What If? and Why Not?

Book excerpt: Starting your own business is hard. But the biggest obstacles often have less to do with time and money, and more to do with fear and doubt. In What If? and Why Not? serial entrepreneur and small business advocate Jen Groover—creator of the Butler Bag and creator and host of Launcher's Café, an online community for entrepreneurs—shows you how to transform your fears into action by rethinking the negative questions that can lead to failure before you even get started. Being an entrepreneur, Groover says, isn't just about selling a product. It's about personal growth—about taking your vision and bringing it to fruition, and about always pushing yourself to take that vision further. What gets in your way isn't the money you don't have, or what you don't know about the industry you want to get into—it's believing you can't do it, that you don't have the power or the resources you need to make your dream into a reality. Groover walks you step by step through ten negative “What If?" questions—What if I don't know what I'm doing? What if I don't have the money? What if I fail?—and how to turn them around by asking yourself: What if I can learn? What if I don't need much money? What if I succeed? She also asks “What Not?": Why not find a mentor or take a class? Why not ask for investors? Why not try? With dozens of personal stories from successful entrepreneurs in areas as diverse as dog walking and handbag-invention, plus practical advice for every step of your journey, What If? and Why Not? is the most complete guide available to help you you start the business of your dreams.