How to Overcome Fear in Your Business
6 Strategies to Get You Unstuck and Moving Again
Are you starting an online business but fear of being visible is holding you back?
Change is scary and when we look to try something new we really need some degree of certainty everything is going to be ok.
You start off your new business venture full of excitement and positivity but that only gets you so far.
After a while (and especially when you hit a few obstacles) the little voice in our head starts voicing doubts that get louder and louder as time goes by.
Starting a new business is really, really hard.
What people don’t tell you is that starting a business isn’t all about making $10k in your first month there’s a lot of hurdles to overcome.
Some bloggers will tell you about the technical difficulties, monetisation strategies, challenges of branding, choosing a niche and so on.
What they don’t mention is the emotional stuff that comes up during the process of creating an online business and how important it is to manage your mindset during the initial phase.
I assume because you are reading this you are battling with the same struggles as me and are wanting to step up into being more visible with your business but fear is holding you back in some form or another.
Here are 6 critical strategies that I have found to be extremely helpful in overcoming fear in business and will finally get you unstuck and moving forward in your business again.
1. Mindset is Everything When it Comes to Fear
Without a strong mindset you’re doomed to fail. That’s how serious this is.
I have helped 100’s of small business owners with their finances over the last 11 years.
During that time I have seen a business fold after a few years, some do really well and I have seen a small few, grow into having an annual turnover of $1m + from a business they started on their kitchen table.
Without a doubt the way they approached their mindset and their business directly affects their results.
Businesses that did well took themselves seriously, were driven to succeed and they employed experts when they needed to get knowledge they didn’t have (like me J).
They lived and breathed their businesses and were personally and financially invested.
There was never any doubt they would make it, it was a done deal.
My clients were entirely positive it would be a success and then went and made it their reality. Fear never came into it.
I know this works because it happened for me too.
Mastering Fear from Personal Experience
Eleven years ago I started a business.
The idea was to form my own bookkeeping business so I could kick my 3 hr a day commute to the kerb because it really sucked. Big time!
Plus I wanted to work for myself as I wanted to have a baby soon and didn’t want to leave the little darling to travel so far away every day.
Being a lot younger then I embraced the idea 100% and not for a single moment did I ever consider it wouldn’t work out. The possibility never even crossed my mind.
It was absolutely the best thing I ever did!
I have designed a work life that has been able to weather a few storms (including becoming a single mother) and brings me joy every time I help a client demystify their accounting problems.
This business is also financially rewarding and I now make more than double what I used to in my city job.
So the risk paid off big time!
The reason this bookkeeping business worked out so well for me was because I never entertained the idea that I might fail.
I had a plan and I managed my mindset
Then a few months ago I started this blog.
This time it’s totally different….
2. Fear of Being Judged
The public nature of this industry and the fact that you’re exposing yourself to the whole world is a totally confronting experience.
Have you felt this too?
It doesn’t matter what I do, the fact that I’m operating significantly out of my comfort zone means it is incredibly hard to keep going, to keep writing and creating.
The doubt, second guessing myself and well to be honest, being straight up scared of what ‘they’ will say when they find out what I’m up to in my ‘other life’.
I’m not sure I’m equipped to cope with the mocking and scoffing and the judging! What if I get trolled?
These are all very valid thoughts, but not very helpful.
It’s very easy to sit back and judge when you aren’t the one sticking your neck out.
Haters are going to hate and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Turn down their noise, silence your fears and get on with proving them wrong!
3. You are Not Defined by Your Business
I am not alone in feeling this way.
Women entrepreneurs go through this all the time, making the mistake of seeing the success or failure of their business as a reflection of their own self-worth.
This is an extremely crippling mindset.
They end up frozen in place, scared to actually step forward and spend their time fussing with tasks that aren’t income producing (my favourite is my website design!) as a form of procrastination.
They just want everything to be perfect before they start their marketing and people actually ‘see’ them and start their gossiping.
Sound familiar?
A growth minded approach is to see your little fledgling business as having a separate identity to you.
Understanding that it is still young and growing and there is a lot of learning ahead before it will become a $10k a month money making machine haha.
And that’s totally ok.
The trick here is to be kind to yourself and don’t compare your beginning to other people’s highlight reels. (I’m sure you’ve heard that before but it’s actually true)
4. Being Afraid is Actually About Your Own Belief in Yourself
Deep down you’re scared you can’t really do this.
A little voice in your head asks “Who are you to think you have something of value to offer the world? “or maybe “People are going to find out you don’t know what you’re talking about and then they’re going to laugh at you.”
This is called imposter syndrome and you aren’t a special snowflake here.
Newsflash – no one actually knows 100% what they are doing 100% of the time. In fact most people are winging it.
Everyone has doubts initially it’s only natural, especially when you’re doing something new for the first time.
You can only do your best with what you know at the time.
As time goes by you’ll know more and can always go back and redo your old content.
Prepare for the majority of things by all means, but there’ll always be something come at you from left field you just won’t see coming.
Unless you have a crystal ball of course 🙂
Just know it doesn’t make you a failure or a fraud.
Focus on where you want to go not on what you fear – Tony Robbins
5. People Need to Hear Your Message
Out there in a country you’ve never visited is a person sitting, desperately searching the interwebs looking for an answer only you can provide.
You aren’t helping anyone by hiding your talents and skills from the people who truly need them.
Imagine the feeling of having your inbox full of lovely messages with readers gushing about how much you’ve helped them with their problems.
That’s really why you’re doing this isn’t it?
You can do this. Online business success is really possible for you.
There’s people out there a lot less talented than you, making a big impact online so why not you too?
What’s the difference between you and them?
Knowledge and time.
In time you’ll know what you’re doing too, so don’t let overthinking and self-doubt on your part get in the way of taking the first step towards starting now.
This leads nicely into:
6. Action Solves Fear
Take Small Risks to Keep Moving Forward
Fear is like a dealing with big ball of knots.
It seems impossible to untangle the mess in front of you but you pick it up and you start working on it.
One knot at a time and then move to the next knot and undo that. Rinse and repeat.
What happens is there is really one knot holding the whole thing together and when that is untangled the whole ball is dissolved and all you have left is string.
There is one big underlying fear that is holding you back.
Taking a series of small steps when you are fearful helps build your confidence and gives you a positive feedback loop.
Like the ball of knots, eventually the fear is dissolved too.
This can happen quite quickly once you discover your block and address it.
In the meantime don’t let fear run the show. Be brave and you will be rewarded for it.
As a starting exercise try telling two of your IRL friends about your ‘other life’ and see what they say, you never know they may become your biggest fans!
Summary
To wrap up quite often, the very things we are terrified of and spend countless nights worrying about never even happen.
- Starting a new business is very scary and confronting at times but not succeeding the first time doesn’t make YOU a failure, it just highlights there’s some more learning to do.
- Stepping out of your comfort zone takes a lot of grit and determination as fear kicks in and wants you to return to the safety of the default.
- Acting when you are fearful however, creates a new ‘normal’ and enables you to break through the barriers of resistance.
- Your readers and clients need to hear your message but how can they find you, if you are hiding?
- What about you? How would you feel if you missed out on making a difference to people like that because your fears got the best of you?
If you knew for a fact you would succeed and you just had to start, I bet you’d be writing and creating now instead of reading my blog and procrastinating lol.
You really can do this. So kick fear to the kerb and stop worrying so much gorgeous, you’ll be great at this.
Be sure to email me when you have your first $10k month 🙂
What is your biggest fear right now with starting a business? Put a comment below and let me know.