To all self-employed: How do you handle the fear?

Keep this in mind ...

No matter if these are good or bad times ...

And you'll get both.

... You should keep doing what you are doing. It is a process. It is a numbers game.

Every single time I've got overwhelmed with fear, I've got defensive. I've started wasting time.

I was spending more time trying to find relaxation in non-productive, even destructive activities ...

... than working on my business.

So keep the ball rolling. Even when everything seems lost, keep the ball rolling.

A friend is a good poker player and once taught me this ...

Statistically, in Poker, you'll win and lose about for the same proportion.

In the long term, it averages itself.

But sometimes, you get an statistical anomaly. You get 10 bad hands in a row. 20. 30.

When being self-employed this means everything going bad and keeps going bad.

What you must do is keep playing. Eventually, it will change. If you get 30 bad hands, you'll get 30 good hands afterwards. But you must keep going and let nothing stop you.

Nothing bad lasts forever ... and nothing good lasts forever.

But you must keep trying until the good appears.

It is like the four seasons.

You've got spring, summer, autumn, winter.

In the spring, you are starting out, everything shows promises and decent results.

In the summer, you are laughing all the way to the bank.

In the autumn things starts to fade and decay.

And winter sucks.

But after winter comes the spring. It always does.

So put some money aside. Have resources in form of people, help, opportunities, cash, assets that will last you at least three months.

Then get to work.

To be honest ...

I don't have a wife and kids, but I've been in the situation to have someone rely on me.

And I know, it is hard.

You can go through hell ten times a day ... but it is hard to have someone to go through because of you. To promise something and not being able to deliver.

So do them both until you have the security of your online business. There's no better answer actually. There's no magic pill. And if you need motivation ...

Look at your wonderful wife ...
Look at your wonderful kid ...

And remember why you are doing this. Remember why you have the fire in your belly.

It's the bills - they will make sure you come up with something profitable :

Good and solid tips Niche Blogger, thank you!

Now I'm no "mind warrior". I did go full time in IM, did fairly well, and then had to go back to work after it got shut down by Google. No complaints from me - I was into micro niche sites that, whilst I thought were quality, in reality were nothing more than gaming Google.

The fear is real, there is no getting away from that. A couple of things I've taken on board from my success and then failure (and now my 2nd go at it).

1) ALWAYS be offering real value to real people. If your methods are simply gaming a certain factor (playing with Google SERPs, etc) then eventually you will get caught out.

2) Diversify. If your income stream is only via one method you are at a lot of risk - be it relying on SEO, a certain PPC source, or anything else. I won't go full time again until I have a diversified income based on a number of methods, so if 1 goes down the toilet, there are still others. And I don't mean a couple of websites, if all your income is from ONE method (unless it is consulting or offering a service which doesn't rely on SEO, such as say copywriting sales letters), even if spread over a number of sites, you are open to a dramatic shift.

On the plus side, the extra time you have can be used to continue both going deeper into your niche (and therefore being more of an expert and making more money) and diversifying your income streams.

Now this is just based on my own success and then failure. I obviously have biases (learning from touching a hot stove), whereas someone who hasn;t had the crash I may have may be better placed to say what worked for them to keep them successful. But my touching of that hot stove means I keep an eye on making sure I don't repeat the same mistakes.

The majority of my business is offline. One of the biggest reasons why I work with offline businesses, and mainly offline traffic sources is because it's not a good idea to put your fate in someone else's hands. I've been trying to get my google adwords account up and running again for the past few weeks.

If I relied on adwords as my main traffic source, I'm sure my income would have halved by now.

The single best thing that you can do is get yourself a set of clients who are on continuity. That way, these people pay your bills continually, and anything else is extra profit.

You also need to build relationships with influential people. People with good lists. This is potential money on tap. If you have 10 such contacts - then if you're ever falling short, you can set up a quick JV to top up your earnings. If you're relying on people who you don't have a REAL relationship with e.g. google, who don't care about you, then they'll feel free to cut off your traffic without a second thought.

2 - Steps to overcome your fear. Read the book “Feel the Fear And Do It Anyway” which is basically going to teach you to practice the mantra “No matter what happens, I’ll handle it”. This will boost your self confidence making it easier to do step two which is read “The Tools”. There are 5 tools taught in the book. The first tool as talked about in this below video is called “The Reversal of Desire”. Learn it, use it and while you will still experience fear… the sting won’t be so bad and with just a little effort you will be able to act in spite of your fear. Remember… everything you want is just outside of your comfort zone. Pain and fear is what keeps you in your box. To break out of your prison and experience more freedom… use the tools that are now at your disposal.

Cheers,
SteveSki

Being self employed takes a particular type of courage. You have to be willing to take action with no guarantees of success. You have to be willing to put all your heart and soul into your enterprise, and you have to be willing to face and overcome the roadblocks that get in your way.

You have to be willing to dream big dreams, and have the guts to learn new things that you never knew how to do before. On top of all that, you need the type of courage that shouts, "I must do this or I won't have lived my life purpose."

It takes strength, focus and responsibility to succeed or fail on your own merits, and to be willing to ask for help or education when you need it.

Every self employed person feels fear at one time or another. The next time you hear yourself saying, "I'm afraid," reply with a knowing smile and say to yourself, "Join the crowd."

Then, summon up that well of courage and take responsibility to create the life and business you've dreamed of.

Because, if you don't have that type of courage, you probably shouldn't be self employed in the first place. Being self employed is about challenging yourself and the world. It's not about taking the easy way; it's about taking the only way that will give you a sense of self-fulfillment and success.

I feel that the biggest culprit is the fear of failure.

You have stepped out of your comfort zone and have dared to start something new, but when things don't go so smooth the fear of failure creeps in.

I think it can be paralyzing because you will fear rejection and not make that call or fear that you will not get the deal and then don't pursue it at all. You will fear that you will not have enough money and will justify not being able to get new clients because you don't have the money.

Just think of it as a thief. You have already made the most important step of becoming self employed. Know that you have already succeeded. Take every bit of success and build upon it.

Kick fear of failure out by going for that deal, making that call, designing that website, and speaking in front of others.

The fear that you speak of can be immensely powerful. Conquer it and don't let it cripple you.

For me it's quite simple - The idea of spending the rest of my life building the assets of somebody else, having to commute to a 9-5 job that I hate scares the crap out of me, hence that motivates me to take massive action.

I have found the isolation gets to me.You feel as if you have no support and that life is passing you by. This is quite natural since entrepreneurs spend a lot of time on their own.

A way I combat this fear is I arrange at least one to three social calls to friends or invite them over at least once a week. Why not join a network or business association where you can share ideas and build beneficial contacts?

Sometime when we feel pure frustration with circumstances causes to rethink our decisions of becoming self employed. The best way is to face the challenges head on and not to back off. Stay motivated and overcome frustrations by planning the day and by using proper time management.

There are hundreds of entrepreneurs who go through the same emotions so take solace in that thought.

Get some self-employed friends to talk to. You and your friends will be able to exchange ideas and encourage each other.