5 Simple Solutions to Stop the Fear of Business

It happens to everyone. The stress of deadlines, a precarious boss, and the jitters of corporate America make employees less inclined to try. Our fears deters us. Have you ever been to nervous to try something new? Too afraid of the what-ifs, the unknowns, that it stopped you from taking a risk? It stopped you from achieving a personal dream?

Don’t live with the regret of not taking the plunge, and being stopped by your own anxiety.

Paralyzing Fear of Failure Stops People from Moving Forward

The dead end job archetype doesn’t have to be a dead end. Often times complacency and unwillingness to take risks is what halts careers. This is a natural problem of the corporate atmosphere.

• Reluctance to try new things and take risks keeps individuals from professionally growing.
• Procrastination stemming from a fear of failure stops people from following through. Employees are crippled by deadlines and expectations.
• Low self-esteem and confidence makes people less inclined to try. Less motivated to speak up at meetings, or volunteer to spearhead new company projects.
• Perfectionism curbs goals. It makes people only try things they know they are good at. Entrepreneurially, this hinders individuals to grow their skill-set to tackle new business ventures.

 

Conquer Your Fear

Grab the bull by the horns. Don’t let go.

March into your boss’s office and tell them what you’re capable of. Volunteer for that project you know will challenge your skills. Take the leap. Quit your job and invest in the franchise opportunity you have always wanted.

Don’t go into retirement thinking “what if” or “I knew I had the potential, why didn’t I just do it.”

1 Analyze all Potential Outcomes

Fear stems from the unknown. In the business world, it’s a matter of gaining success and seeing fiscal results. The fear comes from not knowing if you are experienced enough to accomplish this.

Draw out the risks. Understand all possible outcomes.  Know the constructive actions you can take to prevent the undesirable ones. Ascertain the steps needed to make ideal outcomes happen.Take command of these steps and realize you have control over them.

Say you want a promotion from sales to the marketing department. You realize the outcome is that you may not get the promotion. Accept this, not as an inevitability, but as stepping stone.

If your request is rejected. Now your boss realizes your ambition, and willingness to grow in the company. This eases your fear of asking.

Ideally, you will get the promotion. What do you need to make this happen? Leverage, a presentation of results for the company, or maybe it’s simply the courage to ask.

2 Think Positively

Life is perception. Everyday when you sit down at your desk or cubicle you have two options about perceiving that space. It is a place of growth. Or, it is a place of entrapment.

Positive thinking is an entrepreneurial tool–a resource. This resource lets business owners control the space around them–the challenges they face.

An example from the pet franchise is maybe your client base is seasonal and based on ‘snowbirds.’ Thinking positively about this fluctuation of clients helps you brainstorm ways to capitalize on the time of year you know business will be strong.

3 What is the worst case scenario?

Realizing the worst possible outcomes puts things in perspective for you. If things go wrong, what is the sequence of events that leads to this? What can you do to prevent this?

Say you open your own small business. You went independent or found a franchise opportunity you really like. You observe a market gap. Develop a product or service that fills the gap. You take out an SBA loan, and open your doors. The worst case scenario is that your business becomes a statistic that fails. You may have to liquidize. You may have to declare bankruptcy. Realizing this as a rational fear helps revoke the power the fear has over you.

Now, what can you do to prevent this from happening?

Make sure the market gap you are trying to fill is wide. Explore mutually beneficial franchise opportunity with more support that will gear you with proven methods of success. Consult with business coaches to help research target demographics, and develop marketing campaigns. Calculate the risks you take. Realize success never came from not trying.

4 Craft your Contingency Plan

In business, things happen that are unpredictable and uncontrollable. Things happen when we fail to act.

For example, you take on a project you have never done before. You pursue a franchise opportunity in a college town. You choose price points that align with the college student budget. You don’t realize that without Greek endorsement, businesses don’t last in that town. Your sales numbers start off slow because you can’t get customers in the door.

The contingency plan might include outreach into the Greek life of the college town. The franchisee will want to explore other demographics in the area. See if you can generate interest outside of the target audience. Next, they will want to run promotional sales and events to appeal to the customer base.

All these ideas are constructive part of a contingency plan that can turn a franchise opportunity around from failure, to success.

5 Set Realistic Goals

Fear of failure can result from fear of setting goals. The adage, ‘take one day at a time’ works. List out tasks that are feasible for the day.

Your goal might be, I need to hire employees for the franchise opportunity investment I just followed through on.

A feasible way to approach this goal is to start at the beginning. It might be to write a job posting on LinkedIn, Angie’s List, or Craigslist. The next day you start scheduling interviews.

By the end of the week you would have conducted various interviews, and now have options for hiring.

Run the mile first. When you’re ready, take on the 5K. This translates into the business world perfectly. The mile is the courage to starting the research into franchise opportunities. The 5k is owning your own business.

Good luck. Take deep breaths, and don’t live with regrets.