It likely began with a brain wave of neurons that had never been seen before. You might have been in the shower when this happened. Or getting ready to sleep. Or taking part in your favorite sport.
In any case, your synapses fired off like never before, and you knew you had a one-in-a-million thought bouncing around in your head.
You didn’t want to let it get away, so you started working on it right away. You had a business plan in a few weeks. You were able to get some money that will last you at least a few months in a few months. You might have even hired some help or chosen to work with someone or two.
In any case, your company started to take shape, and you began working on your idea that would change everything.
Afterwards…Things start to go badly
People warn new startup owner and people who are jumping into the startup world with wide eyes and an almost silly sense of optimism, but many new startup owners are still shocked by how many and how big the problems are that come up.
After a while, you start to want to plug one hole, only to see another leak appear. It turns out that a small coding error was actually a big mistake that undoes months of hard work. An important early backer pulls out, giving you six hours to find more money. If you don’t, you’ll have to shut down in a few weeks. The accountant cousin of yours forgot to send in important papers.
Maybe you deal with problems that affect a lot more people? You might not have done enough study on the market, and it turns out that not as many people will be willing to pay as much for your product or service as you thought they would. Maybe the big company you wanted to compete with has too much power over its users.
Really, it all gets a bit too much. A lot more often than most people think this would happen.
The Rise of Doubt About Yourself
The normal and expected response for most people in this situation is to start having doubts about themselves. Even worse, a lot of company owners feel like they’ve let down their families, coworkers, and even themselves.
All of these things can be very bad for the startup owner.
When these problems happen early on, they can make the startup owner feel like they aren’t ready for the real world of running a startup and that there is nothing they can do to stop their company from falling apart.
It’s possible that you feel the same way.
Don’t
Don’t.
As a general rule, running a small business is easier than running a company. For the normal small business, there are ways to do things that have been tried and tested for decades. The people who run more standard small businesses know exactly what to do to keep their companies alive and growing.
There are a lot more unknowns for people who own startups. Most people who run their own businesses have issues that turn into self-doubt. It makes sense.
Realizing that this is normal is the first thing that needs to be done. The first of many.
Next Steps
The first thing you should do as a company owner is to figure out what the problems are that are making them happen. Was your business plan not good enough? Are you making too many mistakes as a person in your daily work? Are you having problems with other parts of your business that aren’t necessary? Are you just having a bad run of something?
You likely did everything you could to avoid these problems most of the time. You didn’t mess up because you’re stupid or careless. You made them because you don’t know any better. There wasn’t much you could do if there were problems caused by “force majeure.”
The next step is to make short, doable plans for how to solve these issues. For example, if your problem was that people were always late, you might want to use a visual plan builder. If your issues are more about money, you might want to hire an expert or a full-time accountant. It might be time to spend more money on marketing if you are having trouble getting new customers. If a backer pulls out, you should start looking for other ways to get money.
You can always take steps.
Taking those steps will get you closer to solving your problem, which will get rid of all of your doubts and fears.
You’ll laugh about it one day.
