By Ashton Jackson

Copyright cnbc

For many people, being your own boss is the ultimate dream — but most Americans aren’t actually doing it.

Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults want to be their own boss one day, according to a Gallup survey published on June 6. A fraction of them take the jump into entrepreneurship: There are currently 36.2 million small businesses in the U.S., compared with roughly 258.3 million total U.S. adults, according to data from the Small Business Administration and U.S. Census Bureau.

Full-time entrepreneurship is easy to dream about, and notoriously difficult to succeed at. You might set your own hours, but you’ll probably work more than 40 hours per week to build your business, gain funding, find paying customers, develop a competitive edge and ultimately earn enough money to live on.

The ultimate guide to starting a business—everything you need to know to be your own boss

On September 2, CNBC Make It conducted an informal survey of our Instagram followers, asking: What’s holding you back from starting your own business right now? The most common responses included finances, fear of failure and a lack of business knowledge.

You should take those factors seriously, but they shouldn’t necessarily stop you from trying entrepreneurship for yourself, says Brian Moran, a marketing and small-to-medium business expert with more than 10 years of experience coaching business owners.

Here’s why, according to Moran — a featured expert in Smarter by CNBC Make It’s upcoming online course, How to Start a Business: For First-Time Founders — and other entrepreneurship experts:

You may think you need hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank before striking out on your own as a business owner. But “waiting until you’ve saved the ‘perfect” amount of money is one of the biggest traps aspiring business owners fall into,” Moran says. “If you keep telling yourself you’ll start once you have a full year’s worth of expenses covered, you may never take the first step.”

Tally up six months’ worth of your business and personal expenses, and make that your target savings goal, he recommends: “You need to know how much money is needed each month to cover basic expenses — housing, food, utilities, insurance. … If a full six-month safety net feels impossible, set a smaller goal — maybe two or three months of expenses — and stretch your timeline accordingly.”

You can test your business idea as a side hustle during nights or weekends, and build proof that it’ll make you enough money to live on before you risk abandoning your regular paycheck, says Moran.

If you’re concerned about startup expenses, you could consider trying a service-based business, like consulting or graphic design: Those tend to require less overhead than goods-based businesses, and they can help you capitalize on skills you already have, billionaire Mark Cuban noted on a July 15 episode of Emma Grede’s “Aspire” podcast.

Lack of business knowledge

You don’t have to be an expert in all things business to get started, but you do need a good foundation to succeed long-term, says Moran.

“Before leaving your day job, create a solid structure you can lean on,” he says. “It starts with clarity about your offer: who you serve, what problem you solve, and why someone should choose you over anyone else. If you can’t explain that in a simple sentence, you’re not ready yet.”

Build a rapport with potential customers, so you can figure out exactly how to turn your product or service into something they’ll pay for, and build relationships with people who’ve successfully “done what you want to do,” Moran advises. You might find such mentors in your peer network, or by sending a cold email with a discrete, specific question to an entrepreneur you admire.

“A mentor, a mastermind group or fellow business owners can shorten your learning curve dramatically,” says Moran.

Fear of failure

Failure can be disheartening, embarrassing and often downright devastating — especially in entrepreneurship, when your reputation and finances could be on the line. It’s also an inevitable part of life, which makes a certain degree of resilience important for business ownership.

Nearly every successful entrepreneur — including ones as high-profile as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — has experienced some degree of failure or setback while building their business. You can overcome your fear of failure by jumping headfirst into the ideas that scare you, says Barbara Corcoran, the millionaire founder of real estate firm The Corcoran Group.

“Fear of making the wrong call or judgment, and fear of not knowing enough to get going, can be overcome if you just shove yourself out there and really do it,” Corcoran told CNBC Make It in January 2020. “If you’re an entrepreneur, that’s your enemy. The fear is your enemy.”

Your fear may not entirely disappear, but you can overcome it enough to keep it from controlling your choices, or your ability to make decisions altogether, said Corcoran.

Plus, if you plan and prepare enough, you’ll be well-equipped to handle most challenges you’ll face once you get started, says Moran: “Passion will get a business off the ground, but preparation keeps it afloat.”

Want to be your own boss? Sign up for Smarter by CNBC Make It’s new online course, How To Start A Business: For First-Time Founders. Find step-by-step guidance for launching your first business, from testing your idea to growing your revenue. Sign up today with coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off the regular course price of $127 (plus tax). Offer valid September 16 through September 30, 2025.

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