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After helping others build three businesses in the mental-healthfield, Holly Dorna was confident she could do better on her own.But starting PsychTemps Inc., a Cincinnati recruiting and staffingagency for the behavioral health-care field, turned out to be anexercise in mental terror.
"Making the transition from working for someone else toowning everything was scary. Many mornings, I'd wake up at 5a.m. feeling panic-stricken," Dorna says. "I'd been asuccess three times and made money for other people, but maybe thiswas the time I was going to fail. I thought of myself as anentrepreneur but, for awhile, `entrepreneur' became afour-letter word. Putting myself on the line, seeing my bankaccount shrink month by month and not knowing if my idea wouldwork--I was more frightened than I'd ever been in mylife."
Let's face it: Starting a business is an unnervingproposition. Whether you succeed or fail, every aspect of your lifeis affected, from bank accounts to friendships. Yet while fearssurrounding start-ups are normal, they add pressure to an alreadystressful situation. Avoidance is not the answer. Instead, you mustface your fears and learn how to cope. Here are 10 tips to smooththe way:
1. Start slowly. Quitting a 9-to-5 job one day andstarting a business the next would give anyone nightmares. Dornasuggests making a slow transition by starting your business parttime to ease some of your fears.
"When the last company I'd helped build was sold to ahospital, and the owner made a lot of money--but I came out withnothing--I decided to try consulting," Dorna says. She didwell financially, but felt pulled in too many directions and wantedto create a business into which she could pour all her energies.She started PsychTemps in 1995, working at it part time for almosttwo years while keeping up her consulting practice. "I felt Ihad less to lose, since I was only working part time," shesays.
Making a gradual transition also gives you time to think, planand work on potential problems, which should help lessen youranxiety.
2. Ask for help. Fear of the unknown has stopped manywould-be entrepreneurs in their tracks. While no one can respond toyour doubts with 100-percent certainty, experts and others who havebeen in your shoes can ease your fears.
"Starting a business is scary, but all true rewards comewith risk," says Betty Otte, a Service Corps of RetiredExecutives (SCORE) volunteeer who counsels small-business ownersvia the Internet. "SCORE members help people who are startinga business take that big, scary monster and dismantle it. We leadthem through a process that enables them to plan and prioritize.We're there for them every step of the way, walking alongsidethem, breaking down fear and turning it into success. We know itcan be done because we've done it ourselves."
With all the help available (much of it free), there's noreason for a start-up to go it alone. Try SCORE's Internete-mail service (see "Web Sites Worth Visiting," above),or hook up with a local SCORE office. (Call 800-634-0245 for thelocation of the SCORE office nearest you.) Your local SmallBusiness Development Center (SBDC) is another source of free,one-on-one counseling. You can also access the Internet foradditional ideas and support; just type "starting abusiness" in your browser and you'll find hundreds ofsites worth exploring.
3. Plan. Nothing beats preparation to quell the panickyfeelings that can keep entrepreneurs awake at night.
"A well-thought-out business plan can go a long way towardhelping alleviate start-up fears," says Bill Fioretti,director of the SBDC at the University of Cincinnati."It's fascinating to watch people go through the processof building a plan. As their ideas crystallize and they makethree-year financial projections based on facts, you can almostfeel their sighs of relief."
4. Expect the unexpected. Unless you're blessed withunlimited monetary resources, starting a business means taking afinancial risk. Unfortunately, you can no more control many of thevariables that affect your investment than you can stop a tornado.Whether it's a superstore that undercuts prices, an unhappycustomer who sues, a snowstorm that collapses a roof or a war inthe country from which you import your goods, outside influencescan threaten any business.
It's frightening to think that everything you've workedfor can be wiped out by circumstances beyond your control. Andwhile you may not be able to keep superstores from building, stopcustomers from suing, halt falling snow or bring peace to warringcountries, you can accept the reality that being in business bringsrisks, and institute methods to address those risks.
