Stop Waiting: Start Your Small Business Today & Overcome Fear
“Every successful person starts with: 0 revenue, 0 subscribers, 0 customers, 0 fans. And the only difference between them and everyone else is they actually start.” - Alex Hormozi
Comfortable is the enemy of creation. And I understand that now more than ever. I waited 2 years to start my business, and I'm writing this so you don't have to. You can start today.
The Wake-Up Call
Backup 2 years ago and I work a nice office job as an IT Specialist; I've worked there 6 months up to this point. I'm enjoying it for the most part, but I never saw myself working an office job for a company for the rest of my life. Every since I was 10 years old, I knew I wanted to start a business.
I came to a point where I asked myself, "What am I doing here?" And I realized, I was waiting.
Waiting for someone or something to come along and magically make my dream a reality. I wasn't thinking that on purpose, but unconsciously, that's what I was doing. So I started a plan. My business would be website design (changed a bit since then), but I was going to code it from scratch. I would make the websites fast, clean, and most importantly, I'd make an infrastructure that would allow me to spit out these websites fast (can you tell I'm in IT? 🙂).
And so I "started". Or so I thought...
Mistaking Preparation for Progress
I kept iterating. I optimized the tech out of it, and then I would find another bigger and better platform and start over. I was having fun, I was making the product better, but there was one problem... I wasn't actually building a business.
I wasn't progressing, I was preparing. Preparing for something I thought the customer wanted, but come to find out, it wasn't something they wanted at all. I was trying to solve my problems, not the customer's.
What I really was doing was avoiding. Avoiding taking the leap into the business skills, and instead focussing on the skills I was familiar with. Comfortable with.
Familiar... Comfortable... Comfort Zone... I was staying in my comfort zone. I had always preached that comfortable is the enemy of creation. Here I was trying to create a business, and staying comfortable seemed to be the only thing I was doing. I guess I only believed that in word, not deed.
For two years, I thought I was making progress. I wasn’t. I was fooling myself.
The Root Cause
What was the root of this? There had to be a root. I believe any lack of progress is caused by some lack of truth or wrong belief. What was the root here? Fear.
More specifically, Fear of Failure. That fear held me back from action; from doing the right things for my business. It led me believe I was making progress, when in reality, I was just spinning around in a circle, making very little progress. All because there was a hard thing that I didn't want to face.
So, what was I avoiding? In business there are three things required:
Product
Marketing
Selling
Something to sell, someone to sell it too, and selling.
I had the first one down... but I didn't want to learn the next two, because of fear. So why did I have fear? And more importantly, how do I get rid of it? Turns out, the root goes even deeper than fear.
There's a Bible verse that says "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18) This verse shows the antithesis of fear. Something that can't coexist with fear. Perfect love. Logically, that means the more love I have, the less fear I'll have. That's the key.
Once I got that, I realized I had the wrong mentality on business. My motivation was off. There wasn't enough love in what I was doing. I was getting into business for myself only, not for my customers.
A good business exists to provide value to people, and it's really hard to do that well if you're just thinking about yourself. This lack of love caused me to have fear because I wasn't confident that my product would provide value to people; I wasn't focussed on that. Once I got my motivation off just myself and onto providing real value, my fear started to diminish.
And that's what I was missing. If something is blocking your goals, most likely you're believing something that isn't true. And that's affecting what you're doing. For me it was fear that came from the wrong motivation for business. And recognizing that unlocked a new level. Once I got this truth, I've been adjusting my actions and behaviors ever since.
Keep reading to see 5 of those actions...
5 Practical Steps to Start Your Business Today
I don't know about you, but when I hear mindset stuff and it clicks, it totally makes sense in my head... but the actual action steps to take... not so clear.
So here's the other side in a short list. The practical stuff.
1. Identify the Hard Thing
For me, the hard thing was facing my fear of failure. I had to ask myself, “What’s really holding me back?” Once I recognized the fear, I could start tackling it head-on.
2. Make Time
We all have the same 24 hours. The richest person in America has the same time as the poorest. The difference isn’t in time itself—it’s in how we choose to spend it. I had to make a leap and go part-time at my job to free up 16 extra hours a week. That time became my secret weapon to actually start my business.
3. Stop Pretending You’re Progressing
Learning, researching, planning—these are important. But if you’re only checking mental boxes and not taking real action, you’re not moving forward. Action is the only thing that matters. Action forces you to confront your fears, learn, fail, and grow.
4. Hit the Hard Things Head-On
It’s easy to avoid challenges and stick to the easy parts of your goals. But true growth comes from facing the difficult tasks you’ve been avoiding. For me, that meant putting myself out there, sharing my mistakes online, and building my business despite fear.
5. Accept the Struggle
Not accepting the same struggle and admitting defeat... but accept that there will always be struggle. We all have this romantic idea of how achieving our goals will feel. The reality? It’s harder than we imagine. Big goals require big effort and inevitably come with big challenges. If you want meaningful growth, you have to accept that the journey will be tough—but worth it.
This is why I’m sharing my journey online. I want you to see me fail, learn, and overcome. I want to encourage you to confront your own “hard things”, whether that’s starting a business, advancing your career, or pursuing a passion project.
The Takeaway
The takeaway is simple: Stop delaying. Start today. Identify your hard thing, make time for it, and take action—even if it’s scary. Progress isn’t made in preparation alone—it’s made when you actually do the thing.
So, what hard thing are you avoiding? Is it related to fear or something else? I made a checklist below that will help you apply this.
If you’re ready to start, I’ll be sharing my journey, my mistakes, and my lessons learned as I grow my business—and I hope it encourages you to take that first step.
Here's my video explaining more...
Business mindset checklist:
I don't know about you, but often when talking about a mindset change, it can be difficult to transfer that to practical action steps.
I created a checklist that will help you build a habit of behaviors that reinforce the right mindset.
Here it is:
Set a Check-In Date
When will you review your progress and adjust your actions?
