Overcoming Fears in Business
“Your greatest obstacle to success is yourself, it’s fear of failure”.
~Bert Martinez
Every new or struggling business owner wants to know how to manage their fears, particularly nowadays. Check out this list of easy ways to overcome your fears:
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You have to keep in mind that a large number of successful business were started during economic downturns, it drives out your competition and forces business owners to concentrate on keeping cost down and creating a leaner, meaner, more efficient business.
Thank you,
Justin Pesta
Vanguard Financial LLC
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As a recovering alcoholic, I have found that most fear is unfounded and grounded in my brain from childhood. Let me prove a point. Picture yourself hanging from a branch and I ask you to look down. Now I ask you, “How far off the ground are you?” Most people would say anywhere from 20 feet to miles. The point is that you are probably only 2-3 feet off the ground as an adult but your brain still recalls your childhood experiences. Getting over fear requires a strong belief in faith and that no one wants us to fail. Even the odds are against succeeding, who cares? Someone has to win. It might as well as be you.
Jeffrey Taylor
4844 E Andora Dr
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
http://booksbyjeffreytaylor.com
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I have started several high tech businesses in both Atlanta and Silicon Valley. Each time, there was fear and doubt. No amount of education, training, preparation or research will remove the lingering doubt…real entrepreneurs know and come to respect fear of failure. However, fear has to be used wisely and not left to run amok.
Here is the process I have used that seemed to help me overcome fear – I am also counseled other entrepreneurs on this over the years. First, when I am conceiving an idea for a business, I try to see if I can become emotionally involved in the idea – does it excite me, do I think it is something that will benefit people – do some good. This is very important and is the fuel for many entrepreneurs. Second, as I move into the data gathering mode, I attempt to remain completely neutral on the concept – really trying to listen as I do my research (both primary and secondary). I attempt to hear all points of view, get as much hard data as I can and apply as much rigor to the process as possible. Finally, in the final phase, before any commitment is taken on my part, I try to KILL THE IDEA. I spend quite a bit of time in this phase – asking people hard questions, going back over all of my data, seeking counsel from wise friends and business associates – asking them to please help me STOP NOW before I waste money and time. If at the end of this process (and there is no time limit – but as quickly as possible), I am still excited about the idea (or some variety thereof), I will proceed to the strategy development/development/implementation modes. I will also proceed without fear. My experience has taught me that fear has its place in the entrepreneurial process but not once the entrepreneur has made the commitment to move forward – fear at this point is a drag on the effort and hinders the chances of success. Fear is always “in the room”, so to speak but it is not “invited to the table”, once the decision to move forward has been made. Mental discipline and really understanding the entrepreneurial process is required.
Thank You and God Bless.
James D. Grady (Jim)
President/CEO
The Monticello Corporation
makers of The Paper Tiger software
Atlanta, GA
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“Once we drop from fear’s influence, a world of new possibilities emerges.”
Gayle A. Gregory – Author,
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Worry does not affect the outcome. And… nothing happens until you move. So, get a grip on your concerns, conduct the due diligence to determine whether your action is warranted, then take the initiative and move forward. The depression spawned many new movements in this country. Each entrepreneur needs to plan out his/her steps, then work the plan. This may be that person’s distinct contribution, so it is essential that they move.
Paul O. Radde. Ph.D.
Thrival Systems(R)
DrPaul@Thrival.com
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I’m a small business owner, speaker, and author based in Conyers, Georgia. I started my business in 2004 after resigning from a full-time job as a web database developer. I didn’t know the first thing about starting a business or marketing it for that matter. I was very fearful but I didnt let the fear stop me. Instead, I let the fear drive me toward my goal by embracing it. Whenever I wanted to give up, I would read inspirational stories about other successful entrepreneurs who started with nothing and went on to be something such as Fred DeLuca, Truett Cathy, Michael Dell, and others. I also prayed to God a lot and built up my spiritual inner man so that I could not only have confidence in God but also in myself and my abilities. Lastly, I began associating with successful people which made me begin to visualize myself as successful. I began to develop the failure is not an option mantra.
Fear is a good thing but can become bad when we let it paralyze us and stop us from moving in the right direction. I hope that this can help other entrepreneurs as they battle with fear.
