One of the main reasons people do not start a business is because of fear. It doesn’t matter what the service is or in what field; the number one reason people do not start a business is because they are scared to do so.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of failure.
Fear of success.
Fear of something horrible going wrong.
Fear of losing money.
These are the top fears associated with opening a business.
These WILL cross your mind. You WILL feel these emotions when you begin to start the business. There WILL be times you will be on the verge of panic. EXPECT THIS. It is totally normal and nothing to be ashamed of! I still get scared when I pursue a new venture. For me, it is the fear of the unknown.
Please, do not let these emotions change your mind. You will fail before you even begin because of a stupid cave man emotion. What is there to fear? You will not die from starting a business. If you follow The Elite Nurse Practitioner Model of starting a part time business while working part time, having low business and personal expenses, and being debt free, there will be little financial consequence if the business was to fail.
The worse case scenario is the business fails and you are out a few thousand dollars. That is the most PROBABLE negative outcome. Do not let cave man emotions dictate your decision to start a business. We live in modern times; this emotion is left over from when we needed it to run from a saber tooth tiger chasing us.
You must think logically and rationally when these emotions creep up on you during the start up phase of a business. Ask yourself:
What is the worse PROBABLE scenario that could happen if I take this particular action?
More times than not, you will find that there is little to worry about in all reality.
When I started my first practice, I talked myself out of very profitable courses of action that to this day I still regret. I was a novice in the business world. I was scared. But as time has gone by and the more part time businesses I have opened, I realize that EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY!
There are headaches with a new business. Expect it. There will be times when it is really slow and you want to quit. Expect it. There will be times you feel overwhelmed. Expect it. There will be times you will lose sleep. Expect it. You might begin to feel like your stealing or doing something illegal because you are making so much money. Expect it! (This is what happens when your practice becomes successful. I have heard this happens to many successful entrepreneurs!)
Here is a simple action to take when fear is overwhelming you in terms of starting a business:
Pull the trigger and pay for the LLC.
That is the first step to take when starting your business. If you are still trying to talk yourself out of it do this next:
Open a business checking account and deposit $3,000 into it.
Now you performed a legal action depositing money into a legal entity. If you are still talking yourself out of it:
Go sign a lease for an office.
See what is happening? At this point it is very hard to turn back. If fear is over-powering you, keep taking ACTIONS in the start up phase of the business. Do not look back. The more you do, the harder it will be to back out of it. By the time the fear begins dissipating you will have built an entire business!
This is what I have done during the start up phases of the multiple businesses I own. It works amazingly well!
So, get out there and start taking action. Give the middle finger to the cave man part of your brain. There is little to fear when you start a business the right way, which is what all of our courses teach by the way!
12 Responses
I love this. Plan on starting my business soon!
Don’t delay! The best time to start your business was yesterday!
great article. I’ve learned the first step is the hardest and most difficult
It is. You must overcome the fear and just DO IT. Pull the trigger, lock yourself in, and spend some money. It will motivate you to keep going and finish.
Appreciate this article. When you’re in a state without full practice authority (I’m in NC), what reasonable compensation for the physician? Of course my soapbox issue is the physician uses this opportunity to earn income with zero input.
Of course they do! It is easy money for doing nothing. I think $500-1k a month is reasonable to pay a collaborator.
If you run a cash pay practice can you charge patients who have medicaid or medicare? Or do you just have to not see those patients?
Sure you can. Only as long as the tax ID of the business entity you are using is not credentialed with Medicaid or Medicaire. If you have an insurance practice, make sure the cash practice is a separate entity.
I’m pretty sure that is illegal? You have to opt in or out of medicare and be credentialed with medcaid with your npi….I will check into it more.
Not for separate legal entities you are employed by.
How do you go about being employed in your own practice ? How do you report this ? In the LLC ?
Yes, you are just employed within the LLC, you just pay yourself through the LLC. Your CPA will help you set this up, it is not hard.