Start by imagining "what if" scenarios involvingcircumstances that might put your business in jeopardy: "Whatif my biggest supplier goes belly up?" "What if ourbuilding is struck by lightning?" "What if there is ahealth scare involving my product?"
Once you catalog outside influences that have the potential toharm your business, create a contingency plan to deal with each ofthem. Hopefully, you'll never have to put the plan into action;but if disaster strikes, having a strategy will go a long waytoward giving you peace of mind.
5. Build confidence and faith in yourself. If you'rethe kind of person who constantly worries about what other peoplethink, you'll need to swallow a big dose of confidence beforestarting your own business. Alana Chandler, for instance, owner ofPaint Yer Pottery, in Dallas, could never have gotten her store offthe ground if she hadn't fought the doubters with the onlyweapon she had: her belief in herself.
"It's hard enough to be taken seriously when you'rea young female who's never run your own business before,"Chandler says. "But it's even more difficult when youpresent your idea to people and they look at you as though youthought up a silly concept last night and decided to go find astore.
"I'll never forget opening day," she recalls."A guy I'd been dating, who had said he totally believedin me, called the store to see how I was doing. I told him how busyI was and how it really seemed to be working. `Really?' heasked me. `Are you kidding? But people are coming in to look, notto paint, right?' " Chandler isn't dating himanymore.
"When everyone around you is questioning your sanity, ofcourse you're afraid they may be right," she says."The only thing you can do is have confidence in yourself andyour idea, and go on to prove them wrong."
Success tends to breed confidence, so if you're short onbelief in yourself, set achievable goals and celebrate publiclywhen you reach them. For instance, send press releases to yourlocal newspaper when sales figures exceed expectations and eachtime you celebrate another year in business. If an article getspublished, send it to everyone on your mailing list. At the veryleast, feel free to brag a little at gatherings of fellowentrepreneurs. Pats on the back, even when solicited, can send yourconfidence soaring.
6. Put fear to work. Why view fear as a negative when itcan be a powerful motivator? Fear of forfeiting a home to the bankhas launched more than one laid-off executive on the road tobusiness ownership, and fear of failure pushes many entrepreneursto work around the clock to get their businesses up andrunning.
If you're fearful, pinpoint exactly what you're afraidof, then consider ways to deal with it. Let's say, for example,that you own a design firm with a partner who, you discover, may befooling with the books. Because the business has been surpassingsales projections and your partner is an old friend, you'rescared of confronting her with your suspicions. You think up lotsof excuses: "She's the financial wizard, after all. MaybeI'm calculating the numbers incorrectly. Or maybe she'sjust made a mistake." Inside, you churn with anxiety.
As with most things in business--and in life--you have a choice:Do nothing, and possibly watch your company crumble, or act,spurred on by your fear that the business may fail unless you stepin. Using fear as a motivational tool means analyzing the cause ofyour anxiety, enumerating and sorting through alternativeapproaches, then acting. While inertia fuels fear, action canovercome it.
7. Reshape your thinking. "My biggest fear whenstarting this business was not making enough money to cover ourliving expenses," says Ellyn Ingalls, owner of Poole-BrookFarms, a North Haverhill, New Hampshire, company that marketsgourmet specialty foods, handmade from fourth-generation familyfarm recipes. "I never doubted that we had a great product andthat it would sell. But with the expenses involved in getting acompany successfully off the ground, I was concerned that we wouldlose what we had worked so hard for. We started the business about$30,000 in debt and then we borrowed another $23,000, so money wasalways a concern."
But this past year, after an emotionally draining winter,Ingalls reexamined her priorities. "I thought a lot about howI wanted to live my life," she says. "I decided that ifwe lost everything, so what? There's always somethingelse."
Accepting the fact that the business might fail had the oppositeeffect from what you might expect. "Actually, I gained a senseof freedom," she says. "At the same time I decided tostop worrying about the money, I also decided I would take theenergy I'd been spending on that and focus it on thebusiness."
