Fear factor

Fight the fear factor because you can
I have been learning these past two weeks how to combat my fear by stepping out of my comfort zone as I learn how to grow my business. At the same time, I’ve also been listening to my followers on Facebook and Twitter and one of the biggest complaints from small businesses is the ability to speak up, or more specifically, the lack of it. The business world is a jungle where everyone is trying to compete for your attention. Buy this, try that, look at me and me and me. Especially now with the start of social media! Let’s face it: it’s a fantastic tool to gain recognition for your business and many new businesses have launched using it as their main source of marketing.

I love social media and also use it as one of my sales and marketing tools. It’s really helping me get my business name out there, and I have to say I’ve met some interesting and fun people and got in touch with businesses, which I normally wouldn’t have reached out to if I were connecting locally. But getting the social wheel going was a struggle to begin with, requiring patience, consistency and faith. It doesn’t help that Facebook keeps changing its algorithms. One of the things I noticed taking off in a big way in 2014 was picture/quote messages. I also started posting them on Facebook, and suddenly people started commenting, liking and sharing them every day. They began to relate to me like never before.

It was so good that I wanted to share it with all the other small businesses like me who were struggling, so I made a free video showing everyone a basic introduction to the magic of picture messaging using free software. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, it’s not as easy as it seems. I could have produced an hour long video about all the bloopers and beeps alone. Finally, I printed my fear on my hands and uploaded my video before I could change my mind. To be absolutely honest with you, I’m not 100% happy because being the perfectionist that I am has too many flaws, but, as a business coach, one told me ‘Perfectionism doesn’t sell.’ The bottom line is, “Do you help small business owners get the recognition they deserve?”

If you do, the pain and agony of having to face the fear of looking like a complete idiot is all worth it. So I dare you! Go and face your fear and do something great today.

Have a beautiful day and I wish you a great weekend.

Karen