Why most people never start

If you are a budding entrepreneur, you will find yourself frustrated by corporate structures, bureaucracy or having limited control over decisions.  Many never manage to take the courageous decision to leave and forge their own path.  They are held back by the realities of life - the monthly bills, young children or a big mortgage.  But, most of all, they are paralysed by two powerful and complex emotions.  The first is self-doubt or ‘imposter syndrome’ as it’s more commonly called nowadays.  Often, self-doubt simply means you're attempting something you've never done before.  If you remember the first time that you rode a bike or learnt to swim, you would have been uncomfortable and filled with self-doubt.  You will have quickly realised that you could do it and often way better than your friends.  Business is no different.  If you are doubting yourself, it just means that you’re thinking about taking yourself out of your comfort zone and are trying something new.  In my case, self-doubt stemmed from academic failure - two E’s at A-Level (ironically including Business Studies) isn’t viewed as a great foundation for a career in commerce.  Or anything really.  Don’t let academic failure put you off starting a business though.  Most entrepreneurs are traders and trading requires skills which academia and exams don’t recognise - building relationships, spotting commercial opportunities and quick mental arithmetic.   

The other factor that holds people back is a fear of failure.  Everyone has it.  Even the most polished and successful business person was at some point racked by a fear of failure.  To succeed in business, you absolutely have to be willing to fail.  Sometimes catastrophically and in full view of your family and friends who will be outwardly supportive but often inwardly thinking ‘I knew it / he / she would fail’.  What makes it worse is that you will know what your friends and family are inwardly thinking.  You’ll be able to see it in their facial expressions!  I have launched several enterprises which haven’t worked and invested in many more than have failed also.  Even at the successful AttractionTickets.com, we have invested in growth strategies and people that have failed.  I have personally made a mistake by leaking my Google password to fraudsters which cost the business £1.5m in a phishing scam.  A complete failure.  And a very public one too since the travel press reported on the incident and I was invited to present at a fraud prevention conference.  I accepted the invitation because I viewed it as part of the process of acceptance.  You must be able to accept failure, put it to the back of your mind, get up and double down on what is working or start again or refine the plan.  You must not give a shit what others are saying or thinking.  Failure is inevitable in business. What matters is whether you can absorb it, learn from it, say ‘screw it and screw them’ and keep moving.  Most people can't.  The ones who can are usually the ones who eventually win.