Overcoming the Fear of Failure

I want to start my own business. In order to diversify my income streams and increase my income I feel that entrepreneurship is by far the best route. The problem I now face is that I am hesitant to risk my savings on an unproven venture. I am afraid to fail. I think that recognizing both my desire to enter the business world and my reservations is a good start, but as someone wise once said, "You can't win if you never play the game."

I spent some time this evening scouring the net looking for advice. Here is some of what I've found:

• Biz Thoughts: Don't Be Afraid to Fail
• National Federation of Small Business
• Practical Commerce: Four Things You Should Know

Because I went out looking for motivational and inspirational resources that is mostly what I've found. One common theme I have found is to start small. By moving slowly and making a limited investment you can gauge the market without large risks. Next, many people advise that what I consider failure, a business that does not proser and make money, is not actually failure. That seems silly, but learning from mistakes is a common theme too.

"No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure."

It was also pointed out that bankruptcy isn't that bad. I've traditionally been brought up to completely disagree with this statement. My parents have may encouraged me to learn chess or ride a bike through trial and error, but failing to pay back debt was certainly not something that was acceptable; thus, business by trial and error would have been out of the question. A willingness to follow my entrepreneurial spirit because of, rather than in spite of, bankruptcy is a totally new concept for me, but it is endorsed by the entrepreneurship articles I read.

In the end I have been encouraged to push forward with my plans to enter the business world. I will take the advice of other bloggers and business people and start small in an industry where I already have some experience. I'll put off my grand plans for real estate development and focus more on free lance coding and web based business. I'll try to grow Aspire 2 Wealth and keep the readers informed as I test out my business chops and grow my wealth.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed. Please subscribe to my RSS feed if you like what you've read. Till next time, thanks for reading.