Episode 6 - Pushing Through The Fear
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You may claim you are not afraid, but let me challenge you to dig a little deeper. Stay tuned.
Fear is a multifaceted thing.
We understand terror when in a life-threatening situation. We also understand the butterflies of stage fright.
How about all our little phobias such as the fear of heights, water, and speaking before an audience?
But, let’s talk about one today that is rarely, if ever, mentioned.
Fear disguising itself as wisdom.
Wisdom says don’t start your own business now, look at the economy. When the wise thing is to actually start that business and grow it so you are not at the mercy of layoffs because of the economy.
Wisdom says you don’t have the time or the money to start a business. When the wise thing is to learn how to start and grow a business on a budget in your spare time.
Wisdom says don’t step out and buy new equipment for your business. When the truly wise thing to do is invest in new equipment so that you can grow and better service your customers.
I’ve seen so many people excuse their fear as wisdom. They are afraid to take a chance and explain it away as a wise act.
The wise take risks in order to grow. The wise learn how to do what they want rather than never starting. The wise decide they will follow their dream in spite of the fear.
And what is this fear crouching as wisdom? It is the fear of failure.
Once a lady that I coached was crippled by fear in her business and didn’t even realize it.
All of her business practices were guided by a deep sense of fear of failure. As we talked, I saw her father had pounded this into her and she was growing up.
It sounded right to her after many years in that household. We love our parents and respect them, therefore we believe in them.
Besides that constant philosophy being drilled into her, she suffered an unspeakable family tragedy. It was the perfect storm for fear to engulf her for years to come.
Through our sessions, she realized that what she had thought was wisdom was actually fear and would bring her business down faster than a risky financial move.
We are both faith filled Christians, and I encouraged her in biblical business practices.
We continued to meet with her, asking me an abundance of questions. When you see one thought process was wrong, you been to bring all thoughts under scrutiny.
We met for several weeks and I loved seeing her break free from the fear. In our last meeting, I was so glad to see the light in her eyes and the excitement on her face.
She had just made some large purchases to further her business. She had taken every bit of advice I had given her and implemented it.
Her business was growing and flourishing and even though she still had butterflies before hitting that purchase button, she was able to move forward courageously.
Before you once again brush off any thought that you harbor any undiscovered fears, let’s just take a breath. If you are so confident that you don’t, what is the harm in the exploration if there is nothing to find?
Take a moment to answer these questions. Not in the comments, but on your own to yourself.
Question #1 - Have you been waiting for the ‘right’ time to step out to follow a dream you’ve had for a long time? And you are still waiting?
There will never be a perfect time. Just like having a baby, there will never be a perfect time, but when it happens, the time is perfect.
This may be a fear of not being able to control the outcome. You may feel that if you can ‘wait’ until all conditions are seemingly perfect, then you will succeed. But, my guess is this may just be an excuse that you are simply afraid of stepping out.
Question #2 - What is your greatest avoidance when it comes to business?
Are you afraid of running out of money? Are you afraid that you won’t have customers? Are you afraid that you will look like a fool? Are you afraid of what people will say?
You say none of these, yet you don’t step out and start the business that you’ve always wanted to.
None of those questions above are failure. Most super financially successful entrepreneurs have run out of money more than once. They just start all over.
If you have confidence in your product and believe that it has a beneficial use, or if your skill or talent is valued by others. You will have customers. The key is finding them with the right marketing.
Who’s opinion matters to you? Who are you concerned you will look like a fool to? We can’t afford to sacrifice our dreams for fear of another person’s opinion. Don’t let anyone have that kind of control over you.
Many entrepreneurs on the cutting edge of technology or engineering looked completely foolish, and people scorned them. But I am thankful that they stepped out.
I love electricity, planes, and cars, and all the things that became of their courage and fortitude to do it, anyway.
Question #3 - Do you need to make a major life change to follow your dream?
This may sound like a strange question, but sometimes our corporate success has left us encumbered with possessions that don’t allow us to break free and follow our dreams.
High mortgages, utility bills, expensive play toys, may be the noose around your neck that will keep you from being able to have your dream.
If you could start fresh, with a wiped slate, no high mortgage, car payments, etc., would you then have the freedom to start over following your dream?
Sometimes ‘dreams that have come true’ can be keeping from your true dream coming true.
Maybe you need a radical change, like selling it all, becoming debt free, and then you can move forward in a new direction.
If that kind of radical thought chokes you up inside, then it is worth exploring. My guess is that if you do that very radical thing and follow your dream, then you will be far more successful in the end.
Did you know that a few years ago, Elon Musk sold all his properties? He had several homes in various locations, but he found them to be a hinderance. So, he sold them.
When he travels, which he does frequently, he stays with friends or rents something temporary. Now he can move about quite unencumbered to do what he loves to do.
Our things often require so much time and money to maintain and upkeep. Maybe it is time to think smaller so that your money and your time can be free.
There are many other avenues surrounding fear that may hold you back. I am not suggesting doing something that you know with your rational mind is not the wise thing to do for you.
What I am asking you to do is self-evaluate why you do what you do. Think through and decide what generated that thought pattern in you.
You may have simply been taught wrong. You may have tried something before and it didn’t go as planned, so you vowed to never try that again.
Whatever the case, I believe that once you get to the root of the fear, no matter how seemingly benign, you will already begin to feel more free, and from there you can begin to make courageous decisions toward following your dream.
Let me challenge you to get my FREE ebook How To Go From Hobby to Business For Next To Nothing and see if you can see just how possible it can be to start your own business.