One of the scariest things about starting a business is how little you know about the future. We never really know what our jobs are going to look like but you have more stability, usually. You know what your paycheck will be, at least a base of some kind. You know when you’ll get paid, if you have insurance, and a basic idea of what you’ll be doing. Starting a business though, is a whole different ball game. Will it succeed? Will it thrive? Will it fail? If it fails does that mean financial ruin for you? Are you ready? Do you know enough? I could keep going. There are so many questions!
The unknown keeps us from doing a lot of things. Sometimes that’s good. There’s some self preservation at work there. What if though, the other side is great! What if you spent your whole life scraping together an existence in, say, the desert. You know there’s a cave somewhere (I know caves and deserts not that common but it happens stay with me) and you want to go in but it’s dark and you don’t know what’s in there. It’s scary. So you stay in the desert. Finally, someone decides to go through the spooky cave and what’s on the other side? An oasis of course! I suppose it’s just as likely that there’s a monster in the cave so how do we ever try new things? The promise of the oasis. This mostly comes down to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Do your research. Learn about your industry. You may know about the product but you have to know your industry. How does it work? What kind of margins are healthy? Where do you start? What kind of insurance do you need. Most of us aren’t starting something that’s never been done before. Find out what the people who succeeded did. Equally important, what did the people that failed do? Avoid the pit falls and aim for the goals. Put your spin on it too. If you think you can do something better, do it! But know why it’s been done differently in the past and have a good reason why you think your way is better. Perhaps most important, be willing to let it go if it doesn’t work. Sometimes things don’t pan out the way we want them to. That’s OK, but make the changes. Pivot when you need to.
In my experience, the best way to combat the unknown is to learn. If it’s still totally terrifying after you’ve done your research, maybe you’ve learned enough to know it’s not for you. If it’s terrifying, exciting, promising you may have found your sweet spot!