The Top Two Tips To Get Over the Fear of Starting Your Business
Now, I’ve got plenty of thoughts on this, but I want to break them down into 2 core questions to ask yourself when you’re feeling the fear.
What are you afraid of?
I encourage you to consider “what am I afraid of?” because I want you to recognize what truly scares you. Yes, starting a business can be overwhelming and scary, but I want you to pinpoint the things that truly scare you. Then I want you to think through the probability of the thing you fear coming true. Oftentimes our fears are false, or have been so exaggerated that they hold us back.
For example, some of my major fears were the fear of failure, putting myself out there and doing PD. And then I had to ask myself “Erica, when was the last time you gave bad PD?” and I'm like, “I ain't never gave no bad PD.”
And, that doesn't mean I’m perfect and don't have things I can't work on, but it shows and reaffirms to me that the probability of me giving bad PD is pretty slim because I know my strengths.
What upsets you so much that you just don’t have time to be afraid?
I want to offer up to you a quote by the wonderful civil rights activist Gloria Richardson, that I've been sitting with for the past few weeks since I read it. Richardson is one of the few well-known women leaders in the civil rights movement, and is infamous for the photo below, as well as her fierce leadership and bravery throughout her time in the movement.
When Richardson was interviewed asking about the moment in the photos, someone asked her "Were you afraid? You pushed the gun of a police officer to the side, were you afraid?" and her response was, "I was upset. I was so upset that I didn't have time to be afraid."
I think about that quote when I hear this question of “how do I get over the fear of starting my business?” I encourage you to think about the thing that makes you so upset that you don't have time to be afraid, all you can do is push forward.
That thing that makes you upset might be personal:
“I am so upset that I work my tail off, and I barely have enough to make ends meet. That makes me more upset than being afraid to make more money.”
It could also be the problem that you want to solve in your business:
“I am so upset with the injustices that our kids are experiencing in their classroom, that I don't have time to be afraid of going on IG live and talking about the problem and how I can help other people.”
So if you get stuck in fear about starting your business, I encourage you to consider what makes you so upset that you just don't have time for the fear. Once you find your answer, that’s what you need to tap into. That's where you need to stay focused, because it’s what's going to drive you, and what's going to motivate you.
When I first started doing IG Lives, I was so nervous and thinking “what are people going to think about me? What if I’m saying the wrong thing.” but now I don't even think about that, the fear doesn’t register with me because I’ve honed in on my ‘why’.
I don't carry those fears anymore because I'm more upset that there are white men who've never taught in schools getting PAID by schools and districts for mediocre consulting. I'm more upset at that fact. And the only reason why we're not in the room, is because we don't have the knowledge or access to how to start a business and that upsets me even more. I’m so upset about those things that I will push past the fear of IG live or whatever else is stopping me from moving forward and propel me past the fear.
Comments from our community: “I recently fell upon this quote by Zig Ziglar: ‘fear has two meanings, forget everything and run or face everything and rise.’"
I love this quote because it introduces the concept of reframing fear. In my journey, I’ve had to learn to reframe my fears and one way that I have reframed the tool of fear, is that it is actually a tool of white supremacy, because internalized oppression is real folks. If you’re familiar with the Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun, she has included fear as one of the characteristics of white supremacy culture.
So that is another way for you to reframe fear, that it is actually a tool that maintains the current power structure. So you can continue to be afraid, and keep the current power structure in place, or you can rise above your fear and make change happen.
Another way that I reframe fear, is when I feel afraid, I remind myself that this is actually the cycle of oppression that lives within me that I need to recognize, manage and unpack and exhale, because that cycle is what will keep me from the reparations that me, my community, my family and ancestry deserve.
I hope this has helped you start to unravel the fear surrounding starting your business. Identifying the underlying fears can be difficult, but it’s a vital step to overcoming them. Finding something that makes you so upset you can’t bother with fear is another way to propel you through the fear of launching your business. And don’t forget to use reframing your fear, it’s an invaluable tool that can transform the way you see and handle fear going forward!
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