You Are Your Biggest Competitor
Marketing and sales are two of the most valuable skills an entrepreneur can have. Individuals often have the luxury of growing these skills within the comfort of a corporate structure. The corporation provides paid training, coaching and targets to meet. Some companies even provide their sales people with leads, imagine that! This article is not for the corporate sales person. It’s for the mom or dad that have ventured off and started their own business.
Being Your Own Boss Can Be Terrifying
Having your own business is the opportunity of a lifetime. On the other hand, it’s also one the most terrifying things that a person can experience. This terror is the hardest thing to overcome. You no longer have to worry about losing your job or pleasing your boss. You have to worry about losing your home or your life savings. However, after overcoming the fear and anxiety of making things happen, the rewards and potential for growth, personally and financially are limitless!
My Story
I have a story in my head that motivates me to continue to move forward regardless of my fears. I’ll share it with you below.
“You’ve left the shore in a tiny boat with a hand controlled engine and one fishing rod. As you look out you see nothing but ocean. The fear sets in! Maybe you should turn around. Someone will let you fish with them on their bigger boat. Maybe your boat will sink and no one will ever see you again! Maybe you’ll come back with no fish. As these thoughts race through your head you realize that you’re quite far from the shore at this point so you might as well keep going. Finally, you pick a spot, put your rod in the water and relax. After sitting for 9 hours without one bite you decide its time to head back. Upon arriving home you feel discouraged and disappointed that you spent the entire day on the water and didn’t catch one fish. The next day you drag out of bed depressed about the previous day’s events and head back out to sea. Once again you return to shore empty handed. This time before bed you’re thinking, I’m not a fisherman, what will I do to survive? You muster up the courage to go out to sea every day for the next 29 days and return home with no fish! However, On the 30th day you catch so many fish that you have to return to shore twice to drop them off so that the boat doesn’t sink.”
In this story, being in the boat, on the water with the fishing rod is equivalent to marketing. Catching the fish is equivalent to sales.
This is how being an entrepreneur works in the real world. However, fear wins the battle for a lot of us. We turn back to shore on the first day out. You must win the competition between you and your fear. You must get up every day, no matter what and know that eventually you will catch more than enough fish to fill your boat!
