Causes of Fear of Failure

The fear of failure came from the word Atychiphobia (from Greek word atyches meaning “unfortunate”) or kakorrhaphiophobia (from Greek word kako meaning “bad”). It is the fear of failure or defeat.

Giving in to your fear when trying to do things will not help you push forward to achieve what you want. Nor can it help you be successful in life.

I know it’s easy to say: “Don’t fear failure for your startup,” whether it’s a side hustle, small business, or freelance project!

The truth is if you don’t have enough capital, skillset, knowledge, and other resources to do a startup or side hustle, it’s really going to be tough to decide whether you will risk your hard-earned money for that or not.

If that’s the case, is it a better choice to settle with your 8-5 job until you have enough capital or resources to begin? When will that happen? Or will it happen?

At the end of the day, there’s a reason behind your fear of failure, right? So, let’s identify what lies behind that fear and how to overcome it.

Causes of Fear of Failure and How to Overcome them:

Contents

1. Don’t Want to Lose Your Hard-earned Money
2. You Don’t Want to Lose Your Job in the Process
3. You Don’t Know What Lies Before You
4. You Don’t Have the Skillset

Usually, the very root of the fear of failure is when you have experienced a traumatic event in your life. It may have occurred when you were still young or maybe now as an adult.

These events became part of your life and were ingrained in your subconscious mind, that when you’re doing something related to that, you’re experiencing fear.

Primarily, I would focus on the fear of failure with regards to doing a startup or building a business: an online business or a brick-and-mortar store.

Some points here are not actually limited to establishing businesses only but can also apply to many aspects of your life.

Here are some causes for your fear of failure, as well as some advice on how to overcome them:

1. Don’t Want to Lose Your Hard-earned Money 

Most of us have started a couple of businesses and experienced this.

So for some, this fear is already evident even before starting their business projects and side-hustle.

It is because they’ve already lost their money or capital in their previous startup. I personally experienced these many times.

So you can’t take that feeling of uneasiness or doubts about whether you’ll try another startup or not because now you know the value of your hard-earned money, and you don’t want to lose it!

Aside from that, you have no idea if the business will earn and how it will earn in the long run.

So the solution I came up with is to start a side hustle with minimal capital and, if possible, no capital at all!

Problem solved! That’s why I was able to start this blog.

With this, all I need is a domain, a web hosting company, a niche market to focus on, and a will to write.

It’s not easy, but along the way, I was able to face and resolve the obstacles in my journey one at a time.

So here are some suggestions for you to be less afraid or not afraid at all with losing your hard-earned money. See the following:

a. Save enough capital for the business

This is good so that you can be sure that your business will keep on going no matter what happens, especially when you are just starting your business.

b. Have a buffer for an emergency fund

Aside from putting back your profit to your business, it is also important to still save for your business’ emergency fund.

This is for unexpected operational costs, transaction fees, increases in prices for your supplies, etc.

c. Do the business as a side-hustle

I have tried this many times, and it’s very effective. You will not be afraid of anything if you have the side hustle or small business as a part-time project unless you’re a guy who always wants do is to give excuses.

d. Have a freelance or part-time job.

This is also very useful when you are starting your business. Aside from a full-time job, you can have other sources of income to help you operate your business.

Whether it be through freelance jobs via Upwork, Fiverr, Facebook groups, or other freelancing sites, adding an extra source, especially when you still have a bit of free time for some months, is a very good way to save for your business’ emergency fund.

2. You Don’t Want to Lose Your Job in the Process

Here’s another big factor some people consider in having a fear of failure. This happens, most especially if they have their own family already.

It’s hard to take on greater risks when you have monthly bills to pay, and someone depends on you for their food, shelter, etc.

You can’t afford to not perform on a higher level or, worst, lose your job due to starting a side hustle or online business.

So the solution for this is to calculate and minimize your risks. You have to make sure that you can afford the time and money demands of your business.

Or might as well choose a business venture that is of lower costs or lower risks to you, and that is within your means.

This will give you peace of mind that you can still retain your job while doing your business.

Some examples of businesses or side-hustles with low risks include dropshipping, affiliate marketing, blogging, social media marketing, career coaching, etc.

3. You Don’t Know What Lies Before You

This is more applicable to those who haven’t experienced putting up a business yet. Or for those who have opened up a business venture but in a field that is new to them.

It’s just normal for you to be anxious or be concerned because you haven’t experienced it yet.

For starters, you have no idea where to start. What are the things you have to do? And what are the effects of this venture on your life and your family if you decide to put up a side hustle or small business?

Maybe you are thinking, what are the things you need to consider? Like how much is the capital, skillset that you need to learn, and many others?

Ideally, no one knows what’s ahead of you unless you have been there or someone will tell you about it, right?

Personally, I’m used to being unaware of what entrepreneurship is all about, especially how to make, market, and manage a business.

I became aware of it when I first saw the book rich dad, poor dad in the bookstore. I got curious how come they had lots of stocks put on many shelves. So, I bought one.

My curiosity leads me to discover the world of entrepreneurship.

I have learned how to think like an entrepreneur, make better decisions, how to change my questions to change my life, etc. Suddenly, I have this hunger to learn, grow and succeed.

From there, I have built several businesses from the ground up.

There’s always a first time. But this should not stop you from trying it.

So the solution to this fear is to educate yourself. You need to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to help you in doing the business.

I can remember the first time I went on a holiday. It is somewhat not satisfying at all. I wasn’t able to visit a lot of places because we’re bound to the schedule of the tour company. We can only visit 2-3 tourist spots in a day.

To make the story interesting, some of the tourist spots that were lined up were not even that nice.

That’s why the second time I took my holiday, I decided not to buy a tour package. I’m the one who tried to map out the tourist spots I could visit, and that gave me freedom and the luxury of time to set how long I’m going to stay in that specific place.

This is just like doing a business. If you don’t know where you are going, it is easy to be swayed by others and the naysayers and critics.

This means you really need to prepare mentally and financially to fight your doubts and fears.

4. You Don’t Have the Skillset

At the end of the day, if you know that you have the skillset to put up the business that you want, you will have the willpower and strong decision to push forward and do what you need to do.

For example, if you want to join a swimming competition and you don’t know how to swim, or you know a bit of it, this is the time when the fear of failure will occur. You will not have enough confidence to swim and compete.

The same thing happens in business.

A lot of people would like to get out of the rat race, a 9-5 pm job that they don’t like, and would like to start a side hustle or online business. But they’re afraid due to their lack of skillset.

Actually, it’s so easy to solve this issue.

You would have to be mentally and physically prepared for the business, or otherwise, you must have enough capital to hire somebody else to do it for you.

But if you are interested to learn about some skills but are not yet prepared to start a side-hustle, I advise that you do your research first and carefully study the ins and outs of the business before you get started.

Through studying the business venture and having the right mindset in operating and sustaining the business as well as your knowing your marketing strategies, you can then carefully plan your next steps.

This action will help you minimize the risks when starting a business.

Finally, I urge you to identify the specific reasons why you have that fear of failure so that you can quickly resolve it and you can start your startup journey ASAP.

Simply remember, every problem has a solution, and so do your fears.

If you start acting now, then you can quickly move on towards the next steps of starting and managing your business.

Want to have more tips for your side-hustle? Follow StartupFailures now to know more.