Top 10 Fears Entrepreneurs and their Startup Companies Face

Happy Halloween, Kansas City entrepreneurs!  Sunday night is almost here—the perfect night for walking through Kansas City haunted houses, pumpkin carving with the family, telling ghost stories, and of course, Trick-Or-Treating.  And although most successful entrepreneurs are not afraid of Grim Reaper costumes, “haunted” cemeteries, and scary music, there are other fears that haunt Kansas City entrepreneurs every day in the workplace.  So, in honor of this spooky holiday, I have compiled a list of the Top 10 fears for entrepreneurs.  Don’t be afraid, take a look:

1.  The Fear of Failure

Without a doubt, most entrepreneurs have a fear of failure.  When 50% of new businesses fail within the first five years, it’s difficult to overcome the fear of failure.  Instead of letting this fear define who you are and where your company is going, use the fear to push yourself beyond what you thought you could do.  Prove yourself (and the statistics) wrong—do not let failure be an option.

2.  Economic Uncertainty

Five years ago, economic uncertainty was probably not a major fear of most entrepreneurs.  The times have changed, however, and companies big and small, young and old, are worried about what the declining economy means for them.

3.  Being Your Own Boss

Being your own boss can be terrifying.  Not only do you have to keep tabs on your company, but you also have to keep tabs on yourself and make sure that you are doing everything it takes to create a successful startup business.  Entrepreneurs must be able to motivate themselves throughout each workday to see that all necessary tasks are completed.

4.  Raising Capital

Having enough money for establish a startup is one thing—staying afloat is another.  You will need money to start up, operate, and grow your business.  To ensure that you have enough money to develop a successful startup, seek capital from a venture capitalist, angel investor, and the like.  Recently, the development of online funding platforms, such as peerbackers, has helped many entrepreneurs reach their American Dream.

5.  The Job Will Consume Your Life

It’s true: entrepreneurs can spend anywhere from 50-72 hours a week on their businesses.  In order to overcome this failure, be sure that you have your work-life balance in place even before your business starts up.  This means to prioritize what’s most important to you.

6.  High-Wire With No Net

When you have been in your own small business and survived the early years that weed out most startups, you have the fear that you can never turn back to “the devil you knew” (i.e. traditional employment). The struggles of entrepreneurship make you forget why you left corporate America in the first place and your memories become revised to dwell on how easy and happy it all was “back then.”

7.  The Length of the Process

Many entrepreneurs fear the overall longevity of a startup venture.  It takes time to grow a business so an entrepreneur must be extremely patient throughout the entire process.  And although your business may be getting more profitable every year, you look at your old car in the driveway and then your neighbor’s new Lexus and feel that if only you’d stuck to corporate, you’d have new toys, too.  Patience is virtue!

8.  The Merry-Go-Round Stopping

Entrepreneurs who already have an established company often fear that their company will slowly begin to fail.  Even though everything may be going well in the beginning, entrepreneurs always fear that the phones will go silent and that no one will want what they sell anymore.

9.  Getting Stuck

Although many entrepreneurs fear that their businesses will stop all together, even more seem to worry that their company will merely never make it to the top.  This entrepreneurial fear is that the company will never break through the wall of the business by being just“okay”.

10.  The Competition

Entrepreneurs always live in fear that someone else out there may be smarter than they are and therefore, develop a better product or service, consequently, blowing theirs out of the water.  It’s best to use the competition as a driving force for your company to become a better, more successful one instead.

During this Halloween, don’t let your fears impose on your entrepreneurial dreams.  Continue to reach for your goals, never let your fears bring you down, and of course, Think Big.  Happy Halloween, entrepreneurs!  

Written by Allison Way.  Allison is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners and bizperc, two of Kansas City's newest entrepreneurial resources.  To read more of Allison's work, please visit the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner.

peerbackers: A New Small Business Helps Entrepreneurs Raise Capital and Achieve the American Dream

Andrew Rachmell's life has been an adventure.  And with an ambitious lifestyle that is all about trying something new, finding inspiration in life experiences, and of course, thinking big, it’s no wonder Rachmell wound up as a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of startup company, peerbackers.




peerbackers is an online funding platform that helps entrepreneurs
achieve that sought-after American Dream.



When Rachmell met Sally Outlaw, a partner from their previous production company in the mid 90's,the two found that their experience with producing television shows transformed into an obsession with entrepreneurship.  The two went on to create other businesses only to find themselves back together recently when they each realized a need to support the entrepreneurial community in light of the economic climate.   Only a year ago, Rachmell was involved in discussions with Florida Atlantic University’s Adam Center for Entrepreneurship for the production of a TV and web series profiling successful entrepreneurs.  At the same time, Outlaw had found that the process of raising capital from angel investors or venture capitalists tend to consume precious time that could be better spent on building a businesses.  After discussing the growth of startup companies and new small businesses, Rachmell and Outlaw put their heads together and created a business to help entrepreneurs raise money through a crowdfunding model by utilizing social networking.  peerbackers was born with the goal of saving entrepreneurs significant time and reducing the awkwardness associated in asking for money from family, friends, and even angel investors. 

  
peerbackers is an online funding platform that allows business owners and entrepreneurs to raise capital from their “peers” in small increments in exchange for tangible rewards for those who contribute.   peerbackers can save entrepreneurs significant time in raising growth or startup capital, not to mention the awkwardness that is, at times, associated in asking for money from family, friends and one’s professional circle of contacts.   For many entrepreneurs, the amount of money being sought after does not even meet the minimum level that angel investors or VCs require.  Most entrepreneurs start their business with $25,000 or less, making peerbackers a more viable solution for this type of startup company.

   

Within peerbacker’s first week of business, every entrepreneur featured on the site had obtained at least one “backer”, and most had anywhere from two to four.  With the smart utilization of social media marketing, peerbackers hopes to help thousands of entrepreneurs on a yearly basis reach their own dreams of owning a business by successfully reaching their fund raising goals.  In order to prove peerbacker’s future success, the company actually utilized its crowdfunding initiative utilizing a "mock up" information site in order to raise money for the launch of the peerbackers’ website.  The company raised several thousand dollars to build the current site and became one of twelve finalists in the Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge.

 

As a serial entrepreneur with companies such as NetViews Inc. and peerbackers under his belt, Andrew Rachmell attributes much of his startup success to the passion he has for adventure and exploration.  His many life-changing experiences, such as biking across the country at the age of 20 and hiking up Mt. Whitney through a snow storm, have led him to think “if I can do that, I can do anything.”  This is exactly how the mind of an entrepreneur works.  According to Rachmell, an entrepreneur must maintain a vision for the business, continue to accomplish one small goal after another, and be passionate, persistent and patient.  All of these attributes are instilled into peerbackers as well as Rachmell’s own entrepreneurial life.  Congratulations to Andrew Rachmell and the launch of peerbackers – an entrepreneur and a company that are here to help others Think Big!

Allison Way is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners and bizperc, two of Kansas City's newest entrepreneurial resources.  To read more of Allison's work, please visit the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner.