Overcoming Fear

Overcoming Your Fear of The Unknown

Fear is one of the biggest hurdles business owners face—not only in the beginning, but throughout the life of their business. In my surveys of hundreds of people who attended my day-long seminars through the years, I often asked people to write on a slip of paper the one big thing about business that scared them the most.

In analyzing hundreds of responses, I found the same fears named over and over again. Read the following list of "Hot Fear Buttons" and see how many you have:

I'M AFRAID OF . . .

• Being in debt
• Poverty in my old age
• Losing money
• Losing face
• Making expensive mistakes
• Getting in over my head
• Getting in trouble with the law
• Getting in trouble with the IRS
• Getting in trouble with my spouse/partner
• Getting ill or dropping dead with no one left to fill the orders.

I'M AFRAID I'LL HAVE . . .

• Too many interruptions
• Too many expenses to handle
• Too little time for it all
• Too little business to keep going
• Too much business to handle.

I'M AFRAID I WILL . . .

• Get bored working only for myself
• Let my work ruin my family either financially or emotionally
• Fail in business and lose the investment
• Be so successful that it challenges my relationship with my spouse/partner
• Get swallowed by the business so I end up as stressed as I was in my full-time job.

I'M AFRAID I WON'T BE ABLE TO . . .

• Discipline myself and stay motivated to work
• Make ends meet financially
• Find and keep customers
• Sell myself
• Meet the expectations I have set for myself
• Convince others that what I'm doing is right
• Avoid burnout
• Cope with rejection
• Handle success
• Deal with failure (and the discovery that I may not be competent or just can't hack it).

In the above list, do you recognize the common denominator? Although fear can be verbalized in many different ways, what it all boils down to is fear of the unknown.

And that's good news, because knowledge is the antidote to fear. I once heard someone on radio say that knowledge equals information times experience, which made me realize I was not sharing my knowledge with others, but merely sharing information with them.

Thus, you can use all the information in my books to increase your own knowledge, and once you have that, you will also have an understanding about what you can or cannot/should or should not do.

When you set out on a new road of discovery—which is exactly what a home business is for most people—it's natural to be frightened, even scared silly. But that may be good for you, according to Rod Steiger.

"Terror is a great foundation for creativity," he said when recalling his early days as an actor cast against Marlon Brando. If fear is the main thing holding you back from starting a business, ask yourself what's the worst thing that could happen if you tried? Failure? Of course.

But failure can be a beneficial experience because it teaches you what not to do the next time around.

I certainly have had my own share of failures. In fact, my first home business was profitable only in terms of experience, knowledge, and friendships gained (not a bad bargain at that). There was very little financial profit, so when the business ended, I felt like a failure.

But only for a short while. Then I began to realize the important lessons failure had taught me. In looking back, I saw that failure in one area was often a necessary step to success in another.

“Failure does not take something out of you; failure builds a lot of necessary character and personality qualities into you," says a success expert. "You are not weaker because you fail, you are tougher, stronger, more determined--and much wiser."

Since the very act of beginning involves the unknown, most of us have a tendency to shy away from it. Yet we cannot make gains either as individuals or business owners if we do not constantly explore unknown territory and test our new ideas and theories.

If you have a business idea in mind at this time, but are being held back for one reason or another, use this time to sharpen old skills, acquire new ones, and gain an education in business basics. As Ben Franklin put it, "An investment in knowledge pays the best dividends."

Starting a business right now may not be nearly as important in the long run as being able to do it well when the time is right. Each new thing learned will broaden your economic base, each new skill acquired and sharpened will increase your income potential.

Everything you do to develop your skills and business expertise will be like depositing money in a special savings account. Invest in yourself! You'll never find a more worthy investment.

_________________ Excerpted from HOMEMADE MONEY: Starting Smart! - How to Turn Your Talents, Experience, and Know-How into a Profitable Homebased Business That’s Perfect for You! ©2003 by Barbara Brabec.

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