Procrastination is a sneaky enemy: it resides in your thoughts, feeding you false information to stop you from taking action. In the meantime, time passes and you’re not getting closer to your dreams. You’re left wondering what your potential may be, frustrated and stuck.
Nowhere is procrastination more present than when it comes to launching a side business, here’s why.
If you decided to start a business on the side, you likely have consumed a lot of information, listened to a lot of podcasts and read a lot of articles about how to start your business online.
You know a lot about it, you just haven’t taken action yet.
Self-sabotage keeps reminding you why you’re not good enough.
When it comes to business, procrastination can manifest in many ways: I want to share with you the top 13 excuses that I hear most often from entrepreneurs-in-the-making that get in touch or end up working with me. Here they are.
1. I don’t have an idea.
This belief puts you in the passenger seat, telling you that results aren’t about your effort, but they’re all about the idea. It’s a way not to take responsibility, and be at the mercy of ‘the best idea’. This is the “build it and they will come” myth: the best product or service will automatically sell itself.
The best product doesn’t always win. It’s the best-known product that wins.
That’s why not having an idea at all can be an advantage: you don’t have any mental baggage keeping you stuck to an idea that hasn’t yet given you results.
You are free to find the right solution that will help your customers, instead of sticking to something just because you have already committed to it (in your mind).
2. I don’t have the right budget.
Starting a business online doesn’t require a lot of money nowadays, especially if it’s a side business. List your product or service online, get the first sale and you can then reinvest some of the money on growth.
There are so many tools out there that make an entrepreneur’s life so much easier, especially online: you don’t need a big budget, to launch a side gig. Excuse.
3. I have a full-time job.
If you have a job, I have good news for you. A steady paycheck, while you’re figuring things out, is a great advantage over wantrepreneurs that need to get ‘survival’ money in as soon as possible.
You have the luxury of being able to take your time, think strategically, and hold space for what will give you big results in the medium and long term, instead of sacrificing that for immediate, small results. You have the luxury of having head space.
4. I need more information.
Let me guess: if you’re reading this article, you’ve likely read many other ones on business.
I bet you have consumed a lot of information.
Here’s the challenge: when you keep looking for more books, more podcasts, more articles, you have so much conflicting information that you don’t know what to do next.
“Next” being the operative word here. You don’t need to know what you may have to consider five years from now, because you don’t know what your business and life will look like five months from now.
That’s why you want to be selective and choose ‘just in time’ information over ‘just in case’ information. Avoid information that is not immediately actionable: you don’t need more information, you need more action in order to turn that information into transformation.
5. I don’t know the right people.
If you’re surrounded by negative, uninspiring people, it’s time to make space for new friends.
Reach out to them on social media, via email, pick up the phone, and go to events where people that are on the same business journey hang out. That way, you can stay motivated when facing a challenge, and figure out a solution with others.
Reach out to them on social media, via email, pick up the phone, and go to events where people that are on the same business journey hang out. That way, you can stay motivated when facing a challenge, and figure out a solution with others.
6. I don’t have an audience.
Go on social media, and you can see personal and business brands with a huge following. No wonder they can make money posting a picture of them drinking tea that’s supposed to make you skinny.
The good news is that you don’t need an audience to start with. And that’s because someone else has already created it for you. You can tap someone else’s audience by collaborating, creating content for them, paying ads or offering value that gets you in front of their crowd. Years ago, I launched an energizing chocolate bar online: before even making the first batch, I offered a 30% off code to offices here in the UK. They ended up emailing their tenants, and I made my first few sales.
If you don’t have an audience, good. You’ll be leaner to test things out before committing to creating your own audience.
7. What if I fail?
What makes this belief so paralysing is that it’s abstract and undefined.
You don’t know how to tackle it: what does failure mean?
You don’t know how to tackle it: what does failure mean?
Especially if you’re working on a side gig, you have very little to lose, but a lot to learn (and go at it again). You will pair all this theory with experience, and might even learn that you’re not interested in having a side business. Great, at least now you know.
Reframe failure and get past this belief, understand that it’s part of the process and really there’s no permanent failure: you want to learn, adjust, and go at it again.
Especially if this is your side business, you don’t have a lot to lose, but you will gain a lot.
