Which do we fear the most? Failure or Success?

The age old adage: "Don't let fear hold you back." Or is that some of us are actually afraid of success?

Let me lay it out for you.

When I first started on my internet marketing journey I wanted everything that I have stated in my story that I shared on my blog. It's 7 years later now and that hasn't manifested for me yet.

In the beginning I was very afraid of failing. I didn't want people to know that I was interested in IM because if I failed I thought people would laugh at me. FEAR. I didn't have any technical skills what so ever so I thought about quitting many times. FEAR. I didn't understand all these IM terminologies so I thought I shouldn't do it. FEAR. I had never done it before and I didn't know anybody in my family or close friends who was even remotely interested in it. So I thought it probably isn't for me. FEAR. Currently to date, I have conquered every single last one of these fear points that I just mentioned.

Now before I go into my next point, stop and ask yourself have you pretty much conquered these same fears? Finished? Now read carefully and think about this next part.

WHAT'S HOLDING ME/YOU BACK NOW? Is it FEAR of failure or is it SUCCESS?

I don't worry about all those things I mentioned above anymore. After about 4 years or so these weren't issues anymore. So why have I and so many others like me not made a single penny online yet? The answer is simple, the fear of success. Let me explain.

How many times have you heard "Take action bro and you'll get there. Good luck."? Or what about "pick one thing and stick to it until you have seen some results." Let me tell you what this involves. It involves you and I and so many others who are in my boat being one or two steps away from success not failure.

See, when we decide to take action and stick with it, we are entering a place where people will know who you are. People will visit your site. People will have an opinion about you besides you being a nice guy. People will now have an opinion about your BUSINESS PRESENCE. That means you are actually succeeding at least in some form or fashion. When you start taking action you are really only 1 or 2 steps away from success. That's what scared me before now. Not the failing part.

When you buy a new product and do absolutely nothing (which by the way I am a pro at, I did it for 7 years) with it that's probably fear holding you back. But, when you start taking action doing the things which matter the most which is (1) having an offer for people to buy (2) driving traffic to it, you are about to conquer that fear of success. Because these two things amount to succeeding.

That's the essence of IM. It's not the only way to make money but it's what most people who are making money do. They are driving traffic to an offer.

When you have found yourself no longer scared about building a site or knowing everything there is to know, you are leaving the fear of failure and you are now approaching success. When you are ready to focus on driving traffic to an offer the only thing that can hold you back at that point is being afraid of success. Because at that point, you will build your mailing list, you will have people expecting to hear from you everyday or 3 days, you will have people looking forward to your next blog post, you will have people hoping that your product or service will help them solve a problem in their life. In case you haven't noticed all of this means you are succeeding.

Folks, I failed for 7 years online. The first 4 years was fear ruling me. These last 3 was actually being afraid of success. If I make a product and sell it, what will I say to my mailing list? How will I continue to add value? These are questions that success has to answer not the fear of failure.

What's your personal experience been like? Are you more afraid of failure at this point or more afraid of success? What's your thoughts?