Stop Letting Fear Of Failure Hold You Back From Starting An Online Business!

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Sophie

Do you keep telling yourself you don't have time to start an online business? Or do you keep thinking, I'm going to wait until I've got X, Y, Z in place in order to start? The thing is, you are making excuses for yourself because underneath all of these excuses, the real issue is there's actually fear. There is fear underneath all of these excuses.

00;00;20;25 - 00;00;42;05

Sophie

And the thing with fear is it's really good at disguising itself as a scheduling problem or a capability problem. Now, I've been running my own on my business for the past six years now. I've made multiple six figures online, and none of that would have happened if I hadn't figured out how to overcome anything that had been stopping me from starting, because it definitely wasn't time.

00;00;42;05 - 00;00;59;01

Sophie

Even though I had made that excuse for years, I actually had the idea for my own online business three years before I actually started. And the whole time I told myself I was too busy in my 9 to 5 to build anything on the side. But the reality is, I did have time and I was actually just scared.

00;00;59;07 - 00;01;20;09

Sophie

So in this episode, I'm going to show you how to spot the fear that's actually running the show and holding you back. And I'm going to give you the exact full stats I use to work through fear so that you can figure out how to start an online business without waiting until the opportunity has passed, so that you can overcome the fear and start actually doing the thing that you want to do.

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Sophie

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Sophie

But the pandemic had other ideas, so I built an online business instead, using my existing skills and experiences, and it has made me multiple six figures over the past six years. I know how ambitious high achievers do the same and overcome their fears. They can actually step into this world of online business and create the freedom life that they desire.

00;02;01;23 - 00;02;20;19

Sophie

Now the fears that actually come up a lot in my Freedom Business Bootcamp is the fear of failure. The fear of being judged or criticized, and also the fear of success, which is a sneaky one because we're like, okay, we're working towards this goal. We want the success, but then the reality hits enough, like, oh, but what happens after we achieve the success?

00;02;20;21 - 00;02;39;20

Sophie

And the reality is, when we start an online business, we don't really know what the outcome is going to be. And as humans, that's terrifying, because if we can't see what the reality is going to look like at the end, whether we succeed or fail, then we're obviously going to stay paralyzed and stuck where we are right now, because that is safer for us.

00;02;39;20 - 00;02;57;16

Sophie

We are more safe in our little bubble, knowing what our current circumstances are gonna provide for us. When we step out of that box and we start to try something new, and we do start that online business. We don't know what's on the other side of that yet, because we can visualize and we can think about what we want from that.

00;02;57;22 - 00;03;15;22

Sophie

But there's circumstances at play that we can't always control. So the fear is going to keep us stuck where we feel safe rather than venture into the unknown. And that is then why we use excuses like, I don't have the time, I don't have the money. It's not a priority for me right now. I have to wait until XYZ.

00;03;15;22 - 00;03;41;01

Sophie

That is perfect for me to start because that is comfortable. If we stay stuck where we are and we stay using those excuses, we're safe. And that is why I believe that there is fear underneath all of the excuses that you're making about not starting an online business. Now, the thing is, you might not even be aware of these fears, because the bit that most people don't actually realize is that what drives the majority of your day to day behavior isn't even a conscious decision.

00;03;41;01 - 00;04;03;25

Sophie

It is actually your subconscious running the show. So if that fear is just sitting in your subconscious, it's going to keep finding you reasons not to take action. Because staying exactly where you are, like I said, is safe. And safe doesn't just actually mean safe, it just means familiar. And that is why your brain is doing something clever, is trying to keep you protected in this little bubble, like I mentioned earlier.

00;04;04;01 - 00;04;24;25

Sophie

And then you use those excuses as a scheduling problem instead. So actually, procrastination isn't actually laziness. It's not that you don't want to start. It's not that you can't start. It's actually just fear coming up out of the subconscious and pretending like you have a scheduling problem. Because the reality is, like I said, everyone has an hour in their day to stop scrolling and stop watching Netflix for one night a week.

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Sophie

If you took one hour a day, that's seven hours a week. That's 28 hours a month. And the thing is that compounds that time compounds. Now, I'm not just saying this because I'm projecting what I think is going on for you. I've lived through this. I've had ideas for my business for years before I started it. And most of that time I tell myself I literally can't.

00;04;45;03 - 00;05;03;08

Sophie

I'm in a 95. I don't have the time, I don't have the money, I don't have the resources. And I had a completely warped perspective over what it actually took for me to go the business. But when we keep telling ourselves we don't have the time, what we won't clock is that we are in a phase of like full on impostor syndrome, and imposter syndrome is just fear with a different name on it.

00;05;03;11 - 00;05;21;06

Sophie

The fear of the outcome, the fear of like what could be. Whichever way it goes. So if someone had sat me down at the beginning and said, hang on a minute, you sit and watch Netflix for X, I was day, you scroll. Most nights you are doing all of these things when you could just be spending one hour a day.

