These 8 Groups of People Will Never Start a Business

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” I always wonder what is more important to them on an ongoing basis than changing the world, since their startups usually never materialize.

With the cost of entry to be an entrepreneur so low today, the common excuse of “lack of funding” doesn’t get much sympathy from me. People can build great ecommerce sites with free tools, smartphone apps in their spare time and use crowdfunding to bypass the dreaded angel funding and venture capital penalties. There must be something deeper that slows people down.

So if you have a great idea, and funding isn’t an overwhelming challenge, what are the real reasons that the world is filled with so many “wannabe” entrepreneurs that never get around to starting up?

Based on my own experience mentoring real entrepreneurs and likely candidates, there are at least eight categories of non-starters. I’m sure you will recognize someone you know, maybe even yourself, in one of the following groups:

5 Ways to Know If Your Business Idea Is Brilliant or a Bust

Fifteen years in the home-improvement business taught Matt Fineberg that no one pulls the trigger on a big-ticket project—such as a new roof or windows—without first getting a handful of estimates.

When he began building his Philadelphia-based estimate marketplace, Bestimators, in 2013, Fineberg thought he knew what his potential customers needed, and how to deliver it. “I heard ‘I need to get a few more estimates’ daily for the better part of a decade, so I hired a contractor to build out a product to help homeowners do just that,” he says.

A former design-build “aquascaper” (a landscaper with a focus on water features) who charged a consultation fee for his services, he assumed his new business would work on the same model. But feedback from homeowners showed him otherwise.

7 Simple Ways to Start Your Dream Business Today

I have a family member that has been talking about quitting her job for the past five years. I have a friend that has been talking about starting a business for the past 10 years. I see these two scenarios every day, with different people, in different areas of my life.

I get emails from hundreds of entrepreneurs every week (most likely because I’ve included my email address on my columns and because one was titled, Why and How You Should Cold Email Everyone). That offers me the opportunity to speak to lots of entrepreneurs. I hear their requests, and learn what problems they need to overcome. Figuring out how to start is one of the biggest hurdles.