Because I’ve been around the blogging and business world for some time, I often get asked lots of questions from people who are considering joining the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Most of the time, they are expressing some of their most heartfelt business fears.
(Note: By entrepreneurial lifestyle I do not mean the Instagram version of yachts and sports cars. I mean the act of running your own business.)
Over time, I’ve also noticed a pattern. Most people who are considering working for themselves have the same business fears. These fears are no different today than they were three years ago when I quit my day job to work for myself. They are also no different than the ones my colleagues have had.
Here are just some of the business fears you’ll need to get over if you want to have success working for yourself.
The fear of failure.
The very nature of running a business means there is risk involved. One of those risks is the risk of failure.
Here’s why this is one of the business fears that makes the least amount of sense: Everyone fails. In fact, if you haven’t failed then you aren’t doing it right.
That being said, this doesn’t mean you should “fail hard and fail fast” as some people suggest. You want to put your best effort forward and try to succeed.
What it does mean is that you shouldn’t be afraid of failure because it’s going to happen. Not every idea will work. Not every month will be a good one financially (at least not for a while). And not every project will work out.
Now, if the concept of risk is something you’re just not comfortable with, then entrepreneurship may not be for you. If on the other hand, you can face this business fear, you should be fine.
The fear of what other people will think.
As much as we pretend not to care, the truth is we do care what other people think of us. And, in a world where running a business requires an online presence (and exposure to trolls), the fear of what other people may think is a major one.
As with most business fears, this one isn’t totally grounded in reality. Will some people not support you? Sure. Will some people try to argue with you? Sure. Will some people leave you an unwarranted bad review or nasty comment? You bet.
But the reality is you can’t pay your bills with other people’s opinions. One I really understood that, I was able to let go of the fear of what other people might think of me and my business.
The fear of success.
Believe it or not, the fear of success is a real thing! Worst of all, it’s one of those business fears that is especially sneaky because you don’t expect to have it.
The truth is some people (including myself) do have some issues with fear of success. We wonder how success may alter our lives and as such we may sabotage ourselves out of fear of finding out.
Fortunately, this fear is relatively easy to overcome once you figure out you actually have it. Most of the time, our fears of success are rooted in things that haven’t even happened yet. Once you realize you aren’t giving yourself a chance over something you made up in your mind, it becomes easier to keep it moving.
Final Thoughts
Business fears can keep you from running a successful enterprise if you don’t do the work to clear them. Fortunately, by reading this article you already covered the first step, which is to realize you may actually have them.
