Many of us struggle with fear in our lives, and it holds us back from doing certain things. In business, fear can keep you from growing and it can keep a great idea locked up.
Here is a big fear. Many people, even small business owners, really don’t like to sell things. We have all kinds of excuses for it, but at the end of the day, we don’t like people rejecting us. If you don’t overcome that fear early on, you are going to struggle to grow your company. Sure, there are ways to do marketing so that you don’t have to cold call or even talk to people to get them to buy. But for most small businesses, there is always a degree of one on one selling that has to take place.
I am convinced that many potential great businesses never even get started because of fear. Whether it is the fear of rejection that makes us afraid to ask for sales, or a general fear of failure, ideas are routinely kicked to the curb before they even have a chance because of fear.
I struggle with this personally. I am working on an idea for this blog right now that has the potential to be trans formative. Its also kind of scary. That’s because it pushes me out of my comfort zone and into the unknown. You probably have similar struggles in areas of your business. For some reason, we allow an intangible, fear, to hold us back.
Maybe we need to change our focus. Instead of thinking of how we might fail, we should think more on how we might succeed. Even a little chance for success should be enough to spur us on. Yet, it often is not.
In my experience, only one thing cures fear. Doing the thing you fear is how you overcome fear. When you do something you were afraid to do, and realize that you are fine, its a little easier to do the next time. If you can learn to embrace the thrill of fear, then you may be positioning yourself for great success. People do this all of the time. They ride roller coasters and watch horror movies and love it! I think these people are crazy, but they have fear, at least those fears, licked.
If you take a moment to look back through your life, I bet you can point out many things that you do without a sweat that you once feared doing. That happened because you just plowed through and did the things you feared. Apply this to the fears of failure that are holding your business back. Start kicking some of those big ideas of the fear shelf.
Here’s a piece of advice. Make a plan. A good plan can be something you stick too when things don’t seem sure, kind of like a flashlight in a haunted house. A plan will make it possible to move into areas of unknown and conquer the fears that are holding you back from greater business success. But don’t hide behind your plan either. Action is the water on this fire.
And finally, think about the worse things that can happen. In the end, you might look bad or even feel stupid. But if you never try, never take the risk to grow your business (or to launch it), you will live in frustration and well under the level of your potential. Don’t let fear hold you back.
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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com
