If you’re in charge of your own micro business or side hustle, then it’s probably fair to say you’ve faced a fair few challenges already.
Going it alone isn’t easy, after all.
First, you have to face all those naysayers. Then, you have to work out how you’re going to make a profit from your big idea. After all that, you have to bite the bullet and put yourself out there, persuading potential customers to come and buy from you.
(Let’s not forget, you’re doing this all by yourself).
So, when you’ve gone out and conquered all of that, how could anybody accuse you of being scared to fail?
But…
…do you ever catch yourself procrastinating over a decision, because you’re terrified you’ll get it wrong? Do you worry about making a big mistake? Maybe you suffer from ‘analysis paralysis’, so that you don’t end up doing those important things you know you should.
These are the (not so) secret fears of many micro business owners – in fact, the majority of micro business owners – I work with.
I say (not so) secret fears because they are incredibly common, yet everybody thinks they are the only ones to suffer from them! That’s because, on the outside, it’s so easy to appear as though we know exactly what we’re doing, all the time.
So, we keep our heads down, and we carry on with our work feeling scarily unprepared for what lies ahead. We cross our fingers, hoping that success will happen naturally and that we will overcome obstacles if we just work hard enough.
Oh, and there’s plenty of ‘helpful’ advice out there to keep you motivated too, such as those good old social media posts that tell you to “just believe in yourself”, and “think good thoughts”.
When Positive Thinking Isn’t Enough
If you really want to beat that fear of failure, it’s time to stop listening to fuzzy motivational quotes, and start pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone.
In short, you have to start imagining all the things that could go wrong in your business.
Before you start to panic, don’t worry! Yes, you’re going to spend time imagining what could go wrong, but that’s because you’re going to create a risk-survival strategy that will help you face and overcome it all.
How Understanding Risk Helps You Overcome Obstacles
A 2011 study for the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology determined that visualising future obstacles means we are able to create the best outcomes.
The study involved asking two groups of students to write about what would lie ahead over the coming week. One group was asked to imagine a really great week, while the other group just had to write down any thoughts that came to mind.
It’s easy to imagine that with all their positive thinking, the first group would go on to have a far better week. But the students who imagined everything going well, reported feeling less energised. They also went on to accomplish less during the week than the second group, who had visualised a ‘real’ week with all its potential challenges.
How to Safely Imagine What Could Go Wrong
Before you start imagining all the things that could go wrong in your business, ask yourself this question.
What, in life or business, ever goes 100% right?
Hopefully, that question will put everything into perspective, because you’ll probably start wracking your brain, trying to come up with an answer!
Now, try to think of a specific situation that makes you feel afraid of failure. You may have to push the boundaries of your comfort zone to do this but remember: you’re creating a survival strategy!
Common fears might include:
- You fall ill, or you have to care for someone else
- A major client decides to move to a competitor
- Someone leaves you a bad online review
- You invest money into something that doesn’t work out (such as office space, or an expensive training programme)
- Something unforeseen and unpreventable happens, such as the devastating floods we’ve seen in some parts of the UK recently.
Now, spend a few moments planning exactly what you might do if that scenario were to hit your business. How would you begin?
For example, if someone left you a bad online review, you might put a strategy in place that includes issuing a polite response first, then asking your best clients to wade in and redress the balance.
If All Else Fails, Think About What You Can Learn
It was Sir James Dyson who said, “you never learn from success, but you do learn from failure”.
He should know. After all, it took him over 5,120 attempts to create his famous Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner!
What’s your one biggest business fear? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please post them below (and you never know, once you’ve voiced that fear, it may not seem so huge after all).
If you’d prefer a more in-depth conversation about overcoming micro business risk, simply book a Breakthrough Session with me today.