Conquer your fears and push for business success
Fears. We all have them, are your fears holding you and your business back from achieving success? We aren’t talking about phobias here, rather those little niggly concerns or apprehensions that make you lean towards saying “no” to opportunities rather than driving ahead and saying “yes”!
In the business advice and development side of the Villa business we often speak to our clients about grabbing opportunities and running with them. In February this year I was forced to practice what I preach, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made for the Villa business. I have a fear of public speaking and I made the decision that I needed to conquer this fear to push our business in the direction I wanted it to head.
Recently Villa ran the 7 Essential Ways To Grow Your Business event. It was a group discussion style sit-down session held at The Orchard in Whangarei, and it was an amazing success! Of course, it wouldn’t have been if I had let my fear of public speaking get in the way. I can now confidently say that my public speaking fear has been conquered.
If you’re like me and find that speaking in front of an audience, fear of failure or some other niggling fear is holding your business back, here are my top tips:
Work out what overcoming the fear will mean for you or your business – there will always be pain when navigating your way through a fear or apprehension. Discover what the gain will be from that pain! For me it was recognising that by overcoming my nervousness about speaking in front of a crowd I could do more of what I am passionate about, which is educating people about business. Rather than doing this on a one-to-one basis I could inspire and educate on a larger scale.
Find your support crew – get your team, clients, family and friends involved. For me, the support of my team in helping me prepare and also supporting me during the presentation was critical. Narrow down your trusted team members, clients or friends to get behind you and help with breaking down the barrier you’re working on.
Embrace being outside your comfort zone – push for success and embrace being outside of your comfort zone in the process! My philosophy is that if you want to get to where you want to be you have to do something you’ve never done. We all naturally stay inside our “safe bubble” but when we branch out and take on a new challenge, take a new risk or progress towards conquering a fear we can really make magic happen!
What is the worst that can happen? If you’re still struggling to take a leap, a risk or embrace being uncomfortable ask yourself this: What is the worst that can happen? Someone might not like you?! I love that saying, those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter!
Keep doing it – once you’ve taken the plunge and embraced change to overcome your fear, don’t stop! For me, I’ll be running more workshop style events because I want to continue to practice by public speaking and continue helping other businesses achieve success!
If you’re looking for some help in pushing your business to the next level, even if a fear of yours is holding you back, reach out! I’d be glad to have a chat about embracing the nerves and taking the plunge to really push for success. Trust me, you won’t regret it stepping outside your comfort zone!
Anne