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Lisa Sims
Author, Stretching A Dollar To Save And Make Thousands: An Entrepreneurs Guide To Doing More With Less
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“Do the thing you fear and the fear will disappear.”
David J. Schwartz, American Trainer Author of The Magic of Thinking Big
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During that time I have found ways to turn fear into my finest friend. My current best understanding, since this too is constantly evolving, comes in three parts.
1. Stop and pay attention to your thoughts and fearful thinking. This is called thought awareness. Slow down long enough to see what is really going on inside.
2. Let curiosity guide you. Get excited about learning everything you can about your fears. They stop you. They determine your success. They can be your friend and will teach you everything you need to know in order to engage life in a healthy and successful way.
3. Once seen, acknowledge your fears and limiting thoughts as aspects of who you are. Yes, the fears are present. Yes, they feel uncomfortable. Welcome them without agenda. Don’t play nice in order to get them to leave. Allow yourself to accept that they might stick around forever. Ugh! Yes, even that. Anything less than full acceptance of the fearful thoughts and beliefs empowers the fear and keeps it firmly in control.
We can distract ourselves with visions of a better life. We can envision letting go of the fear in innumerable ways. We can attempt to think only positive thoughts (great idea but impossible to put into practice). All of these tactics appear to work – and then the fear reappears in the same form or another. Or we can meet our fear once and for all, get to know it, and understand its real message. Fear is a gift that will help us heal all the ways we hold each other and ourselves as small. It has a lot to offer.
Gayle A. Gregory
Workplace Evolution, Common Sense for Uncommon Times
www.workplaceevolution.com
Three Best Ways to Improve Your Online Reputation
Great article in The Wall Street Journal | Small Business By RAYMUND FLANDEZ –
These days, a great danger lurks just a few clicks away: the online review. By Googling your company’s name, anyone can read and track your business’s performance – including missteps, poor service or less-than-stellar products.
Protecting your company’s reputation is now a 24-hour vigil. Negative reviews – whether they’re merited or not – can turn away potential customers and vendors, and reflect badly on your company’s brand.
The good news is that small-business owners can be proactive in securing positive reviews by asking satisfied customers to share their experiences. But what if it’s already too late?
Here are the three best ways to improve your online reputation:
1. Reach out immediately to dissatisfied reviewers. Their negative comments don’t need to be the end of the conversation. Small-business owners should attempt a dialogue, experts say, as complainers might improve the review or take down the post. Oguz Ucanlar, president of SpaForever LLC in Chicago, managed to turn around bad reviews on Yelp.com by contacting the aggrieved posters. He apologized, explained the situation and offered the reviewers discounts or a free massage. The result? One bad review was deleted, and the spa’s overall rating went up. “I take it really seriously,” he says. It also helps that Yelp now allows business owners to respond publicly to any customer comment, giving others a window into how the business treats its most finicky customers.
When a bad review surfaces, an apology goes a long way, says Lisa Barone, co-founder of Outspoken Media Inc., a Spring Hill, Fla., Internet marketing company. “Most people just want to be heard,” she says. “They just want to know you’re listening and you care, and that you’re going to try and fix it.”
Keep in mind that a negative review can sometimes be helpful. Case in point: an online customer of Nationwide Candy LLC of Albuquerque, N.M., complained after she received the wrong bubblegum product. Turns out, the candy wholesaler had posted an incorrect image on its site. “It just casted a bad image on us,” says Ken Hanson, its general manager, who immediately corrected the error.
2. Flood search engines with content you can control. Use digital media’s reach to your full advantage, says Evan Bailyn, founder of First Page Sage LLC, a New York search engine optimization company. Mr. Bailyn says he often helps clients put “good publicity on top to knock bad publicity off the first page” of search engine results. To do that, he suggests releasing press releases through prnewswire.com or pr.com and building Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts since these social-media sites show up high on search results. “The overall strategy is inundating the Google results with as much good or neutral content as possible so that the bad seems like an anomaly,” Mr. Bailyn says.
