The Fear Factor
© Copyright 2001 Sharon Davis
My brother-in-law is in the process of starting a home
business. In fact, he's been in the process of starting
it for over 2 years now.
It seems that Bill (that's not really his name, but I
don't want to embarrass him), is afraid to take the big
step.
He wasn't afraid to take the first step. He's taken lots
of steps. He's going to be selling a product, so he's
done some really important (and expensive) groundwork
like designing his product, testing it, getting a patent,
getting a business license, setting up his accounting
procedures and even designing his website.
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Bill spent alot of time on his website (he's a bit of a
perfectionist). I've offered to get him up and running on
the web, submit it to the search engines, and basically
handle the website administration for him.
About 2 months ago, his site was all set and I've been
waiting for his go ahead to "go live" ever since.
Whenever I ask him if he's ready, he has a vague reason
for not going ahead: "I need to make more of model x" or
"I've decided to redesign a few things on the website".
It has become clear to me that Bill is afraid of failure
(or even his own success).
This is an all to common situation among would-be
business owners. Let's face it-- it's a pretty scary
thing to be completely responsible for your own
livelihood. In fact, this fear is often the one thing
that keeps a person from realizing their dream of having
a home business.
There are some good reasons to be nervous, too. The
Small Business Administration estimates that 33% of small
businesses fail within the first year, 50% fail within
the second year and 60% to 70% will fail within their
first five years of operation.
People have all kinds of reasons that keep them from
starting a business:
- They're afraid they'll lose money
- They're afraid of what their family and friends will
think of them if they fail.
- They're fearful of the enormous responsibility that
comes with owning a business.
- They think it's too hard, or that they don't have
enough time.
But should we really let fear come between us and our
dreams? In this past year, we've learned that we have
tremendous strength within each of us-- whether we knew
it or not. And lots of people *are* successful. Why
shouldn't Bill be one of the ones who succeeds? I
believe that he has it in him to be successful, but he
just has to get past the fear factor and take that next
step.
And if you're planning to start a home business then do your homework,
find something that you feel passionate about, plan your business, but
don't let fear keep you from achieving your goals.
--------------------------------
Sharon Davis, Work-At-Home expert, author and consultant,
helps people to achieve their goal of working at home,
telecommuting or starting a home business.
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