Since I started my website just over two years ago, I’ve seen many blogs, social media accounts, websites, and so on close up shop.

When you consider that over 50% of new businesses fail, this isn’t all that surprising. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Report, the biggest reason for businesses folding is (expectedly!) because they don’t have enough funding to continue functioning.

 

However, if you’re starting a business as a side hustle, you have lots of additional security other entrepreneurs don’t have…

Firstly, you have your day job income. Now, I know first-hand it’s not all that simple to juggle your bills, your day job, and your side hustle, but still, that secure income is nothing to snuff at!

 

Second, because our side hustle is an online business, we also have a huge advantage in terms of low overhead costs. We don’t have to pay for an office space, employees (at first), equipment, physical products, etc. Our biggest expenses are business education and marketing- not all that bad!

 

So, why do online businesses fail?

 

After watching so many online businesses stop, I’ve realized that their reasons for doing so end up falling into two buckets:

 

1- Not getting help

 

They think that they can figure this out on their own. I totally understand this. For the first year of running my website, this was me! I thought that since I went to a highly-ranked school, had a good job, and so on, I would be able to figure this stuff out on my own.

 

Well, after a year of frustration, confusion, lack of clarity and lack of money, I decided to try admitting that I could use help and after a year, hired a web, and I’ve never looked back. Perhaps I could’ve figured some of this out on my own, but I was no longer willing to wait for that to happen. That’s what made the difference.

 

There’s no shame in getting help. As my mother used to remind me growing up, the world’s most powerful people have entire teams supporting them. They’re not trying to do everything alone, so if we want to be successful, we shouldn’t either.

 

2- Mindset

 

The way people are thinking about success and failing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

If you focus constantly on your shortcomings and think they make you a failure, you’re going to exude that energy, and sure enough, people will also agree that you are a failure. People don’t want to buy things from failures, so they won’t buy from you, and then you won’t have any income and may eventually have to close up.

 

On the flip side, if you’re focusing on your successes (no matter how small!), you’ll believe confidently that you are a success. This energy will spread, and others will be drawn to you, and your successes will multiple.

 

So this week, how can you consider one or both of these common shortcomings and incorporate them into your side hustle, business and even life? How can you reach out for help in an area you struggle in? Or, how can you think about your successes more than your failures? How can you reshape failure completely?

 

My guess is that you’re doing even greater things than you realize right at this very moment.