3. Appeal to bloggers to review your company or your product. Getting others to weigh in can be an effective way to generate neutral or positive reviews to counteract negative ones. Influential bloggers in your niche market can bring instant credibility to a company. If you already know bloggers in your industry, read or reach others by simply scanning their blogrolls, a handy list (typically placed in the sidebar) of potential contacts. Alert them to news about your product or service as a first step in building the relationship.
While it’s controversial, some business owners say they’ve improved their reputations through sponsored blog posts. Netfirms Inc., a Web-hosting company in Markham, Ontario, is paying $10,000 to SocialSpark.com, a marketplace for paid reviewers, and to about 60 bloggers to write 200-word reviews of its new Twitter service. “The more positive feedback that we can have, the better,” says Dan Feferman, its product specialist and community manager. Other sites to consider are PayPerPost.com, SponsoredReviews.com and ReviewMe.com, Mr. Bailyn says. Costs can range from $15 to $150 per posting. While some business owners liken sponsored posts to traditional ads, keep in mind you could turn off potential customers. To prevent that, make sure the blog post contains a disclosure that it’s a paid or sponsored review.
Write to Raymund Flandez at raymund.flandez@wsj.com
5 Steps to Creating a Profitable Niche for Your Small Business
Focusing on untapped niche opportunities is often the best approach for a small business. Success is easier to attain if the small business focuses on a more specific and smaller area of its target market, especially during the start-up period, instead of covering the entire spectrum of a particular market. 
Today’s business environment is so competitive that a cash-strapped small business best bet is to focus on developing niche products where competition from large firms are not nearly as large.
Take the online auction market. With the market dominated by the giant company eBay, smaller start-ups are specializing and concentrating in a specific segment that the big players may not be serving well. There’s Playle.com focusing on the online trading of vintage postcards, stamps and other collectibles. Bid4parts.com is an auction site for automobile, parts and accessories. Bidz.com specializes in jewelry and accessories. PotteryAuction.com deals exclusively with potteries. WineBid.com is an auction site for rare and fine wines.
Why does niche marketing make sense for a small business? You are able to more clearly define what you – and it is easier for your prospects to understand exactly what you know. By having a specialty, you are able to demonstrate a clearer and precise image. The narrower your niche, the easier your chances of establishing yourself as the authority in that niche and for people to perceive you as the expert. Also, the easier it is for clients, prospects and referral sources to remember exactly what you do.
The more narrow your niche — and the more effective your marketing program — the more your business will soar. It’s no exaggeration to say that when you focus on one narrow niche, the sky’s the limit.
Here’s how you can create and profit from your own unique niche:
Step 1. Determine the approach you want to pursue. You can decide on your business approach in three ways: by the services you offer, by the types of customers you want, or by a combination of both providing certain types of services to certain types of clients. It is important to get a clear idea of exactly whom you want to serve and what you want to do for them.
Using the online auction business example above, you may decide to provide person-to-person auctions where you mostly deal with individuals (although some companies are also joining in the auction game). Or you may engage in commercial auctions, which feature companies selling their products in an auction format. Another type you can focus on is real-time Webcasts, which are live auctions that are broadcast to the Internet and participants can bid either from the auction premises or from the Web.
You can also choose to focus on the types of customers you want to serve. Do you want to work with coin enthusiasts? Or do you want to provide auction services for car lovers and users? Do you want to focus on customers engaged in the buying or selling of jewelry? Or do you want to focus on people who want to trade in high-brow art?
Another possible approach is to combine your choices. You can approach your online auction service by providing a particular type of service to a particular types of clients. For example, you can choose to focus on an online auction website for antique traders in the United States, or an exclusive auction website for the high-end wine dealers.
Step 2: Create a new playing field. It is important to define your unique selling proposition that will define your competitive advantage. You need to identify what makes you different from your competitors and emphasize these advantages in your marketing. Avoid the generic trap, where potential customers see you business as just one of these online dating websites.
Differentiate your business. What sets you apart from your competitors? What makes your business special that customers should come to you instead of other sites offering dating services?
Step 3: Describe your niche or area of specialization. After careful thought deciding on your niche, it is time to give it a name. The term you describe your niche should strike a balance between the need to set you apart from your competitors and to accurately describe your marketing process in terms your customers can relate and understand. Use fact-oriented descriptive words, instead of using fluff, hyperbole or combinations of nonsensical words.
