Happy early Halloween! Many people are already celebrating the holiday early because it falls on Monday. I know I did a little bit at a Charity Event last week. I wanted to focus a little more on fears for entrepreneurs and business owners and how you can derail them before they start.
In An Entrepreneur's Biggest Fears (And How To Conquer Them) on Forbes written by Samantha Harrington she cited a report on how fear is a very real psychological barrier for people to entrepreneurship. Recently Tara Sage Stevees of Create Your Life Inc. spoke to us a little about fear and how it even derails people before they start. Samantha shared some of her fears and maybe some of us can relate:
- The fear of new ideas and creativity drying up
- The fear of running out of money
- The fear of failure
It's important to remember that fear is normal and being an entrepreneur is scary sometimes but if you can face the fear and still continue to fight through it, you can be extremely successful.
In Grant Cardone: Why Obsession Trumps Passion When It Comes To Success, Dan Schawbel interviewed Grant Cardone and spoke about his new book and what it took for him to become successful. Grant spoke about what obsession truly was, how he's able to stay obsessed and how to fight the doubt.
Schawbel: How do you remain as hungry as you did when you were younger? What does all the self-motivation come from?
Cardone: Obsession is the fuel that gives you a can’t-quit, won’t-quit, accelerator-to-the-floor monster ambition inside of you and it grows as you grow regardless of your age. In fact, the older I get and the more success I experience the more obsessed I become with the reality I can create. As you embrace your obsessions and deny average your potential will continue to be revealed to you. This is what keeps people motivated and creating. It is not money or awards but possibilities. Becoming satisfied with what you have done only means someone in your life has convinced you to settle for average. The average are threatened by the obsessed thus they spend their time trying to stop the obsessed from being obsessed, as they try to make sense of when they traded their obsessions in for average.
Similar to the post by Samantha Harrington above, Grant decided to be on the offensive an starve out fear. He's so active and on the offense. He doesn't allow fear to creep in.
Schawbel: It’s easy to doubt yourself when you get fired or have self-doubt. How do we get passed these internal and external obstacles?
Cardone: There are two entire chapters in the book dedicated to Feed the Beast and Starve the Doubt. Feed the beast means you get energized so much from your crazy insane obsessions, there exists almost no oxygen for the fear. I know that seems impossible when you are experiencing fear because from the age of 15 to 42 this was my killer. Then I started to embrace my obsessions rather than explain or apologize for them, and I started using the fear to direct me. Doubt is a dream killer but fear can be an indicator of what you should do. Most people are so filled with doubt they are unable to believe in themselves and this is always instilled by others. Doubt is not native to the individual it is educated into you.
In a change of pace, Dave Delaney writing for the Tennessean provides 5 must-know blog post ideas for your business. Anyone who blogs knows the fear (see above for help with that) of running out of ideas. First, it always starts with a mindset change and believing and knowing there is no dearth of ideas but next, getting some good advice on how to come up with those ideas. Dave, provides the following:
- Ask your customer service department for the most common questions they receive.
- Subscribe to industry blogs and trade journals. Write an opinion post about a new trend in your industry.
- Feature your favorite customers or partners.
- Search YouTube.
- The Mini Book Report
Now, you will never have a reason to believe that you can't keep blogging.