By Many people don’t realize that the biggest barriers business owners face are themselves. While they may think it’s the lack of customers, or not enough sales, or even competition in their market – these are not the biggest barriers. So, what are they?
Fear
The biggest business barrier is fear.
This is not the fear of success, as many people think. It’s not even trying to achieve your dreams that cause this fear. In fact, it has nothing at all to do with achieving your dreams or fulfilling your goals as a business owner – it has everything to do with letting go of who you are now and becoming somebody else for a little while.
To become somebody new takes time, discipline, and focus – qualities that most people don’t have when they first start their own business venture. The truth is that most owners would rather maintain their stable day job than risk being someone different in order to try and expand their opportunities through entrepreneurship. This isn’t just because they’re comfortable and/or lack initiative – it’s because the only way to really make a difference is to change things. And this kind of pressure, especially from within, can be paralyzing if you’re not used to it.
In order for business owners to move past their fear, they must realize that every choice in life has consequences – both good and bad. It comes down to making a decision – do I want success or do I want stability? If you have everything going your way now but your company isn’t growing as much as you would like, maybe you should leave behind what is keeping it from growing so you can go after opportunities elsewhere.
Lack of Time
Another common roadblock business owners face is lack of time. They work too much, don’t take enough vacations, and are constantly stretched for cash as a result. As a result of their lack of balance between work and personal life, they tend to have more stress than usual – which is known to cause problems in your business. You can read more about business at Bizop too.
In order to maintain a successful company over the long term, you must be able to pull yourself away from it now and then. You can hire someone else to help with many tasks that regularly consume your time so you can focus on the larger picture. This will allow you to find new opportunities where others may not have thought about looking before – thus expanding both your business and whatever industry it is in.
You don’t need to spend every waking moment worrying about work either – you can set aside time just for personal pursuits, or for your friends and family, or even just to take a break from the business world. Your business should be something that allows you to experience different parts of life so it doesn’t consume who you are completely.
Lack of Capital
The lack of capital is not what keeps most people from becoming entrepreneurs; it’s actually what causes them to fail once they become one. Many people think since starting your own company means not having someone tell you how much you can make or what you can do, you will automatically become rich. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
It’s easy to spend more money than you make when you first start out because your overhead costs are so much higher than your income level. Many people go into debt trying to finance their new business and end up in even worse shape if it doesn’t work out as they planned. Business owners that succeed in the long term set aside a portion of every dollar they make until it reaches a point where they don’t have to worry about cash flow anymore (whether it be through profits or other means such as investing).
Final Words
People will always have different opinions about why there are so many businesses that go under, and the three I’ve highlighted here are just a small sampling of what they might be. The important thing is to remember all business owners face these barriers and more when they first start out – it’s never easy making your dream come true.
And if you think you can handle the pressure or find a way around it, you should definitely give entrepreneurship a shot. There’s nothing like running your own company for both personal and professional satisfaction!