The name you choose should describe your niche as accurately as possible, while making sure that the name is broad enough to encompass all the services that you offer.
Step 4. Actively market your new niche. What good is going through the difficult process of creating your own niche if nobody knows that such a niche exists? Get out there and let your prospects know that there is such a thing as your niche. Let them know that this new niche offered by your business is exactly what they need and what they have been looking for. Create the want for your niche.
Be prepared, though, to spend time educating your target market. Given the newness of your niche, your potential customers may not know what your niche is all about. They may not understand that your niche offers everything they need. Be willing to spend time and resources educating your target market.
Step 5. Integrate your new niche in your marketing messages. The last step is to instill validity in your new niche. Your prospects (and even your competitors) should be led to understand that this new niche is for real; that it exists and genuine. They need to take your newly created niche seriously, and not think that the niche is just some made-up fragment of an entrepreneur’s wild imagination.
To achieve credibility, you need to reflect your new niche in all your marketing materials. It should be clearly mentioned, even highlighted, in your brochures, websites, advertising campaigns, and press releases, even in your business cards. Constantly reinforce the message about your new niche, and how it can benefit your target market. Think of your new niche as your sound bite that you need to repeat over and over again, if only to make sure that your audience actually “gets it.”
Your new niche can offer you the strongest competitive position in your market, and paves your road to entrepreneurial success. By creating your own niche, you are able to portray the role of a pioneer and an authority in your area.
So how do you know your new niche is right? Of course, your prospects flock to buy your products or hire your services because you are different from the rest of the pack and you are offering potential customers exactly what they want.
by George Rodriguez. Brought to you by DLDesignsOnline.com
Are you the victim?
Are you a victor or victim? I’m against being a victim cause victims sound weak. Sales can make anyone turn into a victim easily because sales people to overcome a lot crap. Victims are avoided after a while. Victims are seldom listened to because the have lost their credibility. Victims are never respected. And in general, nobody wants to hang around with victims. Well, except for other victims, of course, because like attracts like.
Just think for a moment about what you say when something doesn’t go your way or rather the way you act it. Review the last experience when you a big sale. Think for a moment about how and what you said to yourself, the body language you used and your tonality. If any of those reactions or responses contain victim like attitude, like whining, put downs, – stop it or you’ll become a victim.
You see the your goal is for you to become a victorious sales person whether or not you close the sale. Victors don’t whine. Victors learn, they overcome, they master themselves. It’s easy to up beat when life is going your way, but guess what the BIG profits are in the problems.
Kicking Your Butt
Kicking you own Ass. It’s one of my favorite scenes from a Jim Carey movie call Liar, Liar. Here’s the lesson If your harder on yourself, if you demand more from yourself than what is expected life becomes easier. Sales people are always asking me, “Bert, how do I motivate myself? How do I stay positive Bert?” Here’s the secret. How you feel is more important than what you know. Put it simply, your emotions lead to your belief system, your belief system lead to actions and your actions lead to results – good or bad. The better you manage your emotions, the more positive your results will be. Good or bad day? That’s completely programmable.
Emotions are skills. Your emotions will drive your attitude and if you have the right emotional skills, you’ll act instead of think, develop a emotional skills.
Free Publicity or Keeping Tabs on Competitor for Free
Google has a very helpful service which can help you get more publicity or keep tabs on your competitor. And the best part it’s FREE!
It’s like a having an media clipping service which scrutinizes both the web and Google News database, then sends you an email as soon as something you’re interested in appears in the search results.
For instance, let’s say you’re a big fan of “Star Wars”. You can set up a Google Alert for
“Star Wars”. Then whenever Google finds any mentioned in a top news story or on the web, you’ll get an email including the web site address so you can go see where
and how “Star Wars” is mentioned.
To set up your own Google Alerts for free, just go to http://www.google.com/alerts (read further down for using this service and its paid alternative).
The exciting thing is you can use this service to grow your business in all sorts of ways.
Some of the obvious ways to use it include setting up alerts to see what others are saying about you online, ‘discover’ what they saying about your competitors, find out about new developments in your field of expertise and/or discover some other prominent with whom you might want to ally yourself in some way.
