As an entrepreneur and small business owner, fear can paralyze you. It can stop you in your tracks. Will you let it? Or will you find a way to leverage that fear, resulting in more success and bigger impact?
Sure, I get it. We’ve been there, believe me. Sometimes the uncertainty of owning your own business can eat you alive. This was especially hard for my husband, who had just started an architectural business with my help. His perception of a steady paycheck vis a vis erratic payments from clients resulted in half-hearted attempts to grow his business.
Because the fear ruled him. He was not committed to success. He was committed to safety.
One night I helped him make the decision once and for all. I created a chart on a blank piece of paper. One side it said “owning your own business” with pros and cons below it. The next column said “being an employee” with pros and cons below it.
He started brainstorming the pros and cons of both scenarios. We laid it all out, he looked at the chart, and then I asked him, what side do you want to be on?
He chose to keep owning his own business.
From that time on, he worked on his fear. He stopped letting it control him. He stretched himself. When new and strange projects came up, he worked on them anyway, even though his inclination was not to try because he was afraid he’d fail.
As time has gone by, he stretches himself more and more. He has grown in confidence and now he is productive full-time. We are actively seeking new clients, new opportunities. Every once in awhile he looks back wistfully to when he had a job, but then I remind him that he is earning more money on his own than he could ever be paid as an employee.
He made a choice to use that fear to reach for his dreams. It’s not easy and sometimes he slips back into the afraid mode. But he keeps going.
What are you going to choose to do? Will you let fear overcome you or will you use that fear to make a final commitment to making your business wildly successful? Will you decide today to create a sizzling brand and dazzling future?
Picture credit: Ball And Chain© Johanna Goodyear | Dreamstime Stock Photos