It’s easy to see the appeal of going into business for yourself. You’re tired of answering to a boss, having your financial future in someone else’s hands, working hard to build someone else’s dreams, not having total control over your day to day – the list goes on. So why do we continue to see so many aspiring entrepreneurs sitting on the sidelines and playing it safe in their corporate comfort zone? Big rewards come with big risks, and society teaches us to believe there is nothing riskier than becoming an entrepreneur. The single biggest obstacle facing every entrepreneur is the same: fear. This emotion is the root of many of the actions and decisions that shape our lives, but it isn’t a bad thing. We need fear – it is a basic human instinct, and its sole purpose is to keep us safe.However, when it comes to business decisions, fear can often prevent us from taking the action we need to take to be successful. So how do we manage our emotions when it comes to making important business decisions?
Here are the top three fears entrepreneurs face and how to overcome them.
Fear Of Taking Risks
Whether you are starting something from scratch or joining a franchise brand, there are varying degrees of contingencies involved, and if you can’t manage your emotions and look at risk assessment from a logical place, you may not make the best decision for your future. The first step to managing emotions around new opportunities is to reframe your perspective on the risk. Many people run into problems because they don’t evaluate both sides of the cost-benefit analysis. Oftentimes people think about the decision at hand and all of the reasons it may not work out. Then fear takes over, paralysis sets in and the analysis stops. They don’t take that second step of thinking about all the reasons something will work, or all the benefits that could be associated with taking that action. Exploring possibilities is part of being entrepreneurial, and it is something to be celebrated. Don’t sell yourself short by only evaluating half of the equation. Start thinking in terms of why something will work, not why it may not.
To read the rest of the article by Matt Stanton, Chief Development Officer of WellBiz Brands, Inc. and Fitness Together, CLICK HERE for Forbes.com