Dealing With Fear of Failure

I received an email this morning from a young man who seems to be dealing with the common issue of ‘fear of failure‘.

I am going to impart my 2 cents at the end, but to be honest, I would like to open this up so that you, the lovely, sexy readers.

Thanks.

Where was I?

Ah yes, it would be great if you could provide any advice for Graeme on this matter. Here is his email verbatim:

Hey Dean, how’s the new car hunt getting on?

Came across your website which left me a little inspired.

At 24 years old, i’ve been talking about starting my own business for …. god …. six years now.

I read up on entrepreneurs, their case studies, their books (i’m a firm believer in what you said in your blog regarding spending money that I would normally be spending on drink etc on books and improving my knowledge instead. My most recent is a book on sales techniques). I even made it to Business Gateway with one idea (i’ve had quite a few to date as you can imagine), but I’ve never just sucked it up and went for it.

The problem isn’t my ideas …. it’s my fear of failure and knowing where to start.
I see myself as one day making it big in business. Possibly my fear comes from trying it, it not working out, then realising i’m doomed to continue my 9 to 5 routine every week until I retire at 70+.

I have what i feel is a really good internet idea at the moment and I have a very good domain name I bought a few years ago for a 3 figure sum that really suits the market i’m looking to tackle. I wont bore you with the specifics as i’m not looking to leech free marketing advice from you, I simply need to feel inspired. No-one I know is really into business and anyone I share my ideas with try to shoot me down in flames just because I want to do something they’re not brave enough to do themselves. Every time I get inspired by something I watch or read it just gets ruined because I can’t sustain the buzz.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If you’re too busy to reply or can’t help – good luck with the car hunt, i’ll be looking to see how you get on with it in the near future mate.

Cheers from your fellow car nut,

Graeme

PS: you are a very sexy, kind, and well endowed human being.

Legal disclaimer: I may have invented that PS myself, there is a strong likelyhood that Graeme said no such thing, and I am partaking in what is locally known as childish tomfoolery.

Here is my 2c for you Graeme:

I have known many people in your position, I even know people with a fear of success, but that is a whole different ball game.

There are 2 solutions:

1) Suck it up and JUST DO IT!

2) Dip your toe in the water and then enter further as you feel more comfortable.

It is a common myth that this is an either/or decision, when in fact, you can get the best of both worlds.

Why not carry on in your 9-5 to get you security and perhaps some funds, and then take one hour each evening, instead of watching crappy TV, and work on your idea?

Yes, you are going to make mistakes, some big, some small, don’t worry, mistakes are a GOOD thing. Mistakes = experience.

Start off with a weekly budget of say $100

Use a figure that you can afford to lose, otherwise, you won’t take any risks.

Try and treat it as a game, your $100 are 100 tokens, your one hour per day is a fixed limit.

Launch your site, then email people who you think may be interested in it, look for them to give you some promotion, then take their feedback and tweak further.

Guest blog about what you learned, and as a result, get even more traffic.

Then, after 6 months, assess your progress.

There is no point assessing things after 1 week, or even 1 month, it will kill your motivation.

A comedian once told me that he never assesses his routine until he has performed it a minimum of 100 times.

If at the end of 6 months you are making say $500 per month profit, simply reduce your working hours to 20 instead of 40. Or raise your monthly tokens to $600.

You will now have the confidence to do 2 or even 3 hours per day.

Rinse and repeat.

Then, eventually, you will be at a position where you can earn pretty much the same amount by leaving your job and going on your own fulltime.

All of a sudden your choice is a no-brainer. The risk has been removed, and bam! There goes your fear of failure.

As a final tip: Don’t tell anyone about your site, not even friends or family. I discovered a quote recently that I now live by:

“Don’t let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you’re crazy. Succeed, and he thinks you’re lucky. Acquire wealth, and he thinks you’re greedy. Pay no attention. He simply doesn’t understand.”

If you are not in a position where you can associate with like-minded people, simply avoid giving your friends the ammo. And the more successful you get, the more you should keep it a secret.

I know from experience mate. They won’t like it when you start to become successful, and it will threaten their lifestyle choices.

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I hope this advice helps you overcome your fear of failure, and my one final piece of advice is to signup for a $1 (70p) trial of BuzzProfits.com via the banner below.

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See you there,

Dean