 How to start a business in 2020 In the middle of the year 2007, I went to visit my only brother. He's older than me by over a decade and he treated me like his child. Little did I know that the good days of our relationship was about to end and his television was the reason for it. What happened was, on the Wednesday afternoon after my brother had gone to work, I was watching a TV show anchored by Fumi Ayanda, a Nigerian talk show host, where a guy was invited to talk about entrepreneurship. I can't remember anything special this guy talked about that got me crazy, but I remember it was that day I decided I was going to build my own company, or die trying to develop it. I left my brother's house without telling him about my new found religion and I started preparing like crazy for the new world where nothing is guaranteed. I read every book I could find about entrepreneurship. I was so determined that I was going to start a business immediately after I left school. About a year after this day, I finished the last exam for the diploma program I was doing in a Nigerian Polytechnic. Since diplomas were never considered education in my country, everyone expected that my next decision was going to be to go to university or do some higher national diploma. I instead announced to my family members that I'm not only going to say no to the classroom forever, but I also wouldn't even collect the certificate for my degree. My father should hate me because he had spent the money he didn't have to make me study for a diploma certificate and my only brother should hate me because he had always dreamed that I would follow him who doesn't like his child to take after him. There I was in July of 2008. I had everything against me and almost nothing in my favor, but I always remind myself about the reasons and the covenant I'd made to myself. I didn't know how I would do it, but I knew that I would build my own company or die trying to do it. Okay, enough of the boring story. How can you start a business this year? Well, the answer is straightforward. Start. If you're disappointed by my answer, let me give some explanations. Sometime last year, I wanted to learn how to be a better writer, so I started reading about how to be a better writer. Since I remember that Gary Halbert was a great writer, I searched the internet to see some of his opinions about how to be a great writer, and I was lucky to find one of his newsletters, where he talked about becoming a better writer. Halbert's advice is rather too simple for what I thought I needed, and he simply wrote, If you want to be a better writer, write every day. Nobody wants such advice. We all want magical information that can help us do all kinds of stuff, but the only way to be a master in any field is by doing. Today, I write about seven hours every week, and the more I write, the better I become at writing. You see, the only single way to start a business is to begin. But, but, but… I understand. You have a long list of what ought to be right before you can start a business. Well, I hate to be a carrier of bad news, but here is some. The perfect time can only come in your mind. You'll never get to that point when everything seems to be right to do anything. That's the reason why Nike said, Just do it. If today, anyone asks me, How can anyone become a great entrepreneur? The answer will be, Start a business. While I recommend reading and learning a lot, I've seen people who read a lot about business, but don't know much about entrepreneurship, simply because they do nothing about what they read. Think about driving. You might buy 10 books about how to drive and read all of them. Do you think you'll know how to drive after reading those books? Yes, the books may help you to understand some traffic laws and some technicalities of driving, but again, you'll never be able to drive a car until you drive a car. Make mistakes and fail. How can anyone succeed in business? Well, start a business. The real obstacle. I've heard so many people complaining about all sorts of things. Some think that the reason why they can't start a business is that they don't have money to start. Some believe that the economy is not favourable. Some erroneously believe that all opportunities are taken and none of these are an obstacle. The real obstacle is fear. Fear. That's what stops people. The fear of failure. Fear of what might happen. Fear of what people would say. But fear is like envy or jealousy. We don't like to confess it because our society frowns against the confession of fear. Think about jealousy or envy, for instance. If anyone is jealous of you, the person will never say that. Instead, he will reveal that jealousy with some anger by looking for what you say or do to cover up their jealousy. The reason why people use anger to cover up jealousy is that anger is socially acceptable, but jealousy isn't. The society accepts that it's fine to be angry with people, but we don't take that it's nice to be envious of them. And that's why people use anger to cover envy. The same thing with fear. We feel it and know it. But we don't confess it because our society doesn't accept it as usual. Instead of acknowledging our concerns, we look for excuses to cover them up. He who covers his sin shall not prosper, is what the Bible says. And he who covers his fear shall not succeed, is what I mean. You must be honest with yourself if you genuinely want to succeed as an entrepreneur. And that honesty starts by confessing that your fear is the reason why you don't pursue your dreams. If you confess your sin, you can overcome them. And if you acknowledge your fear, you can face your fear. So, how do you overcome the fear of failure, which keeps people from starting a business? The answer, again, is too simple to be taken seriously. Start. The only way to overcome the fear of cold water when you're in the bathroom is by going under the shower and let the water come over you. The only way to overcome war fears is to be in the middle of the battle. When you get to the middle of the fight, the fear of death will disappear and the thoughts of victory will dominate your mind. Most people don't ever cross the thin line that's between dream and its achievement. That thin step is the first step. You have to be courageous enough to take the first step, then another step, and then another step. Don't look far into the future. Another reason why most people won't ever start their own business is that they try to look at a thousand miles away. Starting a business is like driving at night. You can only see a few feet away, yet you have to keep on driving, believing that all the dots will connect somehow as you move. Sometimes we meet some roadblocks and that's fine because we have the power to move on after some falls. The best way to learn how to drive a car is to drive a car. The best way to become a successful writer is to write. The best way to start a business this year that will succeed in the future is to start a business. Thank you so much for watching our video. If you like this video, don't forget to subscribe. We love you.