This service is also one of the best publicity tools ever created and it’s FREE! Here are three tips to use Google Alerts to get media exposure:
STRATEGY #1 –
Obtain IMMEDIATELY publicity by tying-in with breaking news stories.
One of the best and easiest ways to get FREE publicity is to be able to comment on what’s already in the news. For instance, one of my clients, Gerry Robert, book writing coach, wealth expert and author of Millionaire Mindset.
One of the strategies we employ whenever an alert pops up having to deal Wealth, Book Writing, Economy somewhere in America or Canada, you need to contact newspapers and radio/TV shows in that city immediately and let them know you can comment on what’s happening.
Robert then asked, ‘But how will I know when a related story hits the news?’
My answer: “Google Alerts.”
The results will blow you away!
STRATEGY #2 –
Building friendships with media contact who discuss your topic.
Another of my clients, Patrick Snow, also uses Google Alerts service in a very systematic way to get publicity.
Here’s what Patrick does: First he set up alerts to track stories written on his area of expertise, which is Success, Selling and Families.
When he gets an alert email pointing him to a good story on that subject, he then sends the journalist who wrote the story a short email saying he enjoyed article and offers a sincere compliment.
His email stands out because journalists don’t often hear from their readers and when they do it’s usually to complain. Within his email Patrick mentions his website CreateYourOwnDestiny.com to reinforce his credibility.
If the journalist writes him back and thanks him for his comments, Patrick then offers to send them a free copy of his book and mentions he’s happy to be a resource for them on any future stories they might do on this or similar topics.
Patrick Snow has made the front cover of USA Today and multiple TV/Radio interviews.
STRATEGY #3
The Hook is more than Book
Authors are always asking me about a good ‘hook’ or angle should be when approaching the media. I’ll immediately ask them, “What hooks have others used in your industry?”
Usually they don’t know, but by using Google Alerts (or even just searching the Google News database at http://www.google.com/news) you can quickly find video clips, articles in which others with similar expertise are quoted.
For example, let’s say you’ve written a book about Selling. Suppose also that you’re based in Houston. One day you discover a story in the New York Times about Selling in the New Economy. Well, if it’s newsworthy in New York, it’s probably going to be considered newsworthy by the media in your city. So pitch your local media on doing the same story, only this time they’ll be interviewing YOU as the expert.
Here are a few words of advice on implementing this strategy:
Use quotation marks to narrow your alerts, for instance, I have an alert set up for Bert Martinez and because he’s not the only person in the world with that name, I was getting a lot of off-target alerts. Every time Bert or Martinez pop up I received an alert by using “Bert Martinez” it allows be to receive more exact searches.
10.5 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Starting A Business
The following list is derived from my experience. Based on my actions and results I retired from corporate America at the age of 28. Filed bankruptcy at 30. I’ve been involved in several successful businesses and many unsuccessful ones too.
#1 – Never let your expenses exceed your sales. Yeah, I know that’s easy to say, because you say “Jeez, that makes perfect sense, if my expenses never exceed my sales then quite honestly I’m always going to have positive revenue. I’m always going to be in the profit. Wow. That’s fundamentally smart. But c’mon Bert, it doesn’t work that way in the world. Why? When we start out we don’t have any sales yet, and so our expenses have to exceed our sales on day one.” And you’re correct. That’s true, so I want you to have a concept, a goal or even a burning desire. That you will make those days the fewest number of days absolutely possible that your expenses are exceeding your sales.
#2 – Failing to collect the money or the receivables. Question – Should you really be extending credit to people? I don’t care what business your in retail, wholesale, hospitality, legal, or whatever. Selling is what you about not carrying receivables. Don’t extend credit, get paid now! Look fewer customers that have paid you 100% are way better than having more customers when some of them didn’t pay you at all. More cash, less stress – you don’t have to be real smart to do the math.
# 3 – Failing to take care of your employees. People have say that the customer is number 1 – right? Maybe not. Well who is taking care of your customers? Your employees handle quality and service and delivery? Well if you haven’t taken care of your employees, they’re probably not going to take care of your customers very well. It’s just that simple. It’s goes without saying that if you do take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers.
#4- Failing to take care of your customers. Real simple the easiest customer to get are existing customers. There is usually more profit in repeat customers than in new customers. A happy customer is a good customer a good customer refers more customers. Take care of your customers and they will take care of you.
