How to have the courage to be an entrepreneur at any age

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, the last thing you need to worry about is your age.

A 23-year-old can become a founder on the same day a 45-year-old man can start his first business. You’ve probably seen stories of young children going into well-known businesses and retirees starting new businesses.

The truth is, what matters more than the number of years behind you is your courage. What makes an entrepreneur successful is the power to try something outside of their comfort zone, to be seen as a failure and to believe in their abilities.

You can think I don’t have the experience to start a business.

The, I have too many tasks and I don’t have enough energy to completely change my life so late in the game. These are just excuses, excuses rooted in fear.

How do you fight fear? You become brave. This is how I gave courage in my own professional life.

Developing courage, like everything else, is a matter of practice. The more repetitions you have on a perceived fear that you expose yourself to, the faster your courage muscle will develop.

If starting your dream business today seems too hard for you, start with small actions that push your limits. At your next team meeting, voice your opinion and come up with an innovative idea, contact someone you admire and connect with, or do something outside of work like skydiving.

Get off a plane and see how much energy you get and how you deal with adrenaline and anxiety. Chances are, not only will you come away excited, but also proud of yourself and ready to tackle more aspects of your life.

The deceptive truth about the fear of failure is that it doesn’t matter if no one knows that you failed. They can hide flaws, but they don’t have much courage to do so. I didn’t tell anyone that I would be starting a business until I had a significant monthly income. The reason was that he was afraid of failing and people knew it. I was worried about what people would think.

But that didn’t stop me. I was too excited about the opportunities to do something new, learn something that interested me and, yes, make money on the sidelines. But by keeping him locked up, I was playing in my safe zone.

Communicating what you do creates a sense of responsibility and forces you to be courageous regardless of what others think. And if you fail at first, it gives you the courage to move on and realize that you can overcome obstacles and keep going anyway. You will build a callus of courage. Sure, your skin may crack at first, but over time your abilities become difficult and what was previously painful will no longer be.

Once you get past the first level of fear as a business owner, there is a time when you feel brave, but it quickly becomes the new normal. What has ceased to be scary is and a new comfort set point is established. You can’t stop there or you’ll stick with the status quo, just a little better.

In my case, I reached a point where I felt confident to share my entrepreneurial activity with others. But once I got over that hurdle and entered full-time entrepreneurship, I was faced with a larger and more terrifying series of obstacles, problems and uncertainties. It was part of the trip. There will come a time when you will have to decide whether to stay on the road for this trip or get off at the next exit. I decided to fully embrace the never-ending quest and seek more courage along the way.