5 things that are stopping you from becoming an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is a process of generating, nurturing and converting the idea into an opportunity. The amount of willingness of an individual to develop that idea and the capacity to bear the risk, while converting that idea into an opportunity, decides the degree of growth of an entrepreneurship (Please read "The seven Important characteristics of an Entrepreneur").

All of us have entrepreneurship skills but due to one or more reasons we stop and end our journey in between or even before starting it. What are those reasons that are actually pulling us from taking off and preventing us from realizing our dreams?
Interesting: "26 keys to starting your own business"
(1) Fear of FailuresIt is one of the biggest fears that haunts everybody before starting a new thing. This fear resists us from taking initiative and moving forward and because of this fear, we undermine our efforts in order to avoid the possibility of larger failure. This results in a loss of that great opportunity lying along the way, which otherwise could be grabbed if we could have made our best efforts, ignoring the fear of failure. The fearful thought of facing criticism after failure actually stops us in taking any initiative.
It is not possible that a person keeps on climbing the ladder of success without experiencing some kind of difficulty or failure. If we limit our efforts or make no efforts due to fear of failure, then actually we are not living fully rather we are living under fear and the actions dominated by fear seldom results in success. In fact, the failure is the matter of perspective that is how you look at it. You can choose it as "the end of your journey" or "an invaluable learning experience" to move ahead. The only solution to overcome this fear is to face it, whenever you experience it. You can see the history that many successful people actually failed many times:

• Mr. Thomas Alva Edison made thousands of failed attempts before successfully inventing the bulb
• Mr. Abraham Lincoln failed many times before finally elected for the President of America
• Mr. Henry Ford failed number of times before he successfully founded Ford Motors

History is full of such examples and these people were successful because they overcame this fear through continuous pursuit of goal and kept their spirits high despite several failed attempts.(2) Surrounding environment & lack of awarenessThe lack of awareness and negative environment can be an obstacle in your entrepreneurship journey. Our knowledge, experience and surroundings play a crucial role in defining our awareness level and setting our mindsets. The goals and ambitions of your life are impacted by your level of awareness and the surroundings. We send our children to schools so that they can get the better & progressive environment, read good books and learn new things. This prepares them to face the challenges of life in a positive & effective manner by increasing their awareness level. Similarly, we should keep our surroundings healthy, progressive, competitive and positive to maintain our awareness level. You should read good books, meet motivating people, travel often, develop a hobby etc. These activities will open new dimensions of your mind that will make you think creatively.(3) Your own comfort zoneComfort is that space or the energy level where most of your daily activities are predefined or routine like commuting to work, reaching home, cooking dinner, watching T.V. etc. Anything that is outside your routine will make you alert and conscious and you try to find best possible solution in that situation. In a quest of finding solution, you expand the circumference of your comfort zone that results in growth and you enter into new energy level.
Must Read: "How to manage change & enjoy it?"The journey of entrepreneurship is associated with growth and if you want to embrace growth, then you must leave your existing comfort zone or energy level. The process of leaving existing energy level and entering into higher energy level requires extra work both physically and mentally, which we generally tend to avoid. And by avoiding this, we are actually hampering our growth as an entrepreneur. The only way to grow and expand your comfort zone is to be receptive to new ideas, read good books that motivate you to try new things, eat nutritious food to keep your body & mind healthy.
An entrepreneur is always in search of new ideas and finding ways to implement them.(4) What others will say mentality?This is another kind of fear where an individual restricts, hampers, dwarfs her/his growth because of fear of what other people think. Let us understand this with this example; Mr. A post graduated in business administration and he joined a good reputed company to which his parents were very proud. But after working few months in the organization, he didn’t like working in it. He felt that he had no liking for this kind of corporate job and he started finding ways of getting out of it. He made self evaluation and found his liking towards his hobby of making food. He was confident that if he starts his own venture initially as tiffin delivery service, then could reach to new heights within very short span of time surpassing his existing job in terms of remuneration. But still he was finding very difficult to leave the existing job and start his venture, not because of lack of confidence or risk involve but it was because of fear of what his parents, relatives, friends or society will say?
This type of fear exists because you & the society have created a status quo in the minds which has set the conditions that a post graduate person cannot do this or that. This mind set has become a strong belief which is acting as pulling force, preventing him in taking that decision.
You can analyze the negative power of this force by understanding this fact that neither anybody has beaten him nor said anything abusive to him, but a mere belief or psychological fear (that may never existed) was stopping him in taking the decision. This belief was an obstacle in his entrepreneurship journey. The only way of getting out of this fear is to challenge your belief system often.(5) I can’t do attitudeThe feeling “I can’t do” can shatter your dreams and end your entrepreneurship journey even before starting. The excuse “I can’t do because I lack this or that” is psychological statement to hide our own unwillingness of putting more efforts and shifting the blame on the circumstances. These excuses actually help us to satisfy our ego and make us accept failure indirectly without even trying.
Please read the following excuses countered by beautiful examples:
(i) I am not that well educated

• Even Mr. Henry Ford was not highly educated

(ii) I have failed several times, better leave it

• Mr. Abraham Lincoln lost several times before becoming the President of America

(iii) I am very poor, I can’t do it

• The former President of India, Shri. APJ Abdul Kalam, was from poor background

(iv) I am doing a small job, I cannot make it big

• The Oil & Petroleum Tycoon Shri. Dhirubhai Ambani used to do a small job

(v) I am old enough to start anything new

• The owner of fast food chain KFC started this venture in his early sixties

(vi) I can’t do because I have no money

• The founder of IT giant Infosys, Mr. Narayana Murthy was also short of funds

(vii) I am not healthy, I can’t do

• Mr. Stephen Hawkins, a renowned physicist, is almost 90% paralyzed

These excuses are nothing but a barrier in the path of success. You can only grow when you take responsibility of your present situation instead of blaming on circumstances, so choice is yours whether you want to realize your dreams or keep blaming the circumstances.ConclusionAll the above mentioned feelings are nothing but a belief of our mind. We need to constantly challenge our belief system by exposing ourselves to new environment. The things which can help us in overcoming these feeling are good books, motivating people and new places. These activities will help us in breaking the negative beliefs and fill our mind with positivity and creativity that will make the entrepreneurship journey a memorable experience.
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