#5 – Underestimating your competition. We can, no matter what business we’re in, we think of our competitor as dim-witted, we think of our competitor as incompetent. Remember this -our battle isn’t against them. It’s for the customer, not against our competitor. We don’t win by doing damage to the competitor. We’re not in a battle with him really. We’re in a battle for someone else. So quit thinking about the competitor and start thinking about your competitor’s customers.
#6 Inadequate capital – Now I’ve started business with no money because I had to but then you quickly come to realize that you do need money to operate. You do need capital to grow the company and get to the next level. And here are 2 rules you should remember about capital. And, just in case your not clear, capital is the money we need to fund the organization, to buy the inventory, to hire employees, to do all those things that we’re going to need to do. Well here’s are 2 rules you need to appreciate. Is that your expenses are going to be hirer than you anticipated and your revenue is going to be slower than you anticipated. Those two statements are true in 99.99% of every single business that has ever started. Well that’s what happens. It happens almost all the time. Because we are optimistic, if we weren’t optimist we wouldn’t have started a business. We over-projected what our revenues are. What I’m telling you as a practical, experienced businessman lower that number. Now if you beat, if you excel… wonderful! Find a place to spend it. But if you have shrunk it down, conservative in your projection then you might be safe.
#7 Underestimate the length of time to break even. The break even is a magic moment in the making of a business and if you don’t understand let me try to explain the concept to you. Break even is that magic point when you quit putting money into a company and the company is finally sufficient enough that it starts to pay for itself or is finally starts to pay you for having been there first.
# 8 Focusing on profits instead of on cash flow. Business people, when they first start out, they focus on profits instead of on cash flow. And I know this is going to sound like sacrilege to some people saying well,” aren’t we supposed to be all about profits? absolutely, and yes! And we want to get there as fast as we possibly can! But before we get there we have to make sure something else happens first, and that is that we always have positive cash flow. We always have enough money to pay the rent. We always have enough money to pay out employees. We always have enough money to buy more supplies, to do more marketing, that’s really crucial. That’s called cash flow. Profits will follow the cash flow I guarantee it. Now there’s a different in being profitable and having positive cash flow, you can be unprofitable where you’re actually losing a little bit of money but still have positive cash flow. I’m telling you when your first starting a business, if you have to pick between the two, now if you could have both of them, great go get both of them and that would be wonderful, but I also will tell you from experience getting both of them when your first starting out is really going to be complicated. You’re going to have to make a decision between the two. Pick cash flow when you’re first starting your business.
#9 Over estimating size of your market. Entrepreneurs are optimists and we tend to have this attitude that everyone is going to want to buy what we have – that just doesn’t sell. Get over it. Just come to understand that it’s not going to happen. So what you need to be able to do is think about Bottom Up Marketing. It isn’t how many potential, how many people are out there, it’s about what you can you really do. Bottom Up Marketing looks at your capacity. So if you’ve got 1 employee, 3 employees, 7 employees, that’s all you can handle. It doesn’t matter how many people might want your widget. You can’t handle it! So think coolly about the real size of your market and don’t ever estimate it because you can’t handle it right now. You only need enough market to handle the capacity you presently have, and if you can do that efficiently you will be profitable, and if your profitable you’ll be successful and if your successful you can grow the company again, and again, and again. Do a little research on “Bottom Up Marketing” and you have a better understanding of the concept
#10 No Advertising/Marketing plan. So how are you going to drive your sales through advertising or through sales people. You need to develop your marketing plan, you need to have enough capital to drive sales. I’ve seen to many times were entrepreneurs will invest all this money in equipment or to get the doors open only to discover they have no way to adequately drive sales.
#10.5 – Exit strategy. At one point, P.T. Barnum noticed that people were lingering too long at his exhibits. He posted signs indicating ” “This Way to the Egress”. Not knowing that “Egress” was another word for “Exit”, people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit…and ended up outside. So what am I talking about? We should start a business that we can create and build something that we can sell, transfer, dispose of, or hand off to someone else. That should be a goal maybe the first goal as you begin to vision your successful business.
Remember . . . You Were Created to Succeed!