THERE’S A WELL WORN STATISTIC below-257882_640which states that 95% of businesses fail in five years.  Or something like that.

I’m not even going to bother looking it up, because it doesn’t matter.

This is just a way to discourage people, to make me somehow feel better than you because I was able to land a real job while you’re … frittering your life away trying to do that “start your own business thing.”

It’s not real.

And it doesn’t matter.

The truth is that everything in life has risk associated with it.  You might lose your job.  Your house might burn down.  You might get hit by a bus doing absolutely nothing wrong.  And your business could fail.

Does that mean you stop living just so you can be “safe”?  Sorry, but there’s no such thing.  And for people who have passion and vision, it’s no life either.

We also have to realize that even if the statistic IS true, it’s not business “failure” as we think about it.  I started a self-publishing company back in 2003 in order to put my book out.  I never published another book after that, so obviously the company failed.

But did it?  That company served its purpose.  It gave me a legal platform to publish and sell my book.  I never really intended to publish another – I wondered about it, but never put plans in place.

If you have something important to do in this world, and you need to form a business to do it, fantastic.  It’s never been easier.

When you do this, you will constantly meet people who:

  • Don’t understand your vision
  • Think they have a better way to approach it
  • Would rather you just go get a job
  • Get joy out of eroding your confidence

In a sense, you have to put up some barriers against this onslaught.  It’s not easy, especially when you love and respect some of these people.

What gives you strength to endure?  Passion and vision.  And your ability to enlist a few others who can support you when you’re down.

The biggest challenge is to be able to look at your business with objective eyes, while still being supported.  I often perform that role for my clients, helping them to ask tough questions while still staying focused.

Others will tell you that you’re bound to fail.  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is if you’re serving customers and changing the world.