Are there good reasons not to start a business?
Yes, there are! I’m an entrepreneur whose sole reason for my business is to encourage, mentor, and teach other entrepreneurs how to succeed. So you probably think it’s odd that I’m talking about reasons one should NOT start a business. But reasons for not beginning a business have been written about even in Inc. Magazine.
Usually, the reasons given for not starting a business include things like:
- Lack of capital
- Lack of marketing experience
- Isolation
- Too much financial risk
But I’m here to talk about 3 reasons that are more personal to you. Here are my 3 main reasons not to start a business:
- You are running from something you don’t like (a job)
- You are not crystal clear about the problems you can solve for your customers (vague ideas don’t work well)
- You have great ideas that you think about all the time, but you have no clue how to package or price what you might offer.
The bottom line is that to start and sustain your business, you have to be willing to grow past your current level of expertise and your current level of personal development. Owning a business will challenge you in both of these.
To help you decide if you’re ready to start a business or not, I published a book on Kindle on this topic, Starting A Small Business… Are You REALLY Ready to Work for Yourself? The book and its free companion workbook will take you step-by-step through answering the question “am I really read to start a business or not?”
There’s lots of advice out there for people who want to start a business. But first, make sure you don’t have reasons not to start a business. It will save you frustration and money in the end.
Besides my Kindle book, you can read “What is Your Bandwidth for Business?” if you would like more help.
When I work with my own clients, I let them know if I see that they should be waiting to start their business. People hire me to be honest with them. Sometimes, we can clear the issues up and they are off to a good start. But if they can’t, I’ll recommend they wait and get clearer first. Their chance for success is much higher that way.
Great article. I agree with what you said that in order to have a successful business, one should be willing to grow. Starting up a business isn’t easy and it can be overwhelming sometime. So we need to learn to go out of our comfort zone to have a greater chance of success.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Mitch, for your comment.