Module 1: Lesson 5 – Addressing Fears and Hesitations

Embarking on the journey toward business ownership can evoke various fears and hesitations. This is especially common among individuals considering business ownership for the first time.

It’s essential to acknowledge these concerns and address them when they come up. Remember fear is valid, and it can actively debilitate you and stop you from doing what is necessary to be successful in business. For that reason, you must always acknowledge your fears. That being said, you must not allow your fears to stop you from completing the task at hand.

Once you acknowledge a fear and decipher the reasoning behind it, you can then control it and take steps to avoid a bad situation. The important thing is to keep moving forward, but remember that your fears do provide valid insights into your thoughts and concerns. If you understand them, they will help you make strong decisions and win. If you ignore them or leap before you properly understand them, they will prove themselves right, and you will likely fall.

A terrific thing to do when you are dealing with a fear in business is to discuss it with a colleague. Fortunately, United Business Networks (UBN) can offer the necessary support to you in this regard. As a member of UBN, you have the opportunity to bounce these things off of the group every week and gain valuable insights from others who may have already dealt with the very problem you face.

Common Fears:

One common fear that often stops new entrepreneurs in their tracks before they ever get their ideas off the ground is the fear of failure. Many aspiring entrepreneurs worry about the possibility of their business not succeeding. For this reason, they often opt not to try at all.

Just think where the world would be if Steve Jobs had given into his fears of failure in his effort to bring the personal computer to every home in America. Never trying at all guarantees you will not accomplish anything, but you should understand that it is ok to try and then fail.

It’s important to recognize that failure is an important part of the entrepreneurial journey. In fact, it’s often through failures that valuable lessons are learned, and strategies are refined, which lead to the greatest successes. I, myself, have failed more often than I have succeeded (by far), but I only needed a handful of successes to put me in the top 10% of all income earners in the United States.

So don’t fear failure; embrace it. Consider it a stepping stone on your pathway to victory. As long as you keep trying, you never truly fail. You simply haven’t gotten it right yet. Keep trying until you do, and in the end, success will be yours.

This course is designed to equip you with access to the knowledge, experience, guidance, and necessary tools you will ever need to minimize risks and increase the likelihood of your success. There are no guarantees in business, of course, but with a winning team of entrepreneurial veterans backing you up, I like your odds. Something I certainly wish I had available to me when I started out.

Another prevalent fear is the fear of financial instability. Leaving the security of a regular paycheck can be daunting. However, understanding the financial benefits of business ownership, as discussed in the previous lesson, can help alleviate this fear. The potential for increased earnings, financial independence, and tax advantages are key aspects that contribute to financial stability as a business owner.

Take the following scenario as an example:

Let’s assume for a moment that you currently have a job which pays you $50,000/yr. You give that up to start an online business of your own. You automatically assume that you are giving up $50,000/yr, correct? The truth of the matter is that you are really only giving up (on average) $31,000 after taxes have been taken out of your paycheck.

Now let’s say you create a product and sell it on line for $500 each. Over the course of the entire year, you only need to sell 62 products to equal the same value as your job is paying you today. That comes down to just 5 sales per month. The law of averages in sales tell us that for every 7 people you speak with, 1 of them will purchase. So by that estimate, to make 5 sales in a month, you only need to present your offer to 35 people per month.

Only 35 people per monht! That’s practically just 1 call a day. If you’re working at this new business of yours, I’m betting you know as well as I do that you’ll be speaking to a lot more than 1 person a day. You’ll probably want to be speaking with more like 10 or 20 a day, but for argument’s sake, let’s take a look at what you could achieve if you only worked part-time and only spoke to 2 people per day.

2 per day X 30 days per month = 60 people you speak with that month.

60/7 for the law of averages in sales comes out to 8 sales per month.

8 sales per month X 12 months in the year = 96 total sales for the year.

96 sales X $500 each = $48,000.

Of the $48,000 earned, taking tax incentives into account, you keep $46,000 after taxes.

Here’s what you just accomplished:

You quit your employee salary of $50,000 with it’s 38% tax rate which really left you with $31,000 after tax and traded it for less security but with a higher rate of return. You gave up working your tail off (full-time) for someone else and traded it for working (part-time) for yourself in a much more relaxed working environment. You did much less work, and you got paid an extra $15,000 raise at the same time thanks to the tax incentives which allowed you to keep more of your hard-earned money. Now just imagine what you would have accomplished if you had made those 10 to 20 calls each day and worked full-time for yourself. Cha-ching!

In this course, not only are we going to show you how to do exactly that, but we’re also going to show you how to automate it to work for you on it’s own 24/7. If you truly still aren’t ready to take the full leap of faith on your business however, do it on the side and keep your day job. Many successful businesses have begun in this manner until they got to the point that the owners were forced to put more time into them and finally let the day job go so that the business could thrive. This is also perfectly acceptable.

Reassurance and Support:

At UBN, we want to reassure you that you won’t be navigating this journey alone. United Business Networks is committed to providing support every step of the way. Our weekly meetings offer a platform for discussion, guidance, and addressing any concerns as you go through this process.

Additionally, the group discussions provide further opportunity for you to connect, share experiences, and support each other. UBN offers weekly meetings where experienced business owners can guide and advise those who are new to entrepreneurship. Learning from the experiences of others can be invaluable in overcoming challenges and making informed decisions.

Furthermore, the course content itself is structured to address fears and hesitations. As we delve into various aspects of business ownership, you’ll gain insights, strategies, and practical tools to overcome these fears and prepare you for the challenges ahead so that you feel ready and comfortable in your decision to meet them head on.

In the next segment:

We’ll explore the foundational elements of building a successful business, laying the groundwork for your journey from $0 to Hero in 90 Days. Stay engaged as we unravel the keys to success, addressing concerns and empowering you to overcome obstacles on this fantastic entrepreneurial adventure.

Activity and Discussion within the Online Community Group Page:

1. Reflecting on the common fears discussed in this lesson, share any personal fears or hesitations you might have had or currently have about starting your own business.
   1. How do you plan to overcome these fears?
   2. What support or resources do you think would be beneficial in addressing them?
2. Next, reply or comment on the submissions of at least 3 others within the group discussion.