23 April 2010 by Sophie
Thinking of starting a business? But you haven't yet - which is
understandable. It can all seem like a lot of hard work, and pretty
daunting too, after all. Yeh, we get it.
But here's the thing. We're going to let you in on the one little
secret that will revolutionise your attitude to starting up.
Seriously! Are you ready? Make sure no one is looking over your
shoulder... okay.... here we go....
Entrepreneurs are normal people. Yup! That's it. You might look
at Theo Paphitis or Richard Branson and think, "I could never do
that." But why not? What have they got that you haven't? Supreme
confidence? Nope. Richard Branson hates speaking in public because
he has a really bad stutter. Brains the size of planets and
expensive schooling? Theo Paphitis dropped out of school aged 16
with one GCSE. He is also dyslexic, as are an estimated one in
three entrepreneurs.
Think it's down to having bags of money to play with? Wrong again.
Most entrepreneurs are self made. In fact, many of the UK's most
successful entrepreneurs started at a real financial disadvantage.
Look at Brad Burton, founder of the UK's largest
business breakfast network 4Networking. He started his business
when he had a staggering £25,000 of personal debt dragging him
down.
Want to know the real difference between those people and you?
They stopped thinking and started doing. That really is all there
is to it.
Simple, isn't it!
Because you don't need to launch a perfect business with extensive
lines of stock and trade deals in four continents. You just need to
put one item on eBay. Or make one sales phonecall. Or write one
blog post. Or go to one shop to try to sell your product. Just
one.
We're not kidding! Because once you've made that first step,
you've started. You're in business. You've done it. You've started
your own business! Sure, you need to keep going. But we all know
it's that first step that seems the hardest. If it wasn't, you
would have taken it already.
Stop thinking about everything on such a big scale. Get on with
it, and figure out the details as you go along. Laugh in the face
of the fear of failure. Trust us, it is more worth it than you can
ever imagine.
You only need to take one tiny step to begin the journey of a
lifetime. So take that step this weekend.