Starting a business can involve an emotional roller-coaster as you face obstacles which may test your commitment and perseverance.

One often hears of entrepreneurs who experience exhilarating optimism and crushing pessimism over a business life cycle.

Netscape’s co-founder, Marc Andreessen, once wrote:

“First and foremost, a start-up puts you on an emotional roller-coaster unlike anything you have ever experienced. You flip rapidly from day-to-day – one where you are euphorically convinced you are going to own the world, to a day in which doom seems only weeks away and you feel completely ruined, and back again. Over and over and over. And I’m talking about what happens to stable entrepreneurs. There is so much uncertainty and so much risk around practically everything you are doing. The level of stress that you’re under generally will magnify things (to) incredible highs and unbelievable lows at whiplash speed and huge magnitude. Sound like fun?”

Marc has put it succinctly for many entrepreneurs, the challenges, issues and obstacles of business start-ups.

Therefore, what can you do in an environment where unpredictability is the only constant? After all, a sale which can take a start-up to break-even may not come through or a competitor may emerge offering the same product or service.

The budding entrepreneur, in having to manage or juggle across roles or responsibilities, will be taxed emotionally, and may crack under pressure when faced with such issues.

The fact is, more than 95% of start-ups fall short of their initial plans, says Shikhar Ghosh, a Harvard Business School lecturer. This not only indicates the vulnerability of start-ups but also the pressure on their founders.

The pressure has a human dimension, the toll on the start-up community, affected by an epidemic of suicides and mental issues in recent years.

In January 2013, a popular founder of the e-commerce site Ecomom, Jody Sherman, committed suicide at 47. Three years ago, the co-founder of social network Diaspora, Ilya Zhitomirsky, took his own life at 22. Ben Huh, the CEO of Cheezburger Network, has shared his struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts resulted from his start-up failure in his post entitled “When Death Feels Like a Good Option.” Other commonly reported mood disorders among entrepreneurs include despair and anxiety.

However, these examples are only the ones that we know. Most entrepreneurs suffer in silence. They operate under a façade of optimism but devastatingly struggle through anxiety and depression internally.

Toby Thomas, CEO of EnSite Solutions, describes such phenomenon with his favourite analogy: a man riding a lion.  – “People look at him and think, this guy’s really got it together! He’s brave!” Thomas described. “And the man riding the lion is thinking, how the hell did I get on a lion, and how do I keep (myself) from getting eaten?”

What does an entrepreneur need in order to survive? These are some of the suggestions which we believe they need in large doses. It is by no means a comprehensive list but those wishing to strike out on their own should at least have this in mind before they start:

• Self-believe: “Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong,” said Philosopher Peter T. Mcintyre. Entrepreneurs have the courage to embrace risk and novel challenges coming to their way. The conviction – the game changer – with clarity of vision, as seen in Elon Musk, drives entrepreneurs toward the accomplishment of dream. He applies what he called the “First Principles” reasoning – dissect things down to the fundamentals, reshuffle and build up from there to realise his ideas. With this principle and his intensive conviction, he has built some killer features for the Tesla Model S, and is leading the creation of reusable rockets at SpaceX. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to be conscious about when does self-believe become denial. If you live in denial, you might be attempting to hide from the reality or having strong faith in your unrealistic thoughts. It will then hit you hard when you finally realise its destructiveness, and that could also mean your business is too late to be rescued.
• Mental strength or grit as some call it: Psychologist Angela Duckworth defines grit as “perseverance and passion for long term goals.” Beyond IQ, social intelligence and talent, grit is the new trait essential to success. It runs in the entrepreneurs’ blood – persevere and strive to identify the path to arrive at their end goals. Entrepreneurs, with grit, see themselves as the ones who make the ideal future happen.
• Ability to zoom-in and out: This is the ability to zoom-in – pay attention to details, and zoom-out – take a helicopter view. Viewing things from varying depths and perspectives will benefit you as an entrepreneur to adapt in the increasingly dynamic business world.
• Good partners to keep you sane: Good partners are alike to compass, supporting or guiding you to the right direction. They are the one who will balance the extremes you encounter during this journey, point out your blind spots, throw insane ideas with you, and lastly, to decide and work towards a sane and fruitful path with you.

As Steve Jobs once said, “Here’s to the crazy ones…because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”