8. Build a support network. Fioretti says that talking tofellow entrepreneurs who have walked the same path you're oncan help assuage your fears. "Focus on success," hesuggests. "Attend conferences, join associations and talk withothers who started as you are, but who have moved on to the nextstep."
Fioretti suggests creating an advisory board. Include yourbanker, your accountant and, perhaps, someone in the marketingfield. "As a single-person operation, you won't have amanagement staff to bounce ideas off," he says. "A boardof more experienced business owners can fill that role, helping tosteer you right."
Don't forget family and friends as sources of support. Seekout those who are generally optimistic people. While they may notbe able to relate to your specific fears about starting a business,you should be able to count on them for emotional support.
"My sister said to me, `You can do this. You've done itbefore,' " Dorna says. "That helped a lot."
9. Take care of yourself. Dorna thought about gettingmassages or some counseling when she was feeling the most alone andafraid. But both choices seemed a bit self-indulgent--as well asexpensive. Instead, she upped her treadmill exercise routine fromtwo days a week to five. "That helped break some of the stressand clear my mind," she says.
When a friend or spouse asks how to help during a stressfulstart-up, be ready with ideas. And if they don't ask? Tell themwhat you need. Also, be prepared to give yourself a boost. Make alist of inexpensive treats that take less than an hour. Choose onea day: Buy yourself an ice cream cone and take the time to enjoyit. Read the comics. Do some stretching exercises. Play a videogame. Call a faraway friend for a quick chat. Dream about yourbusiness in full swing.
10. Just do it! "We can't escape fear. We canonly transform it into a companion that accompanies us in all ourexciting endeavors," says Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., author of Feelthe Fear and Do It Anyway (Ballantine, $12, 800-733-3000). Jeffersbelieves that our fears are rooted in the thought that we can'thandle situations that confront us. "If you knew you couldhandle anything that came your way, what would you have tofear?" she asks.
Fear is one of the most elemental of human emotions, yet it neednot lead budding entrepreneurs to give up their plans or stop theexpansion of their businesses. If you find yourself shaking in yourshoes over some business concern, remember that most successfulentrepreneurs have been afraid at one time or another. But whilefear may have slowed them down, it never stopped them.
Lynn H. Colwell offered five remedies for business burnout inthe June issue of Business Start-Ups.
Web Sites Worth Visiting
- The National Small Business Development Center (SBDC) ResearchNetwork (http://www.smallbiz.suny.edu )offers a listing of all the SBDCs across the United States, linksto small-business Web sites and articles that answer questionsfrequently asked at SBDCs.
- SmallBiz Net (http://www.lowe.org/smallbiznet/index.htm) offers a list of books about starting a small business; theEdward Lowe Digital Library, one of the largest collections ofsmall-business information on the Web; research findings onentrepreneurship; and links to other small-business sites.
- The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) offers names ofchapter counselors and their areas of expertise at its Web site(http://www.scn.org/civic/score-online), along with e-mail addresses for direct contact; and one-on-onecounseling in more than 400 locations.
For More Information
Read one of the following books when you need to ease yourfears:
- Fear of Failure, by James M. Galbraith (Benchmark Books,$19.95, 800-345-6665)
- Achilles Syndrome: Overcoming the Secret Fear ofFailure, by Petruska Clarkson (Element, $13.95,800-253-6476)
- Up to Your Armpits in Alligators? How To Sort Out What RisksAre Worth Worrying About, by John Paling (Risk Communication& Environmental Institute, $25, 800-484-2073, ext. 2502)
Contact Sources
Betty Otte, (714) 650-3050, bjotte@worldnet.att.net
Paint Yer Pottery, 17194 Preston Rd., #109, Preston TrailVillage, Dallas, TX 75248, (972) 248-0001
Poole-Brook Farms, RR1 Box 246, North Haverhill, NH03774, (603) 787-6446
PsychTemps Inc., 2404 Auburn Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45219,(513) 651-9500
Small Business Development Center, University ofCincinnati, 1275 Section Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45237, (513)556-2071
