Fear of Starting Your Own Company

FEAR !!!

By far the single biggest factor stopping people from starting their own companies is FEAR. In teach and talk about fear in many lectures that I give at the University, and when I talk about starting companies with budding entrepreneur.

SO, the key question is -- What are you TRULY afraid of?

The most common answers I get from Entrepreneurs are:

*  #1 (always) Fear of Failure
*  Fear of Success (interesting) meaning that if you're successful, a lot will be expected of you such as:
  - Future success
  - You'll be the boss, which means that sometimes you have to be the "bad guy"
*  Fear of what your Parents, friends, and others may think of you (especially if you fail)
*  Fear of not having the right skills
  (though the only real way to learn how to be an entrepreneur is to, well, become an entrepreneur, or work for one)
*  Fear of having a bad idea
   (though I'd rather have good entrepreneurs with an OK idea than OK entrepreneurs with a great idea)
*  Fear of losing money (well, you gotta take the risk at some point)
*  Fear of ridicule or being laughed at by friends, peers, family, etc.

Now, there are some definite truths about Fears:
1. Fears are real. Whether they're BIG Giant fears, or psychological ones, even imagined ones. They're still real.
2. You have to face your fears head on.
3. Yes, you can logically get over your fears, and address them with things like education, etc.
4. HOWEVER -- the only real answer to fears is -- Just Do It !!! Like with fears of roller coasters or flying. You just gotta get onto the plane.
I've read about this. Talked to people about this. Even asked my students. And the answer always comes out the same -- you just gotta face your fears.

Right Brain - Left Brain

Much has been written about the Right Brain (controls left - creativity) and Left Brain (controls right - logic). My point is not about whether or not this theory is true, but rather how to use both "sides" of the brain - logic and creativity. But I can state with confidence that to be a highly successful Entrepreneur, you need to use both sides of your brain.

I've been told by others that I have the unique ability to not only use BOTH my Right and Left brain, but to use them simultaneously. I didn't realize this, until people pointed it out -- indeed they were (pardon the pun) right! But the question is -- can you Train your Brain? The answer is a resounding YES!!!

Most people think they are either creative or logical, but not both. In my experience, it's true that people are born with a "tendency" toward either Right or Left brain, and the educational system reinforces that tendency. Naturally, for example, kids who are told they're not good at math, shy away from math, science, etc.

Personally, until about age 25, I was mostly a Left-Brainer. But I deliberately trained the Right side of my brain. How? Easy -- I exercised it. Huh? I took classes in painting, sculpture, dance, writing, acting, drawing, photography, literature, etc. In addition, as a marketing guy in my early career, I became equally interested in the products as well as the advertising, colors, design, etc. Was it easy? No. It took about 5-7 years, but it was well worth it.

Successful Entrepreneur Traits

One of the most-asked questions is "what are the traits of a successful entrepreneur?" This question has been asked many times. Below is my list, compiled from both other lists and my own personal experience. Of course, it's a Top-Ten List...

1. Leadership, especially the ability to inspire

2. Fast, good decision-making with limited information (but also willing to change wrong decisions)

3. Positive attitude (but still realistic)

4. Sales skills

5. Good communicator

6. Ability to handle defeat, and the word "no"

7. Creative thinking and out-of-the-box thinking (my #1)

8. Drive, fortitude and the will to succeed

9. Being intuitive and trusting your gut (my #2)

10. Jack-of-all-trades (or the ability to understand all aspects of business somewhat -- from sales, marketing, finance, operations, engineering, negotiating, legal, etc. etc.). Yes, you can hire these skills, but you still need to understand each discipline somewhat (this is the hardest skill set to acquire)

Just sayin'

Hi all. Thanks for reading my blog and using it as a Forum, as well as listening to my Entrepreneurship course podcasts. I'm up to lots of new ventures these days. Running 5 different companies these days - real estate, medical, a non-profit giving nutritional products to those in need, invested in some dance clubs in Miami, etc.

I'm also writing 2 novels, a poetry book with a great artist (Ron Oden), and a children's book.

At last count, the podcasts associated with this blog/course are over 600,000 downloads. Keep commenting -- but please avoid the SPAM.

Thanks,

Mark :)

My new Ventures

I'm involved in several new ventures. The most exciting for me is a Non-profit Foundation that I've started called The Nutra Foundation (www.nutrafoundation.org). We provide Free nutritional supplements to those in need who cannot afford these products.

Even those who don't qualify financially will be able to get up to 75% off retail price of supplements, and 100% of the profits stay WITHIN the Foundation to help those in need.

I'm applying all my FOR-profit entrepreneurial skills to a Non-profit foundation.

Why am I doing this? To help people -- that's it ;-)

Please pass the word around the Internet --

Intro Blog Post

This is the introductory blog post for Mark Juliano's audio course Entrepreneurship and Business Planning taught in conjunction with the live course at Carnegie Mellon University in the Masters in Information Systems Management (MISM) program. It is a business-school type class about the formation of companies. Topics and lectures will include generating the idea, building the team, starting the company, writing a business plan, funding, sales & marketing, legal issues, and giving effective investor presentations, among other things. The audio course is not simply recorded lectures. It is optimized for audio listening online or via iTunes or other audio players. Blog posts will follow lectures as they are created.