Starting a small business is a huge risk. Working for yourself can be thrilling, but it can also be scary, and many of the fears you will have to face as a small business owner can take a long time to get over. But fear not: there are plenty of small things you can do to dominate your niche and conquer anxieties. Here are six common small business worries and our solutions for how to alleviate them.
1. Instability
Since your income is tied directly to your business’s success, economic instability can be a major fear. Even if your business is doing well today, it can be nerve-wracking to think about how little it takes sometimes for business to suffer, and for your small business’s instability to have a huge impact on your life.
To help alleviate this fear, be proactive about planning for market fluctuations. When business is doing well, set aside as much as you can for a rainy day. That way, a few slow months won’t have as big of an impact on your life, and you won’t have to worry as much about the natural ebb and flow of the economy and how it will affect your business.
2. Your Branding is Off
The biggest businesses know that branding counts for a whole lot and savvy small business owners know that branding is important for their business too. But the more you learn about branding and the more you realize it’s importance, the more you probably are worrying that your branding is off.
There are really only a few things to learn about branding that can help you alleviate your fears. The most important? Simple is better. Once you figure out exactly what your business stands for, what you value, and what you want to portray to the world, focus on that. Keep your message consistent, and check out the tips we linked to above, and your branding fears will melt away.
3. You Lack Experience
Many small business owners don’t go to school for business or have a deep education or resume in entrepreneurship. Maybe all you had when you started your small business is an idea and an investor. And as you start to grow, that lack of experience can generate a lot of fear.
But don’t worry: there are so many excellent small business resources online, many of which are free to access and maintained by experts, that you don’t need a formal education to succeed as a small business owner. All you need to do to alleviate your fears and compensate for a lack of experience is to start researching and read all the tools you can get your hands on.
4. You Aren’t Keeping Up With the Times
No matter what industry you are in, things move fast these days. Innovation is everywhere, and as you devote more and more time to managing your small business and keeping the doors open, it might be hard to find time to keep up with new developments. And that can create a lot of fear that you are headed for obsolescence.
To fight that fear, take small steps to modernize your systems, one at a time. For starters, make sure you have a strong website for your business that meets your business needs. If you need a new website, check out WordPress. The platform offers amazing flexibility and a lot of functionality, all for free. Once you see how easy it is to take the first step towards modernizing with a WordPress site, some of that fear will subside.
5. The Internet is Hurting You
Ten years ago, small business owners worried that big box stores and chains would close their doors. These days, small business owners have a new boogeyman to fear: the internet. If you worry that the internet is hurting you and damaging your profits, you aren’t alone.
But for every way the internet can hurt you. there are five more ways it can help your small business. Even if you have no experience building websites, and consider yourself to be technologically illiterate, don’t worry: there are some very affordably priced small business experts out there just waiting to help you alleviate your fears about the internet and the software to use, and show you how the internet can work for you.
6. Failure
Intertwined within all of the fears above is a pervasive worry that hangs heavy on the shoulders of every entrepreneur and small business owner: the fear of failure. You know managing a small business can be hard work, and you know that your margins can be tight. The fear of failure is perfectly natural in the small business world.
To alleviate that fear, just keep going. Every win that your business has will help you feel less scared. And every failure can be overcome. As long as you remain in motion, and keep looking for ways to succeed, your fear of failure doesn’t have to control your life as a small business owner.
Call Today for Help
If you are needing help building a website or want to optimize your site, we are here to help! Our team at WPamplify is more than qualified to help get your website the hits it needs to boost your business. Give us a call today to discuss what solutions we have for your small business!
