4 common fears that kill start-ups

What are you afraid of?

We’ve all heard people talk about ‘fear of failure’ undermining their chance of success. But perhaps it’s success itself that many entrepreneurs are afraid of.

That’s the question thrown up by Startup Professionals Musings blogger Martin Zwilling, who suggests a number of common fears that cause entrepreneurs to abandon their dreams right when they’re on the brink of success.

He draws the fears from Patrick Daniel’s self-help book Finding Your Road to Success. Here are four of them:

• Success will lead to loneliness – What Zwilling says: “Some entrepreneurs believe that success will mean working long hours, neglecting their spouse and children, which in turn could result in divorce. Women, in particular, sometimes believe that success will make them unlovable and intimidating to men.”
• I’m not good enough for success – What Zwilling says: “This belief can result from many things, such as having negative parents and not having a college degree. With this belief often comes “I don’t deserve success,” so they sabotage their own efforts in that direction.”
• Success will change my lifestyle – “Some entrepreneurs ... believe that will have less time to, for example, enjoy sports, surf the internet, spend time with their family, or relish the excitement of building the business. My logical mind would assume just the opposite.”
• I won’t be able to control everything that happens – “If you fear all the things you can’t control, you should never step into the entrepreneur lifestyle ... Successful entrepreneurs usually relish their ability to control at least one thing that no one else has managed to figure out.”

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