It’s one thing to say it takes courage and guts to do something, but it’s another to move past it and actually do it. I remember my first business. I sold fresh, homemade bread to the local geriatric that had troubles getting around. The idea was born out of love for an old woman’s stories as she told me about her life, her love of fresh food, and her lament that she should live long enough to not be able to make fresh bread any more so that she could enjoy it’s hardiness.

I offered to make her some for the cost of the ingredients.

Her eyes misted over as she gave me $2, which I used to buy a couple of ingredients I was missing, then proceeded to make a fresh loaf and deliver it to her with a note. Her nurse cut a few slices loose, then put the loaf in a basket. We delivered the package to the elderly lady early in the morning. She awoke to the smell of fresh bread in years. I still remember that with shaking hands, she opened the towel and her eyes misted over with fond memories.

I didn’t think about what I was doing, nor the fears or failures that goes with investing time and energy into a business. Instead, I focused on each person as I delivered mini loaves of bread, which I sold for $2 to anyone that wanted it. I enjoyed seeing their faces as they sniffed the fresh bread in their hands, the smile that developed as they spread butter over it as they did in their youth, and their eyes transform as they relived some memory associated with the warmth and taste of fresh buttered bread. I only made $1 a loaf, so making this a living wage didn’t even occur to me. Instead, I was able to focus on other aspects of business skills — client intake, customer care, logistics, etc. Though, frankly, I didn’t have the terms for it back then, I just knew I had to be more efficient to bring more joy to the older generation.

It wasn’t until Insanitek that I started to feel that fear. I wanted to make and deliver a specific thing that the world may or may not want. It wasn’t something I learnt from others that the world needed and still gave me joy, but rather something I thought up on my own. I feared, more than anything, not having the financial stability to pull this dream into fruition while maintaining my home. Coming in a close second was the fear that I wouldn’t be able to touch lives the way a humble loaf of bread did.

I reached out to other business owners and “wantreprenuers” this past month and asked them what their biggest fears were as well. As you can see, there is a decent range of what we fear when we are starting our companies — or what keeps us from starting in the first place.

Survey taken Q1, 2015

For all of our bravado, entrepreneurs and business people are very human. 

We fear failing financially, being ridiculed, no one “getting us”, for our clients to fail, to fail our employees. We fear the responsibility that comes with living one’s dreams, regrets of potential missed opportunities — both in business and in life outside of it.

We fear losing the security you already have, a house, being able to pay the bills and putting food on the table. When we get past that, there is the fear of not being able to support employees when it’s time to upscale. We fear causing ourselves harm with sleep deprivation, not enough time for hobbies and passions to keep us sane, or not enough time for family, friends, and human connection that keeps us grounded to the world.

When we get that sorted out, there are the fears of the what other people will think of you, your company, and the ideas that manifest in life as you live your dream. Worrying about naysayers from family or friends is harsh, but even from strangers that don’t get your hopes is just as bad. And what if you decide to do it anyway, but you don’t know what you’re doing? What if you don’t have the skills or aren’t prepared? What if they find out you’re a fraud while you fake it till you make it?

So we often procrastinate a little while longer. We take steps to ensure that we have a safety net out before we make that leap into the world of responsibility and ownership. We learn go into a cycle of overwhelm trying to learn those skills we don’t have, becoming prepared, and armouring up against the naysayers. It’s how we make sure that our businesses, dreams, and lives are stable.

Some of us never get past this stage, while some do.

And those that do? They start realising that they need to be nimble to succeed, constantly pivoting with the times, the customer’s needs and wants, and being flexible in their offerings. But the fear never goes completely away. The what-ifs constantly crop up and keep you up late at night or nervously pacing before a family dinner as you try to steel your nerves and put on a happy face.

But what if we did it differently?

What if we opened up about our fears, had candid discussions about them, and allowed ourselves to be human for the world to see? What if we allowed ourselves to fear, embraced it, and worked with it to find a way to make ourselves, our dreams, and our reality all that much stronger?

That is something I hope to do at Insanitek, in my home, and with all of our clients that come through our humble incubator. Let’s start with a discussion. What is it you fear? Open up in the comments. I’ll add your reason to the spreadsheet so we can see what is the biggest fear and work on them together.