• Do you overschedule yourself with errands and commitments so that you have no time for your business?
• Does watching Dr. Phil and Oprah constitute business research in your opinion?
• Do you create a work schedule for yourself only to sleep through your alarm?
• Do you play computer solitaire for hours instead of getting to work?

You are not alone. Starting and running a business of your own is extremely daunting. While most people would say lack of money, time, and personal discipline are the biggest impediments to building a successful business, I believe that FEAR is the one and only real impediment — the root cause — and everything else is just a symptom.

At a very subconscious level we make decisions and choices to avoid our FEARS that in turn CREATE the difficulties and obstacles that prevent us from moving forward. I want to emphasize the word CREATE, because we are fully responsible for CREATING our own reality.

I’ll give you a very personal example. I conceived the idea of Total Business Fitness over two years ago, and it has taken this long to give it an earnest go. I’ve had a makeshift website up for a while, done a couple of talks here and there, and served a handful of clients over the years, but I was not actively building and growing my business. Why? Well, the truth is I was scared –

• of failing and investing in a losing proposition
• of succeeding and getting swallowed whole by an all-consuming business
• of becoming a public and opinionated figure that people might dislike or disagree with, especially loved ones
• of making mistakes in public that cannot be erased, forgotten, or changed
• of not knowing “everything” before I start
• of being selfish at pursuing my own dreams

Instead of identifying, facing, and dealing with these FEARS, I CREATED very believable reasons, situations, and circumstances that prevented me from taking the plunge into my business. I told myself…

• I need to learn more about the coaching industry and how internet marketing works before I can get started.
• I should determine my target audience and how to best serve them before going public in a big way.
• I am supporting my husband in his very demanding sales position by managing the entire household (cooking, cleaning, bills, etc.), so I don’t have the time or energy for much else.
• I have to wait for my husband’s income to get to a certain level, before I can invest in my own business.
• Renovating and selling the house is a full-time job that makes it hard to work from home. (It’s kind of hard to think, write, and talk on the phone to clients when you have people and power equipment in your home all day long.)
• I am Matron of Honor for my sister’s wedding, and it is really impossible to start my business in earnest while planning showers and bachelorette parties and doing other wedding-related tasks.

The very worst one of all was, “You are not thin enough to represent a concept like Total Business Fitness, so you’ll have to lose weight first.” Wasn’t that ever a prescription for failure! In order to avoid my FEAR, I hit the Friendly’s Ice Cream window instead of the gym and then beat myself up for “lack of willpower.” But it did prevent me from losing weight, which, I had decided, was a necessary prerequisite for starting my business. So for that, it served my purpose.

All of these reasons were perfectly logical and rational, but they just weren’t true. That is the danger of FEAR and it’s offspring. FEAR very convincingly masquerades as logic, and it’s difficult for us to see and admit to the underlying truth. FEARS are such tightly held beliefs, that they become our default positions and the lenses through which we view our world. FEAR teaches us that we are victims, are powerless, and have no choice or responsibility.

The truth was I could have been doing my business all along, despite these challenges, and I could have made different choices. I could have sold my home a year earlier without all of the improvements for less money. I could have hired help with the house or have chosen to lower my cleaning standards for a while. I could have experimented with business ideas instead of trying to get it perfect before going public.

At any time I chose, I could have CREATED the right situations in order for me to build my business. And that’s what I am doing now. So here I am - in all of my imperfect glory! I still have all of those FEARS I listed earlier, but, I am ready and willing to face them because I am more afraid of the pain and regrets of living an unfulfilled life.

Questions:

1. What are your FEARS (your limiting beliefs), and how are they holding you back?
2. What obstacles, hurdles, and challenges have you created to avoid your FEARS?
3. How has FEAR impacted your business? What is your biggest business-related FEAR?

I invite your comments and feedback!