Published from Overcoming Fears When Starting an Online Business; I Waited at the Table with My Eyes Closed…
Crushing Fear When Starting an Online Business; Waiting at the Table, Closing My Eyes…
As the Clock Reached 11:59p.m. on 12/31/99… …I wondered what was going to happen in the next few minutes. As a 16-year-old, I had begun to suspect that the mainstream media were hyping the whole “Y2K” thing, but I still thought there was reason to be prepared for whatever might happen. My family had stocked up on a number of supplies—nothing extreme, of course, but we did have some fears that we thought were justifiable. So, there I was: in my flannel pajamas, sitting at the kitchen table—wondering whether the lights were going to go off during some kind of massive blackout caused by computers going haywire. Seriously, I was! Those last few seconds of 1999, I actually closed my eyes and prayed silently. Of course, nothing calamitous happened, and we all “hit the hay” like usual. I laugh at myself now, but at the time, I was allowing myself to be governed by those fears. I learned a lesson from that silly experience: NEVER hold your breath—sitting in one place, paralyzed by fears. That’s especially true in business ventures.
Starting an Online Business Without the Fear Entrepreneurs—risk-takers—don’t let fear get in the way of their pursuit of their dreams.
If you’re a new online entrepreneur, you might be plagued by some of the common initial fears, which include: the fear of making a negative first impression, being rejected, being viewed as pushy, failure to deliver on your product or service, and fear of ignorance about marketing techniques. Lisa Gerard, over at Entrepreneur Magazine, suggests some solutions for each of these fears, including the fear of ignorance: “Going into sales without any training can be terrifying. How do you know you're using the right
tactics and offering people what they need? Debra Condren, president and CEO of Manhattan Business Coaching and author of Ambition is Not A Dirty Word (Broadway, 2008), recommends learning sales techniques by attending a training program. When Tanner Shepard co-founded Austin, Texas-based Ranch Road Creative Solutions, a marketing services provider, in 2005, he was thrust into a sales role and gained confidence only after an intensive weekly sales course. ‘I had to challenge myself out of my comfort zone,’ he says.” That’s a very important principle: getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you’re not a habitual risk-taker, you’ll have to identify and crush the fears that are hindering you. I’m not sure whether Eleanor Roosevelt actually said, “Do one thing each day that scares you” (Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich claims it as her own statement), but that got me looking through some verifiable Roosevelt quotes, and I thought I’d share this one: “Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” --Josh “Mad Thrad” Campbell P.S. Thanks for reading! What fears are you dealing with right now? Leave a comment and let me know! P.P.S. As an entrepreneur, one of the most important decisions I ever made for my online business was when I went through an online marketing training course. Don’t let fear hold you back. Visit my blog, click on a colorful banner, and decide to invest the time in training that your business deserves. Sources: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220691 http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/abouteleanor/er-quotes/