8. I’m looking for the perfect tactic.
This is a belief that keeps a lot of people stuck chasing the next shiny object in front of them.
If you expose yourself to a lot of content, you likely see so many possible tactics that it becomes confusing. Especially because most of them really work: there isn’t one answer.
The secret is to make a choice and stick to it until you get some feedback to adjust. Not to choose something and then change your mind as soon as another idea comes along.
Everyone has a different tactic or recipe because everyone’s story and goals are different. Looking for the perfect tactic is another way to victimise yourself instead of taking responsibility: show up and look for feedback, so you can learn and find your own recipe.
9. I need a great website or a great landing page.
This is a classic. Hearing someone saying “I started the business” or “I have a start-up” and then…all they really have is a website. Anyone can make a website in an hour, a business means that there’s also an exchange of money: no clients, no business.
Tweaking your website and blaming your landing page is just a form of procrastination, going round in circles instead of asking your customer for the sale (and see what happens).
The perfect landing page is worthless if no one sees it.
10. I’m not good at doing anything.
If you feel that you’re not good at anything or that you don’t have any skills to build a living around, I recommend asking your friends. A great question you can email them is: “what’s one superpower I have and that you would like to have?”
Also, remember we all take for granted a lot of skills just because we’ve always had them.
Since we can do something easily, we assume that everyone else can, too. For example, if you’re reading this, I assume you can speak and read English. That’s a great skill!
Since we can do something easily, we assume that everyone else can, too. For example, if you’re reading this, I assume you can speak and read English. That’s a great skill!
The trick is to look about what transformation you can give to others: that way, you will look for your skills, passion, and accomplishments, instead of an external validation like a diploma or degree. What you want to give others is a result.
11. I don’t know how to sell.
Lie. You may not have the title of salesperson, but we’ve all had to sell at some point in life.
Whether it’s to convince someone to go on a date with you, to get the job that you dreamt of, or to get your friends to agree to your holiday plans, you know how to sell.
You might not have sold something in exchange for money, but you definitely already have sold someone on something in your life.
You might not have sold something in exchange for money, but you definitely already have sold someone on something in your life.
Business isn’t much different: find the right audience, put your product or service in front of them, and ask them to buy. if they say no, use the feedback, adjust, and try again.
You’re already a salesperson, you just didn’t know it yet.
12. I am an introvert. I cannot interact with clients.
The online world is so versatile, that you can really figure out and choose what works best for you and leverages your strengths (as long as you’re not feeding your excuses).
You don’t have to do everything, especially not from the beginning.
Hustle culture tells you that you have to do everything and be on every platform. However, that’s just a way to stay distracted from what works for you and would bring you results fastest. With so many platforms and opportunities, focus on your strengths: choose the products, tactics, and business structure that leverage what you’re good at and give you results. Bonus points if you challenge your comfort zone.
13. Someone else is already doing what I want to do.
Ok, your idea has already been launched by someone else. Limiting beliefs tell you that you are too late: give up and move on. This relates the first excuse in this article: “I don’t have the right idea”. It’s a cop-out, moving responsibility onto the idea instead of what you can control: yourself and your actions.
Remember, Apple didn’t launch the first music player, the first tablet, the first smartphone, smartwatch, or smart pencil. They made an existing idea and trend their own. If you can see similar products or services out there, as long as someone is buying it, that’s a good sign. It means that there’s a proven demand for it.
Next time this belief stops you, ask: how many cereal brands are out there?
What do these excuses mean?
Most of the beliefs you have around starting a side business are just self-imposed limits that keep you procrastinating. So that you don’t put yourself out there and actually try and give a serious go at having your side business. Worst case, you’ll learn, adjust, and move on.
If you want to accomplish something and win, you have to give yourself the ability to lose. When I ran my first marathon in 2019, I was incredibly unprepared: I had only been running for 4 weeks, and I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn’t have finished it.
I also knew that not showing up would have meant not finishing it anyway, but for certain.
I also knew that not showing up would have meant not finishing it anyway, but for certain.
So I showed up and ended up finishing it in 3:44:59, one second under my stretch goal.
The lesson? You need to give yourself the ability to lose and try again if you want the ability to win. If you recognise some of these excuses, pay attention: next time they speak to you in your head, realise that procrastination is trying to keep you safe.
Listen in, then take action.
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Thank you.