be no market either. Competition just makes you work a little harder and smarter at figuring out how you're going to set yourself apart and win customers. This comes with the territory, embrace it.

- What if the market doesn't need your idea? If you've done enough market research to figure this out, that is awesome. But also assume that you wouldn't have gotten this far just on a whim, your vision had some substantive foundation. Maybe you need to adjust your original concept, explore different market segments - again, use your market research to work a little harder and smarter at figuring out where you should be going. And remember, many entrepreneurs just 'put something out there' with the intent of refining it based on market response - a great approach if you can manage it.

It is very helpful to remind yourself (I can attest to that!) that these fears, while quick to pop up as a reaction to some piece of information (such as a new competitor), mostly deflate with an application of a little reason, a little grit and a huge chunk of enthusiasm. Passion helps! (See previous post on The Balancing Act).