How To Overcome Fear In Business

As a business owner, how do you overcome fear? How do you deal with the nerves, the anxiety, and that pit in your stomach?  That’s exactly what I’m going to cover in this blog.

By the way, experiencing fear in business is completely normal. Often, growing your business requires getting out of your comfort zone – this can really bring up our doubts and insecurities.

There are hundreds of fears that can show up. The fear that you’ll fail. The fear that you won’t be good enough. The fear that you’ll lose all your money. The fear that you’ll lose all your clients or all your employees. The fear that you’ll let someone down. The fear that you’ll disappoint your clients.

And every other little fear that we feel as entrepreneurs.

When I first started my business 6 years ago, my biggest fear was that my clients wouldn’t be satisfied with my business service.

I had no proof or evidence that this was true. It was just this worry I had.

This fear held me back. I was so afraid to let them down or disappoint them that I’d avoid promoting my services. 

 

So how did I overcome with the fear?

Well, I simply asked myself what is the worst case scenario?

I’d been resisting the fear for so long that I hadn’t actually taken the time to dig into it. And really understand.

So I thought it was time to confront it head on.

I asked myself what the worst case scenario was. I took out pen and paper and wrote down everything I could think of.

The worst possible thing I could think of was that someone would ask for a refund. And then they’d tell EVERYONE online that my service was awful. And then everyone would believe them. And I’d be left with a terrible reputation. And no clients. And no leads.

That may sound intense. But I intentionally did this. I went as far as I could possibly go.

 

What’s interesting is once I’d actually written it all down, I felt a sense of calm.

Did I want those things to happen? Of course not. But I also realised that I’d live. I wouldn’t die from it. 

This exercise also forced me to think about how I could prevent that from happening. I decided to give out feedback forms to clients from the very beginning so that I could continue to improve and offer the best possible service. 

I also decided to be direct and ask my future clients what was most important to them and what they most needed from us as a business. 

Not only had I faced my biggest fear, I actually came up with some steps to be proactive and reduce the chance of it happening.

Once I’d faced my fear and come up with some new preventative steps, I decided to take action and create clients.

Guess what? My fear was completely unfounded. My clients were thrilled with the service because I really cared about them. I was transparent and stayed in communication with them whilst consistently asking for feedback. This allowed me to offer an exceptional service. 

So it’s time for YOU to face your fears. I know it’s scary. And I know how real they feel. However, you don’t have to let them dictate your choices and your future results.

 

So here’s what I recommend you do to overcome your fear:

 

1. Firstly, face your fear by actually writing out the WORST case scenario. But really make sure to go far on this one. What’s the worst thing that could happen? What are you MOST scared would happen? The more detail you can get into, the better this will be.

2. Now that you know what COULD happen, are there any preventative steps you could take to mitigate the risk of it happening?  Often there are certain things we can do to reduce the chances of something happening.

3. Finally, it’s time to ACT. To choose your dreams rather than your fears. Do it. It’s time. 

 

Hopefully you’re now willing to confront your fears – regardless of how uncomfortable it is! And if you need an extra little push – I thought I’d share this incredible quote from Earl Nightingale: “most people tiptoe their way through life, hoping they make it safely to death.”

I don’t think YOU want to be most people. Wouldn’t you want to get to the end of your life knowing you gave it your all – even if that means experiencing some bruises along the way? I thought so! 

 Let me know in the comments what your biggest fear is.

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