Have you ever felt fear as a business owner? In this episode, we’re talking about some of the common fears business owners can experience and how to overcome them.
Have you ever felt that feeling of having a pit in your stomach or that feeling of having your heart racing when you’re ready to make a decision or you’re wanting to make a decision in your business? Or you feel like something is physically holding you back from taking action in your business? Well that, my friends, is what fear feels like.
– Pamela Grice, Business coach
Whether it’s fear of failure, risk, financial instability, or inadequacy, fear is a universal experience for entrepreneurs. So we wanted to share some of our own fears in business and how we deal with them. Listen in to learn more.
We’d love to hear from you. What is your greatest fear as an entrepreneur? What actions do (or could) you take to move past it?
Overcoming Fear as an Entrepreneur
What We Talked About
- [00:00] What does fear feel like as an entrepreneur?
- [01:08] Fear in business and how to overcome it
- [01:53] Our experiences with fear in our own businesses
- [04:00] Overcoming fear of failure in business
- [08:19] Moving past fear of financial instability
- [14:12] How to deal with fear of inadequacy
- [18:48] Why authentic marketing is not being “salesy”
- [22:14] Setting boundaries to avoid overwhelm and burnout
- [27:34] Get your free Fear Journal!
- [28:38] Apricot seeds and blackberry pie: What’s going on with us this week
- [30:54] How the Business Besties Mastermind can help you overcome fear in your business
Fear of Failure
- “Maybe the word ‘failure’ is not the word we want to use. Maybe the word is that they have ‘realigned’ themselves. So maybe a small business has started out on this path and realized, ‘This isn’t where sales are coming from,’ looked at their numbers, looked at hard facts, and been like, ‘Oh, I just need to pivot.'” – Teri
- “I’ve heard people say instead of looking at it as failure, look at it as an opportunity for learning and an opportunity to make new decisions.” – Pam
- “The fear of failure so plays with your mind that you just let it roll around in your head, and go down into your cells of your body, and it just messes with you. So having a mastermind, or having a mentor, or a coach, or somebody to help you work on those mindset things around failure could be super helpful.” – Pam
Fear of Financial Instability
- “At some point you are saying, I’m investing my time, my energy, and my money into this enterprise and all of that becomes risk. So really understanding, ‘How much am I willing to lose? What would catastrophe look like and how can I mitigate that? How can I ensure that that doesn’t happen?’ And then also understanding, ‘If disaster happens, how do I compensate? How do I overcome that? What am I going to do?'” – Pam
- “Part of it is income. But I also think, as business owners, when you start feeling scared like that, really look at where you’re outputting your money and reign it in.” – Teri
- “I think it is so important to know, ‘What is possible in my industry?’ When you’re in a mastermind and finding out, ‘Oh, that person’s making multiple six figures. I guess that’s possible for me.’ And then giving you the courage to work towards that. And also to learn from those people what they did to get where they want to be is so important.'” – Pam
Fear of Inadequacy
- “I think people look really shiny on social media. I think they look like they’ve got it all together. And yet when you really start talking to people about business, I think a lot of people feel this way–that they’re just not good enough.” – Teri
- “Impostor syndrome is so rampant, especially with online business owners, because there’s a part of being in the industry where you mostly share all the good stuff … So really checking in with that of, ‘How can I show up authentically so that other people experience me as authentic and I know in my own self that I’m being authentic as well?’ That way you can combat that impostor syndrome feeling.” – Pam
- “I am good enough right where I’m at. This is good enough right where I’m at. I don’t have to be at the next tier right now because this is really good enough. This is good enough for the season of life I am.” – Teri
- “The more we strive to be somebody we’re not, the more we’re telling ourselves, ‘I’m not good enough as I am, right now.’ So celebrating where you are, celebrating all your wins. Like you said, looking for feedback, and taking that positive feedback, and turn those into affirmations if you need to so that you’re constantly saying those things to yourself.” – Pam
Fear of Being “Salesy”
- “I think that there is this thing out there about, ‘I’m too much. I’m marketing too much. I’m saying too much.’ And yet, have you ever watched anyone on their phones? The race is fast. you are scrolling as fast as you can because that’s how people do. So people are not seeing all your stuff.” – Teri
- “The thing that you’re selling, if you believe in it, you want the whole world to know about it. You know that it’s valuable. You know that it’s going to make their life better. So there’s no ‘salesy’ about it. You’re being helpful to other people.” – Pam
Fear of Overwhelm and Burnout
- “Ultimately, you’re in control of overwhelm and burnout. you’re in control of whether you reach burnout or not. It’s not like you’re a victim of your business. You’re a victim of your own inability to set boundaries. So you can learn skills around this.” – Pam
- “In my world, crochet, nobody’s going to die if you don’t answer their question in the next 15 seconds. People are sitting at their computer, waiting to respond to their Etsy comments as soon as they come in. Give yourself some space to breathe and take that pressure off yourself. Businesses don’t need to do that.” – Pam
Get Your Free Fear Journal
Ready to work through the fears that are holding you back as an entrepreneur? Get a free printable Fear Journal when you sign up for our mailing list. You’ll also receive regular emails where we’ll keep you up-to-date about what’s happening in the Business Besties world!
From the Episode
- Get Teri’s buttermilk pie crust recipe here.
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