Small business entrepreneurs have many fears in business. We fear success, and we fear failure. (That’s a little confusing, don’t you think?) We fear falling on our face and looking like an idiot. (Okay, I confess. This is my fear.) We fear the competition. We fear risk. We fear the unknown, yet we fear asking for help. Fear is gripping. It chokes our creativity and clouds our decision-making. Yet, we seem to engage in fear on a regular basis.
Stephen King said, “I tend to scare myself.” This pertains to small business entrepreneurs. We tend to scare ourselves beyond what is necessary. Is it a habit or are these fears are so well-publicized that we agree to readily adopt them as our fears. (Talk about effective marketing!)
Based on the sage wisdom of Lemony Snicket, “There are two kinds of fears: rational and irrational – or in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don’t,” I submit to you these alternate choices to fear in business.
1. Fear not achieving all of which you’re capable. Marianne Williamson said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” That’s the sort of fear to embrace in your business.
2. Fear undervaluing your talents, skills, and expertise. Don’t shrink or downplay your value in the marketplace. It’s not good economics.
3. Fear missing your TEDX presentation because you were stuck in traffic. That’s 18 minutes of your life gone forever.
4. Fear being bored from continually achieving your goals. Donald Miller said, “Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.”
5. Fear being average. Even Taylor Swift is “intimidated by the fear of being average.”
Finally, I love what Lady Gaga had to say about fear, “ All that ever holds somebody back, I think, is fear. For a minute, I had fear. [Then] I went into the [dressing] room and shot my fear in the face.” Now that’s the kind of gun control I believe in!
What alternate fears would you add to the list?
