We’ve all been there. And in fact, I might be there right now. You have that entrepreneurial mindset, you truly believe that you could start a business, and you may even have built out your ideas and plans to launch… but something lingers. Something prevents you from starting, for days, months, and even years. That roadblock you are facing may be fear.
I thought about starting this blog for many months now, but I couldn’t get myself to do it. There was always something that came up. My regular “9-to-5” job, an event with friends, something to plan, a lazy morning. Each of these items would be a small way to push off starting my business. But why, really, wasn’t I starting. Was it fear?
I’ve started several businesses before. Some have succeeded, while others have failed. But I still run into one of the biggest problems that many aspiring entrepreneurs face. Fear.
How do you push past that point? How do you take those first steps to starting your business to pursue your desires and dreams, and get your business out into the world?
Break It Down.
I am diving in right now. Taking the first steps. And I want to encourage you to do the same!
This blog will help provide some action items to help overcome fear. It is time to officially begin. No more putting it off.
I believe the strongest approach to tackle the start is to break it down. Break down that start into small, actionable steps. Cross them off the list one-by-one. Rather than feeling a monumental sense of “how can I ever do this,” methodically tackle your mini-tasks. And before you know it, you will have officially launched!
What does “Breaking it Down” actually look like?
How did I get started with this business? It is November, and I should have launched this in March. But I didn’t. So this week, I wrote down a small list on my google calendar of all of the different steps necessary to start this.
- Come up with the first three blog topics.
- Ask a friend for help with basic website design.
- Start drafting blog number one
- Set time for blog number two.
- Set time to edit blog number one.
I might be afraid of ‘starting a business,’ but I am certainly not afraid of doing each of these tasks individually! They are bite-sized, and super manageable. They each take less than 30 minutes and are incredibly approachable compared to my previous list which said “start my own business.” Literally that is what it said:
That is completely unapproachable. Instead, I broke it down into 3 mini-tasks. See the below screenshot from my calendar. Green = complete. Grey = To be completed.
That “Start my own business” box kept getting pushed from week to week, and I never was able to mark it as complete (until now!)
How can I break down my goals into small, actionable steps?
That is the question that I believe is key to getting your business off the ground. Overcoming fear of starting and actually launching. How can you break each starting step down even further? Let’s say I have minimal writing experience, could I break down my first two steps even further?
For example, to break down “draft blog #1” entail, I broke it down into these steps:
- Brainstorm ideas. The goal of this was to get 300-500 words in stream of consciousness on the page. I am not a great typist, so I used dictation on my phone because that helped make it even more approachable.
- Set up 10 bullet points to cover in the article after picking an idea. After the stream of concious brainstorm, the goal of these bullet points was to set a ‘structure’ for the blog. This gave me 10, small mini-tasks that I would need to complete (in the form of writing a few sentences for each bullet point).
- Start drafting bullet points number one through three… etc
That is what we’re doing here. We’re breaking down. You’re starting… and breaking down your steps even further to help you get over your fear, and move toward action. Can you actually launch the business you’ve always wanted to? Absolutely. Just take it in bite sized pieces.
What next?
You know you want to start that business, but right now, I want you to get out a piece of paper, or your notes on your phone / computer, and BREAK IT DOWN. What are the 3-5 first steps you should take? Write those down, tackle them 1 by 1, and get out there!
Startup Feature 