The 3 Things That Stop Most People From Starting a Business (And What to Do Instead)

If you want to start a business, but you're always hesitating, I totally get it. Because most people get stuck before they ever get started.

I've been building businesses for over 20 years. Some of them have failed spectacularly. Some of them have succeeded more than I ever dreamed. And right now, I'm in the middle of a brand new one.

One of the things I've seen over time is that most people who have ideas just don't do anything with them—and that's why they never even have the chance to succeed.

So today I'm going to share with you the three things I've learned that really stop people from starting, and what you can do differently so you can be one of those people who have a real business, a story to tell, and a chance to succeed.

Mistake #1: Waiting for the Perfect Idea

The first mistake most people make is they spend their time daydreaming, brainstorming, and hoping for the perfect idea.

But that doesn't exist. There's no such thing.

The best ideas come after you start something, not before.

Airbnb started as a couple of guys who just wanted to rent out a mattress on the floor of their apartment so they could pay rent. As one founder explained: "We had this idea. What if we just turned our house into a bed and breakfast? Joe had three air beds. And we called it airbedandbreakfast.com."

Reed Hastings started Netflix because he got a $40 late fee on a video from Blockbuster. "If you were late, you had a late fee. And I thought, oh my gosh, I wonder if you could mail a DVD."

They're billion-dollar companies now. And even talking about them is a bit of a mistake on my part, because the reality is most businesses—the business you probably need to create for yourself—are going to be boring. They're going to be small. And that is okay.

You don't have to be a visionary to create a business. You're not going to have a perfect idea. All you need to do is come up with any idea, something that needs to be solved, and then go after it.

This endless search for the perfect idea is actually a form of analysis paralysis—where we convince ourselves we're being strategic when we're really just avoiding the discomfort of starting with something imperfect.

Where Real Ideas Come From

If you don't have that idea yet, the best thing you can do is go work somewhere. You may hear about the whiz kids and the 21-year-old who builds an app. But most successful entrepreneurs are a little older, and the reason for that is because they've worked places where they've seen real frustrations. That's where they got their idea for their business.

Or they've seen the limitations of working for other people. They've been laid off, hit a plateau, and realized the only way they're going to create the life they want for themselves is to do something a little bit differently.

Your idea is going to change. You're going to get it wrong at the beginning. But as you go through the motions, your idea will become whatever it needs to become to create the life you want.

Follow Frustration, Not Passion

A lot of people will tell you to follow your passion, but honestly, that's the type of advice that keeps a lot of us broke. Passion is something you feel internally, but passion alone will not create a business for you.

A business is created from frustration. It's created from seeing a problem, something you don't want to do, or something that other people will pay to just go away. You just have to find the right thing. And then once you do, that passion people talk about? It'll grow.

Passion comes from taking action, from being an owner of something.

This really came together for me early in my career. I worked at a company that was inherently and objectively very boring—healthcare data integration. It was something no one talks about. I didn't even know it existed. But when I met the founder, when I learned about the business, I realized that he took a frustration he had and turned it into the love of his life.

He's been running it for over 20 years at this point. Every year has been profitable. It's not a household name, but his passion rivals that of any other executive or founder I've ever met in my life.

So stop asking yourself what you're passionate about—know that will come. Start asking yourself: What am I frustrated by? What have I watched other people complain about? What don't I want to do anymore?

That's where real businesses come from.

Mistake #2: Getting Tunnel Vision About Your Business Model

The next mistake far too many people make is getting tunnel vision once they have their idea, and only thinking about a single way to turn that idea into a business.

Every idea you have can become just about anything. It could be a product or service. It could be small and local. It could be massive and international. That's up to you. It's up to how you execute. And really, it should be driven by what you ultimately want out of it—why you're creating the business in the first place.

Just think about a musician. If a musician gets tunnel vision, the only version of success they're going to chase is the idea of becoming an international recording artist. But if that same person took their idea and passion, if they thought broadly about how they could turn that into a business and a life for themselves, maybe they'd become a songwriter. Maybe they'd become a teacher of music. Maybe they would write jingles for local businesses in their area.

They could do anything, as long as they think about it in the right way.

Design Your Business Around Your Life

Think about the life you want. Are you aiming for fame and fortune? Well, then yeah, you need to have a big idea. You're going to have to put in the hundred-hour work weeks.

But if what you want is a nice cottage, if you want to be able to set your own hours, maybe you can do it smaller and in a different way. Figure out what you want to do and what you don't want to do.

Because if you don't, you might end up with a business, but you won't end up with the life you want—and that could be one of the biggest regrets of your life.

This kind of intentional business design requires the confidence to make choices that align with your values rather than what others expect. Building this kind of entrepreneurial confidence is crucial for long-term satisfaction.

Mistake #3: Comparing Yourself to Other Entrepreneurs

Nobody is born an entrepreneur. It doesn't matter where you go to school. It doesn't matter how many books you read. It's one of those things you have to actually live to truly get good at.

It's like being a comedian. You can practice in your bedroom all you like, but ultimately you've got to get on stage. You're going to have to fail a number of times before you get any good at it.

The same is true for any entrepreneur. The person you see now is a person who has been through some stuff. A person who learned how to pivot quickly because they were about to run out of money. A person who learned how to hire amazing talent because they made so many bad decisions early on.

That's how you become an entrepreneur. You just do things, you fake it till you're actually good at it, and eventually you look back and can't believe how far you've come from that early version of yourself.

Stop Comparing Your Beginning to Their Middle

So stop comparing yourself to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Stop thinking that you have to have this certain mentality or mindset. You're comparing yourself to someone else's end product, the end version of themselves.

Yeah, there are some lessons to be learned from their stories, but ultimately you need to create your own. Just be okay with who you are. Know that we're all kind of making it up as we go along. And if you're willing to do that, you will eventually get good at it.

That's how it works. There are no shortcuts. You just gotta go do it.

Many people experience what feels like impostor syndrome when they compare their internal experience (full of doubt and uncertainty) to other entrepreneurs' external presentations (polished success stories). This comparison trap keeps talented people on the sidelines indefinitely.

The Truth About Successful Entrepreneurs

At the end of the day, everyone who owns and runs a business is just a regular person. They just had an idea. It might have been exciting, it might have been boring, and they did something with it.

Along the way, they figured out what worked and what didn't work. They figured out how to become better at being an entrepreneur. And now they're living a life they truly dreamed of.

It's not always going to work out for everybody, but the first step to having it work out is actually doing something with it. It's getting away from the hesitation and just trying it out and learning as you go.

Your Next Step

If you recognize yourself in any of these three mistakes, you're not alone. The gap between having business ideas and acting on them is where most potential entrepreneurs get stuck.

The good news? These aren't character flaws—they're just patterns that can be changed with the right approach and support.

Stop waiting for the perfect idea. Stop limiting yourself to one business model. Stop comparing your beginning to someone else's middle.

Start with frustration. Think broadly about solutions. Accept that you'll figure it out as you go.

Because that's exactly what every successful entrepreneur did—they started before they felt ready, adjusted along the way, and built something meaningful despite their fears and uncertainties.

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