Why Do So Many Entrepreneurs Settle for Excuses Before Starting?

Excuses are one of the most plentiful commodities in the world. I'm in a fortunate position where I work with a multitude of entrepreneurs and people looking to get started in the world of digital business. Excuses are the main thing I hear at the start of these processes or when I'm approached to help someone out. Some people can quickly move past this mindset, while others place a false ceiling on themselves before they even start.

I want to explore common excuses, their real-world solutions, and how to overcome that mindset if you're someone who finds yourself with trajectory-halting excuses. For context: I am speaking strictly about digital businesses and services. Physical real-world services are a different realm when it comes to time or financial commitments, but in the online space - if you're on a device, connected to the internet, and have the capacity to read this - you have next to no excuse not to try.

What Is the Difference Between Real Barriers and Business Excuses?

Now don't get me wrong, there are real reasons - not excuses - why a prospective business venture or project might be harder than others. Whether there are deep industry moats, sector breakthroughs you can't access from the outside, or massive initial capital requirements, those are real factors that decrease the probability of success enough that looking at other avenues makes logical sense.

This section isn't for people dealing with those objective facts. This is for those who come up with self-limiting, artificial constraints on why they can't start.

Time: "But I don't have the time."

This is the most common thing I hear, and it seems to be the most justifiable excuse to anyone who brings it up. But the truth is, there's a lot of time in the day. For the majority of us, if you have time to watch a show, cook food, sit around, or pursue hobbies, you definitely have the time to start the business you've been talking about. It only takes 1 hour of daily commitment over a long enough time span to see the compounding of your work take place.

To use my own experience: I built and scaled an e-commerce store to low six figures while working 9–10 hour days as a sign-writing apprentice. I'd come home, shower, sit at my computer for an hour and a half, and then go to bed - night after night, until the compounding sales and effort turned into a tangible result.

Money: "But I don't have the money."

Fortunately, we live in the most digitally connected time in human history. In the context of digital business, "I don't have the money" is usually said in the same breath as paid advertising. But in the age of social media, it's easier than ever to get organic, free traffic to your blog, digital store, or agency website with $0 in ad spend. On top of that, modern social media algorithms mean you can go from 10–20 views to 10,000–20,000 views overnight.

To refer back to my e-commerce business: I had no money initially for ad spend. So I started posting 10-second TikTok clips of me designing t-shirts. The entire business took off when a single video hit 40,000 views overnight, catapulting my organic traffic simply because I took the time to post content and wait for the algorithm to land.

Tools: "But I don't have X."

Arguably the most nonsensical of the three: "I need a new laptop," "My computer is too slow," etc. If you have a device that connects to the internet, there is essentially no reason you can't source and find the right offering to scale.

Again, using my own experience: my store and all its products were built on a PC so poorly spec'd that I couldn't open two Adobe applications at the same time, or have more than roughly 15 tabs open on Google Chrome without the entire system crashing.

How Do You Overcome the Mindset That Stops You From Starting?

The examples above might seem trivial, but you may be reading this having told yourself one of them. To reiterate: if you are on a device, connected to the internet, and able to read this, there is almost no real reason you can't make an attempt at an online venture. Excuses are merely a front or a "tangible" cover for something non-tangible that others can't see: your mindset.

Overcoming excuses comes down to a multi-pronged combination: persistence, being okay with failing, changing your perspective on the process, and at the end of the day, just getting on with it.

Consider this short mindset shift for the future:

• Persist through the numbers: One failure doesn't matter, ten failures don't matter - all it takes is the 11th attempt to get yourself going. It took me 13 attempts at e-commerce before I created a successful online business, and the one that worked covered the cost of all the others by a thousandfold. Look at it like a numbers game: the more you try, the higher your chance of winning.

• Failure is objective: Did you potentially lose some money or time? Sure. But what did you gain in that process? What did you learn, and what new skill did you pick up that you can carry into the next attempt? Small amounts of time worked on something compound, and so does learning minor skills along the way.

• Audit the reality: Take a step back from your thought process. Are the excuses you're coming up with really tangible ones, or what are you actually worried about happening if you try?

• Just get on with it: To be blunt, think about what you could have gained in progress that you compensated with time for making excuses. In the 2 months you've been talking about wanting to start that online business you put off, you could have had 3 failures and be on your 4th attempt making actual traction. By not taking action now, how much are you delaying what could have been?

What Is the Execution Framework for Eliminating Excuses?

When you catch yourself rationalizing why you can't start, run through these four points to reset your perspective:

1. Audit Real Barriers vs. Excuses: Identify if your obstacle is an objective market constraint (like massive capital requirements) or just an artificial excuse (like needing a faster computer).

2. Commit to the 1-Hour Window: Dedicate just one uninterrupted hour per day to your project - no matter how slow or low-spec your setup is - and let the compounding begin.

3. Use Free Organic Leverage: If capital is your bottleneck, stop complaining about paid ads and start using free social media algorithms or direct outreach to build early momentum.

4. Treat Execution Like a Numbers Game: Accept that early failures are just skill acquisitions. Put in the reps, fail fast, and focus on getting to the attempt that actually takes off.

A Note.

I went to university for roughly 2 years before dropping out, but one thing a lecturer said to me that I always remember:

"If you don't know what to write yet, just open up a document, write the heading, your name and the date, then at least you have made a conscious start towards your goal"

As mentioned in an article I wrote about Analysis Paralysis, you don't always need to know everything to make a start - just do something to get started.