It's NOT a Fear of Failure...
Preparing the material for our last workshop, Finding your Peeps and Building Your Audience, I decided to re-read the very excellent book Tribes, by Seth Godin.
When I came across these pages, I remembered the first time I did and how it had hit me.
I had recently discovered in a personal development course just how much "They Might Not Like It" was really running my business so the idea of fear of criticism really hit home.
Every time I had an idea to do something that could turn out to be amazing, I'd think "They Might Not Like It".
I was so afraid of offending, of revealing myself as stupid or being exposed as a fraud, that I'd kill 99% of my ideas before they could even be fully formed, let alone put into action.
I wasn't aware I was doing this. It was just the way I operated. And it kept me really, really stuck.
Sometimes an idea would make it through anyway, and I could nurture it and sit on it for weeks, thinking about every possible way it might offend or ruffle feathers.
Would the fellow designers I was partnered with think it was a horrible idea?
Would our customers hate it and it would ruin our reputation?
This way of operating kept me defending the status quo, thinking that because I had always done something one way, that people might have expectations of me to keep doing it that way forever.
It wasn't even anyone actually not liking anything that held me back.
It was my own made up possibility that they might not like it!
When I started to see just how ridiculous this all was, and recognize when it popped up, I was able to push past the thought and allow ideas to flow freely. Actions came much quicker.
I became the leader of my business, ready to take charge and provide value and innovation for everyone involved.
And you know what? They liked it!
Sure, some didn't and they moved on. But the people who stayed LOVED the fresh new ideas and actions.
The business got exciting again! And more people kept joining our movement!
I had such a similar conversation with a coaching client just the other day.
She had identified a target market that she really wanted to work with in the area of health and nutrition.
She had a strong affinity for women over 40 and felt a great empathy for the health concerns some are facing.
Yet she didn't see why they would trust or connect with her given that she was in her late 20's.
"Why would they want to work with me?" she asked.
I said, "Good question. Why would they? What do you have to offer them?"
And she talked through about 4 sentences that summed it all up perfectly.
She paused, let out a breath and said, "Wow. I've never really put it together and it out loud. I see it so clearly now."
In that call we put together a plan of exactly how she could start to build that audience and serve that market.
You see, while "They might not like it" was stopping me, "Why would they want to work with me" was stopping her.
Just like me, she was afraid of offending, afraid of being exposed as a fraud. And she was stuck.
But clarifying this had her leave the call excited, inspired and ready to take action.
What's stopping you? What phrase keeps popping up when you have a potentially great idea?
What would be possible for you and your business if you were able to see it clearly and move past it?
Sign up for a Discovery Call to start finding out what's keeping you stuck and get past it. (Hey, did your phrase just come up then?)
Or join our next workshop, Free Marketing - How to Spread the Word like a Rock Star (on a budget) - Wednesday January 25th, 2017, 7 pm.
Once your business is set up, you know who to talk to, where to find them, and why...you need to find a way to keep it all going while keeping your costs as low as possible.
What will be covered:
Making the most of Social Media
Crafting Effective Newsletters
Face to face marketing
Networking
I would love to help you get unstuck and get inspired and ready for action.
xoxo
Laura-Jean