Want to start a business but don't feel "ready"? This is for you.
Megan Adams
Digital Marketing Professional | Instructor @ LinkedIn Learning | I write about marketing, creativity & finding purpose in life & work.
I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. The thing is, it has never come all that easily to me. Or that's what I thought, anyway.
Turns out I was a lot worse at working a full-time job.
I was one of those kids who got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug early. I loved finding creative ways for people to pay me.
Some of my more creative entrepreneurial ventures were:
In those efforts, I learned a lot about starting before you're ready.
But I also felt like a failure because none of the businesses "stuck" or grew to be anything substantial.
What I didn't realize at the time was that I was experimenting and iterating.
Noah Kagan, author of Million Dollar Weekend, sums up this process:
You start a business by deciding to start a business, and then you find a process to come up with the right idea.
I had decided to start a business. Well, multiple. And at the same time, I was developing skills in sales, marketing, and overall business.
I could never have learned these skills in any college course, YouTube video, or book.
I was heeding my call to be an entrepreneur, and I was doing it in the most entrepreneurial way possible.
Jump first and worry about the parachute later.
And what I discovered is, you are going to go through a lot of bad ideas before you find a good one.
The goals then is to get to your best “bad” idea as quickly as possible.
You gain your entrepreneurial chops by launching. Then, you get feedback and iterate. This process gets you closer to finding that one good idea.
You won't get the right idea on the first try, but you definitely won't get that right idea without trying.
What are you missing out on if you don't even try?
Maybe.
But you are missing far more by not trying.
You want to start an online coaching business? You get to.
You want to sell your art on Etsy? Go for it.
But 40 hours per week for 20+ years? It's too high of a price.
Also, a good entrepreneurship failure story makes you much more interesting at a dinner party.
It's scientifically proven.
Here's how to start before you're ready...
1. Follow your curiosity.
Feel the kid-like wonder again, and follow that feeling.
Dan Koe considers that "good dopamine." I like to think of it as finding what lights you up and doing more of that!
Pay attention to the content you consume and focus on what excites you. It is much easier to start when your next step brings excitement.
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2. Turn your objections into questions.
We all have that negative voice in our heads, especially when we want to try something new. It's there to keep us safe, but often we let it run our lives.
The key isn't to shame yourself for having it, but to work with it. When you encounter an objection, embrace your inner curious toddler.
It looks something like this...
Objection: "I don’t have enough time to start a business."
Questions:
Objection: "I can’t find the right business idea."
This is leading with curiosity. It helps you explore some of the obstacles our minds perceive. It shows us our blocks and limiting beliefs in a playful, open way.
3. Do one thing a day for your business.
For every single day, do at least one thing that moves you closer to your business goal and keep track in a habit tracker. It could be registering your domain, sending an email to a prospect, or creating a logo.
I learned this gem from Bonnie Christine. She's an amazing artist, pattern designer, and teacher for creatives.
It's like a habit tracker meets calendar. You color in the square for the date that you completed your one thing.
I'll tell you, you don't want to miss a date and see a gap in the tracker! It's quite satisfying to have no gaps and see your progress.
I created a quick progress tracker to help you visualize what I'm talking about (you can access the template in Canva here if you'd like) There's also plenty of templates and other planners out there on places like Amazon and Etsy :)
4. Document your mistakes.
This is one of my biggest regrets. I would give anything to be able to go back and read the lessons I learned over the many years of building my businesses.
I heard of this concept in one of Alex Hormozi's "The Game" podcast episodes. The gist of it is to document your business mistakes so that you can learn from them. And you can even take this a step further by documenting them in public so others can learn from them too.
Start a Twitter account, newsletter, or blog and document the lessons you learn. This helps with accountability, building community, and learning from past mistakes.
What do you think, are you feeling ready to start?
If you're still unsure - go through the list again.
And if I can leave you with some words of wisdom from a serial business starter, they're this...
You will never feel ready. But your future self will thank-you 6 months from now when you did it anyway.
Promise.
~ Megan "serial business starter" Adams
P.S: I'd love to hear your thoughts! Were you entrepreneurial as a kid too??