How to beat fear and start your dream business
How to beat fear and start your dream business is a skill I had to learn when it came to designing the life and business I love. I needed a winning mindset to fight limiting beliefs and the made up fear (false evidence that appears real – drama conjured up in my brain) to stay confident in my escape from employee to freedom-entrepreneur.
Research shows humans’ survival instincts are wired for fear, which is helpful when a lion is chasing you. But that same survival mechanism also prevents you from moving outside your comfort zone – doing what it takes to create the income, lifestyle and freedom you want.
To combat this biological protection mechanism, I had to recondition my brain to beat fear by turning fear on itself. I needed to use fear to my advantage, to motivate me, vs. letting it debilitate me. That’s when great things started to happen.
“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.” – Mary Tyler Moore, actress
Fear a life less lived more than the actions you need to take to build your dream business
For example, my fear now is a life less-lived, less-experienced, and less-achieved rather than being afraid of taking action outside my comfort zone. Each day, I imagined how sad and painful my life would be 5, 10, 15 years down the road if I missed out on all the opportunities before me. I visualized all the excitement, fun and experience I could have but would be unattainable if let my fear dictate my actions.
After re-calibrating fear to be my friend, I can genuinely say there is no action, phone call, new person, action or potential risk that I fear more than a life of regret. My greatest fear now is coming to the end of my life with opportunities and life experiences left on the table.
To beat fear, you need to know what you want and why you want it
I would often share my life’s desires and fears with friends and colleagues. I would talk about my awe around the vast amount of revenue entrepreneurs can make and the freedom they can have when they choose the right opportunity(s) and set up their businesses correctly.
I learned that, when you are smart and resourceful, you no longer trade time for money. Instead, freeing your valuable time and structuring your business to work for you – even when you are sleeping or taking down time – means you make money around the clock.
I expressed how badly I wanted to do the same and about how cool it would be to publish a book, put up a website, and develop an academy where I could do podcasts and presentations to teach others how to achieve that kind of success. My friends, family, and coworkers thought I was crazy trying to become a freedom-preneur by risking the benefits of my day job.
“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” – Martin Luther King, minister and activist
To beat fear, you have to battle the negative voice trying to pull you back
The negative reaction and limiting beliefs I heard from my confidantes strained my confidence. I kept thinking to myself, “Do they know better? Am I just being naïve?”
The lack of support put cracks in my certainty of reaching and achieving success on my terms. An extremely persistent voice would pop up in my head trying to convince me to stay in my job, to stop my escape plan toward becoming a freedom-preneur – even if I could see that my current job destination was a dead-end.
That voice is familiar to anyone reaching beyond their comfort zone. It plays on fears. It pretends to be your friend, but it’s slipping you into a chokehold one thought at a time. I would fight back with another voice, and say “screw that.” I don’t want a life less-lived, I don’t want to live in fear. Nothing gets to be bigger in my life than what I want. I refuse to be in a chokehold. I will not live my life out being stuck in a rut.
I had to stop that small, judgey voice from pushing me toward a safe, well-worn track that would lead, at best, to a slowly increasing paycheck and a life full of regret for my unrealized potential. The road I was on in my job was not good enough for me anymore – I’d rather strap myself into a catapult and launch myself at my dreams. I might miss the target, or bounce off it or find myself someplace unexpected. But even in that case, I will have done it my way and the job rut would still be waiting if I chose to go back to it.
To beat fear, raise your standards, and don’t listen to anybody but yourself
I’ve learned that, in both life and career, you get what you tolerate. If you’re willing to tolerate a job you don’t like in exchange for decent money, you’re going to end up with a mediocre, tepid, safe and predictable life. Friends and family will say to suck it up, man-up and take your lumps because that’s what it means to have a job, to be a professional, to be a breadwinner. No one else likes their job, why should you?
“I will not waste my life in friction, when it could be turned into momentum.” – Frances Willard, educator, temperance reformer, suffragist
These well-meaning people are simply trying to protect you from their perceptions of dangers. But it’s absolute nonsense. Ironically, everybody knows that! It’s on ‘I Hate Mondays’ coffee cups and Dilbert desk calendars. Bars do a bang-up business on weekends as people numb themselves to their discontent and try to gear up to do another week. But if you swallow any of that crap, you’ve bought into conformity. You’ve already failed on living your best life.
I continued to fight my fears and stay confident. I woke up to what I wanted and developed a winning mindset. I was committed to my escape and was prepared to do what it takes to succeed. It’s been hard and rewarding. And I wouldn’t do it any other way.
CALL TO ACTION – Learn how to beat fear and start your dream business
It is my mission you learn how to beat fear and start your dream business… and make the escape from employee to entrepreneur. I want to help you develop a plan that is clear and actionable, and that you have access to the tips, tactics, tools and training to expedite your escape – and live your passion. Don’t settle for what the world says is acceptable – instead, go for what you want and what you are capable of achieving.
Contact me for a FREE one-on-one discussion about how to beat fear and start your dream business. Email me at doug.howorko@hotmail.com or text 306-570-7321 to arrange a free consultation.
If you are not already a ZAGGTIME community member, be sure to click on the link and get access to many other free resources and tools https://www.zaggtime.com/join-our-community/
Be vulnerable – birth a new you – and live with no regrets!
With gratitude,
Doug Howorko- Founder of ZAGGTIME
ZAGGTIME is the source for Lifestyle Entrepreneurs. We are a team of business bloggers and lifestyle enthusiasts impacting the world by sharing inspirational and practical insights for aspiring lifestyle entrepreneurs.
