4 things stopping you setting up your own business

Tony Hill • Apr 21, 2020

What's stopping you from setting up your own business?

I remember when I decided to start my first ever business, I'd just turned 30 and had my first child and I decided that I wanted more out of my life and to build something special that my little girl would be proud of. At that time I didn't know what my business was going to be but I knew I was going to do it. I'd always had a background in sales and marketing so the obvious choice was to stick to this industry, but that's not where my first business derived from. The idea for my first business came from inspiration at a children's party, that's right, I did just say at a children's party.


I took my daughter to a children's birthday party and the parents of the birthday child had hired in a Peppa Pig costume to 'entertain' all the children.  They searched high and low for a local company to hire this outfit from but they couldn't find any, in the end I think they hired it from Manchester (they were living in Northampton) and it cost a fortune as well.  The quality of this Peppa Pig costume was dreadful and it did not 'entertain' all the children, it actually scared most of them and even made some of them cry.


It was at that moment that my first business jumped in front of me, well a scary looking Peppa Pig jumped in front of me but that's what gave me my light bulb moment.

The children's party industry is massive, people always have birthdays, every year in fact, and people want characters and entertainment at their parties - so I decided to invest in a really good quality Peppa Pig costume.  I started advertising on Facebook and built my first website and then the bookings started coming in thick and fast.  I persuaded a mate to dress up in the costume and I would guide them round at parties, saying hello to everyone, high fives, joining in with the games, etc.  

The business is still going strong and now has over 25 Entertainers doing full party packages where they do everything including a disco, party games, party dances and more.

It sounds pretty straight forward my journey into running my own business, but that's not quite true.  I had lots of doubt and fear over whether I was doing the right thing and the 4 main things that were stopping me were:

1) Timing
It never quite felt like the right moment to actually start, when should I push the GO button, would it be better to start next month rather than this month?

2) Belief
I'd always been successful working in various businesses throughout my life but for some reason I didn't have the same confidence that I could run my own business, I didn't think I was worthy to run my own business.

3) Money
I thought I'd need lots of money in my savings account as my safety net and with a new child (which seem to always need something new) I just didn't have it.

4) Perfection
I've always been a bit of a perfectionist, and I couldn't start my business until I had everything absolutely perfect.

All of the above are just barriers to stop you, and in my case and I'm sure many others are not important and my advice would be to just go for it.  

You will make mistakes as you go along, I know I've made many and probably still do but it's how you overcome them and learn from them that is important.

What is your biggest barrier to you starting your own business?  If you are planning on starting your own business, what is stopping you from pressing that GO button today?

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