They tell me I don’t have the skills.

Why do people laugh when I tell them that I want to start my own business? Should I care about these people? They tell me I don’t have the skills.

Because they’re small minded, and it says more about them than it does about you.

When I told someone about a business I was starting (my first), they said - “Wow you must be crazy! There’s no way I’d do that.”

Other people told me - “You won’t succeed. It’s saturated” and similar comments to that. Basically everything was opposition and criticism.

And depending on who I talk to, if I don’t know them, a lot the responses are similar.

You absolutely shouldn’t care about these people.

You want to start a business for YOU, right? So why are you letting other people’s opinions stand in the way? It’s not for them, so if that’s their opinion, so what. They’re not the ones who want to do it. It’s your life and your choice.

If you don’t have the skill as they claim, then build those skills and learn.

What skills specifically? That depends on what type of business you want to start, and what type of person you are. Each person is different. But it would be wise to learn everything about the industry you’re getting into.

Study the businesses, how it works, customers, distributors, products (if retail), and everything in between.

You should take a hard look at yourself though, and decide what it is YOU can bring to the table. After all is said and done, self awareness matters.

You can learn every skill in the book, but you won’t be able to perform all those skills because nobody’s talented at everything.

Getting started as an entrepreneur involves developing a mindset of steely resolve — especially when other people don’t believe in you and, for whatever reason, try to talk you out of it.

Some may just be trying to protect you.

Some may be miserable in their own endeavours and just want the company.

Some may think your ideas are ridiculous and simply can’t understand how you can make a sustainable living out of them.

The universe (for lack of a better term to describe everything and everyone) will resist you.

Your friends, your family, your not-friends, and even your own brain will cast doubt on your ambitions and give you a thousand-and-one reasons why you’ll never be successful in whatever business you’re trying to set in motion.

It’s a test a lot of entrepreneurs unfortunately don’t pass. But understanding the motivations behind the shadows cast your way will go a long way toward helping you survive the gauntlet.

Sometimes you’ll get feedback from critics that will make you second-guess your direction — and sometimes you have to make the difficult admission the feedback has merit.

But how can you tell the difference between respectful, legitimate advice and contentious trolling?

“It’s important to listen,” says Pat Flynn, author of Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money.

“It doesn’t mean you have to react right away, and that’s another thing that I make sure I don’t do, because I used to be that way. I used to have people comment about something in a blog post and they’d point out something that maybe they didn’t agree with — and I’d just erase it right away. But then I realized that sometimes you just have to sleep on it and just let those nerves calm down a little bit before you can start thinking about something rationally.”

Concerns from your spouse may be especially trying to your resolve. After all, they’re in the same boat as you if your business venture fails. They want to be assured you’ll still have a home in a year. They want to know your kids will still be able to attend a good school. They want a nest egg and security for the future.

So when they express these concerns, it’s important to not only have a solid business plan so you can reassure your spouse on all counts, but to avoid taking this as a lack of confidence on their part in your ability to be a provider.

This leads to a common phenomenon known as switchtracking, where feedback from one party generates a reaction from the other that completely changes the subject.

The spouse is really saying, “I’m worried about the consequences of the business failing, so I want to be sure we’re as careful as possible.”

What you may be hearing is, “I don’t believe you can make the business succeed, and we’re going to be homeless in a year.”

You’re not even having the same conversation at this point. So the way to avoid falling into this switchtracking trap is to be aware of it (as you are now if you weren’t before), and just be really clear in communicating every step of the way with your spouse.

If one party starts getting really defensive at any point of the conversation, acknowledge switchtracking for what it is and refocus that conversation back to a more constructive course.

If the feedback you’re receiving is simply contentious trolling, try not to take it personally. You can avoid this by reframing your thoughts, understanding your influences and shifting perspective. Learn more about how to stop taking things personally .