What’s Stopping You from Starting a Business?
May 21st 2026
If you’re like 25% of the women surveyed in the QuickBooks Entrepreneurship in 2026 study, you’re planning to start a business this year. In total, 33% of adults plan to start a business in the next 12 months, which is a 94% increase since last year. Even more striking, of the women planning to launch a business, 59% feel a sense of urgency to get moving.
Yet 65% of women have never started a business, compared to 46% of men. They may have been thinking about it, imagining it, and perhaps even planning for the day when they can launch their own company. But the statistics show that the number of women who want to start a business is much larger than the number of them who actually take action.
So, what’s getting in the way? Why aren’t more women striking out on their own, or even starting a side hustle while keeping their day job?
Fear
What frequently stops women from taking any action toward starting a business is fear, both of failure and success. They worry that now may not be an ideal time to start a business, or that their concept won’t be strong enough to be successful. They think they need more money than they have saved or that they need more experience.
If this sounds like you, understand that the underlying emotion is fear, which isn’t necessarily logical or useful. Recognize what you’re feeling and then take a step toward exploring what starting a business could look like. You’re not deciding to start it, only to investigate what becoming an entrepreneur would entail. Push past your fear.
Thinking You’re Not Ready
One thing that many aspiring entrepreneurs have in common is a belief that waiting will lead them to start a more successful business at some point in the future. They think there is a better time to become a business owner. Maybe they’re waiting for their young kids to start school, or when the economy turns around, or when their spouse lands a new job, or they have more savings…the list can go on forever.
The problem with waiting for the right time to arrive is that it won’t. There is no such thing as the perfect time to start a business.
This does not mean you need to rush the process and quit your day job tomorrow. You may want to, but a better approach is to prepare yourself to become a business owner. That means taking a step to plan out what products or services you’ll offer, who your target customers are, how you’ll find and market to them, where you’ll locate your business to start, where you’ll get the funds to buy raw materials, and so on. These activities are the activities of a business owner, and once you realize that, you’ll also see that you’re closer than you think to becoming a business owner.
Lack of Support
Although you may not want to believe it, women have to fight an uphill battle to become successful entrepreneurs. Where men are often expected to go into business, have a support network to encourage them, and have the confidence to do it, women are at a disadvantage. They haven’t been encouraged to strike out on their own, don’t have women business owner friends, and worry about failure. And yet, women-led companies consistently outperform expectations when it comes to business ownership.
A Boston Consulting Group study of MassChallenge portfolio companies found that women-led startups generated more than twice the revenue per dollar invested as men-run startups. That is, for every $1 invested, women-led companies generated $.78 in revenue while men-led startups generated $.31.
The good news is that research shows that women are more than capable of starting and building profitable businesses once they realize and accept that they can.
Taking the First Step
If you’re among the majority of women who have been thinking about starting a business and want to get moving but are unsure of what action to take to get started, here are some recommendations:
Figure out what’s really holding you back. Is it fear of failure? This is extremely common, and the only antidote is feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Do something. Is it money? Look into grants and microloans to get you started. Is it time? Evaluate your schedule to identify pockets of time that you could devote to building your business. Getting clear about what’s stopping you is an important first step.
Focus on finding customers. Before you invest in marketing tools like a website, advertisements, and a logo, invest your energy in identifying potential customers and making contact. If you have friends or colleagues who are strong prospects, ask if they would have a few minutes to give you feedback on your business idea. Then give them your pitch. You’ll either learn about obstacles to buying or land your first customer. Either way, that’s a big win. But work on generating sales first.
Find someone who has already done what you want to do. Who in your community, online or in real life, has started a business and made a success of it? If you can’t think of anyone, how about doing some online research to track down local successful women business owners? Turn to the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) for a potential advisor, or check out the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) to find women like you. Then ask them what they wish they had known when they were starting out and take detailed notes.
Research local small business resources. Chances are good that you have small business and startup-focused organizations locally that you can turn to. Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) often offer workshops and courses for startups, for example. Online organizations like Ladies Who Launch is another terrific community. And WomensNet has a private Facebook group to connect aspiring and experienced women business owners with each other.
Even if you’re still feeling overwhelmed by what it takes to start a business, you can probably see that you don’t have to do everything at once. Starting a business is not one huge leap; it’s a series of small steps that put you on a path to progress and profitability.
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