4 Fear-Based Myths About Starting a Small Business
Doomsday mythology is still holding us back.
Over our lifetimes, we hear countless tales of curious humans wanting something, and then all hell breaking loose when they go for it.
Let’s take Pandora, for example.
In Greek Mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth, created from clay and gifted by the Gods. In a complicated revenge plot, Zeus gave her a jar and told her not to open it (but secretly hoped she would). Since Pandora was a curious lady, as she should feel free to be, she opened the thing and unwittingly unleashed all kinds of death, misery, and evil on humankind. These are rough consequences for opening a jar.
How about Eve and that dang apple?
You probably know this one. The conniving snake. The innocent hungry woman. The apple. Enter banishment from paradise and sin-cursed humankind.
And we can’t forget Icarus, the man who flew too high.
Icarus and his father, master craftsman Daedalus, were on an escape mission using wings the father had crafted from wax and feathers. Even though his father had warned him not to fly too low or too high, Icarus got a bit excited and soared gleefully towards the sun, only to have the wax of his wings melt. He then plummeted to his demise.
My point here isn’t that there aren’t valuable and wise lessons to be gleaned from these tales. It’s that there are also uninspiring undertones of:
Don’t want for too much, or you’ll get punished.
Breaking the rules leads to misery.
Staying in your lane is for your protection.
Curiosity kills the cat.
And this messaging persists in modern-day culture and storytelling.
I see doomsday messaging about starting a small business all over the place now.
And many of them perpetuate the myth that if we go for it, we’ll meet misery.
My business ownership experience and the experiences of my clients have not been ones of eternal damnation. So, I’d like to clear things up.
Allow me to debunk 4 of the biggest myths people perpetuate around starting your own business.
1. We need to have it all figured out
I hear it all the time — if we don’t have everything perfectly planned before launching, then we are destined to fail.
In my experience, there are three things needed to start a business:
- A valuable service or offering we can deliver on
- At least one human who wants to pay us for that value
- A way to deliver that value and receive the payment
That’s it.
And we don’t even need to know these things before we take steps towards launch, like working with a coach to define our brand, business plan, and marketing strategy.
I often tell people to start with what they know and grow from there.
Opportunity breeds more opportunity, so starting somewhere is one of the fastest paths to clarity and success.
2. We won’t make it without being an influencer or having a huge audience
I see many anxiety-inducing proclamations that if you don’t spend a ton of time and effort building an audience, you won’t make any sales.
When I started my business, I had 794 Instagram followers and an email list that basically included my Mom and my acupuncturist.
I had my first client in a week and grew to my first five-figure month shortly after.
When first starting a small business, success comes from having high-quality individual relationships, not a high quantity of stranger connections.
3. There is a “right” way to market our business
You’ll hear “experts” talk about “the only way” or “the right way” to market a specific kind of service or product, and if we deviate from that, they say we’ll fail.
As a former senior-level marketing leader at numerous startups and corporations, I’m here to say this is a bunch of crap.
There are many paths to marketing success, and those paths are best defined by our unique goals, resources, and preferences.
I’ve seen coaches earn $5k+ a month off of referrals alone.
I’ve helped clients book 30+ consults in a month just by putting out a simple message on their existing channels.
I’ve led startup marketing success through everything from intimate in-person events to multi-million dollar ad campaigns.
There is no one right way to market and achieve your goals.
We should feel free to design our marketing funnel and strategy in alignment with what feels good to us, personally and professionally.
A friendly reminder that anything that works is the right way to market.
4. We need to invest in a highly designed website and brand first
Don’t get me wrong, a beautiful website and brand make a big difference.
But if the overwhelm of branding prevents us from opening the door to clients and income, we should forge ahead without it.
I know a wellness coach who earns $11,000 a month with no website and barely any social media presence.
I know a consultant who earns millions with a website showing only his company name and an about section (and even that didn’t appear until he was well underway).
I know countless small business owners across industries who have gained clients before even having a branded business name. (There are more than 23 million sole proprietorships in the United States, most of which use their name to conduct business.)
We might desire the $5,000+ worth of website design work, the comforting foundation of brand guidelines, and the joy of a library of branded images, but rest assured these are not necessary for success.
Launching without a beautiful and clear brand does not mean we will plummet to the ground Icarus style.
Moral of this story: Classic and modern myths blocking aspiring business owners are fear-based, not fact-based.
With a bit of vision, a healthy dose of strategic planning, and consistent execution, it’s possible to go for what you want and start a small business without unleashing cosmic fury and destined failure.
In summary, aspiring small business owners can get started now by:
- Figuring out what’s necessary to get started and leaving the rest for later.
- Launching and marketing before investing in high-volume audience building.
- Designing a marketing plan around unique goals, preferences, and resources.
- Leaving the high-investment branding and website for later.
Geri Paige Butner is a business coach on a mission to help you start and grow a business you love. Download a step-by-step checklist for starting a business here.