00;05;21;06 - 00;05;42;15

Sophie

That is the time that you can use to build your business, and I probably would have argued with them. And the thing is, if I look back now, they would have been right. And this is exactly what I worked for in my Freedom Business boot camp. Because even before we get to building the actual business, you need to get really honest with yourself about what's stopping you, because it almost nearly stopped me and is almost never time.

00;05;42;15 - 00;06;00;28

Sophie

That is actually the real problem. So I'm going to give you four steps today that I want to take you through. And they're the same ones I've had to work through myself. I going to help you overcome and shift out of that fear and start taking action. Because the reality is you need to do this fear based mindset work before you start something new, because this fear is going to keep presenting.

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Sophie

Even if you do take that first action and you actually start building your online business later on down the line, that fear is probably going to rear its head again, and then you're gonna have to keep overcoming it. So the earlier we can tackle these fears, the easier it is going to be for you to take action. Actually launch an online business.

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Sophie

Okay. Step number one, I want you to name the fear. Very specifically. I want you to get really honest with yourself and tell yourself, what are you scared of exactly? Is it that you fail when everyone sees you fail? Is it that you succeed and your whole life has to change? I want you to be really specific because in vague fear, it's really hard for us to work with.

00;06;34;12 - 00;06;54;28

Sophie

And if you can define one specific thing, we can actually delve into that properly. Now, once you have got that idea about fear that you struggling with, step two is to find the evidence against this fear. Because if you ask yourself, have you actually got proof that this theory is justified? Has something like this happened to you before, or are you just assuming that this.

00;06;54;29 - 00;07;15;11

Sophie

Well, most of the time when we actually sit down and look at the evidence behind our own fears, there isn't any. And this is a cognitive behavioral therapy method to really question, is this fear true or is this fear just in my head. So it really needs to be questioned and looked at as if is this actually true or am I just making this up?

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Sophie

Step number three is to work out who spirit actually is. And this is something that most people don't realize that we inherit fears from other people. Because if we are living in a society where starting an online business is not the normal thing to do, and everyone's telling you and questioning, why are you doing that? Maybe it's not your fear.

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Sophie

Maybe you really, truly believe in yourself. Other people don't believe it's possible. So you need to ask yourself, is this a genuine fear of your own based on your own experiences? Or is this a fear that you've picked up somewhere else and you've just been carrying it for a while without ever checking in with yourself? If it belongs to you now, a lot of the time, it isn't actually your fear to carry in the first place.

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Sophie

So we really need to identify that because we don't want to be carrying other people's fears. We only want to be carrying us so that we can start removing them. Because if someone asks, there's there's not a lot we can do about that because they're not of of it. We can reprogram now. Step number four, the first part of Reprograming is to hold up that fear against the opposite outcome.

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Sophie

So whatever the fear is telling you will happen. If you start, you need to start questioning, well, what happens if it if I don't what happens in the reverse situation? Not just what happens this week, but what happens in another three years time. If you're still telling yourself the same story about not having the time, not having the money, needing to be perfect before you start, then I want you to ask yourself what could actually happen if you did the exact thing that you're scared of.

00;08;41;05 - 00;09;03;25

Sophie

Instead, we need a counter active statement to release that fear and make it look less scary so that we can see the alternative solution. So essentially, if we look at it in a more like positive negative light, the fear is more in the negative light and the counter is more in the positive light. So if you're saying what happens if I fail, you will look at what happens if I succeed.

00;09;04;01 - 00;09;22;17

Sophie

So you need to start identifying what the counter terminology could be so that you can overcome the fact. Now, the thing is, what captures a lot of people out when it comes to fear, is it isn't a one time fix. Now, this is like a fear shaped chair. You overcome one shape of the fear and it doesn't just disappear.

00;09;22;17 - 00;09;53;13

Sophie

Sometimes it comes back later in a completely different shape because the root of it is never going to fully go away. It's just going to evolve as you evolve. So if you overcome a fear right now and you say, if you name the fear and you start looking at the counter fear and you look at the evidence against it, don't be shocked if that fear comes up again later on down the line in a different disguise, because the work isn't just beating the fear once, it's staying aware of the fear to recognize every single time a shape shifts so that you can constantly keep overcoming the fear.

00;09;53;14 - 00;10;10;25

Sophie

Because I'm going to be really honest with you, fear is constantly going to come up throughout your online business journey because as you grow, new fans are going to come into play, and I've definitely experienced that for myself at the beginning. Yes, of course I had this fear to start. I had a fear of judgment. I came from a corporate background.

00;10;10;25 - 00;10;29;29

Sophie

I was thinking, oh my God, while my colleagues are going to think when I start launching videos like this or content on LinkedIn, what on earth are they going to think of me? And then I had to really overcome, okay, what what is this fear looking like? Okay. It's fair. Criticism is fear of judgment from people that once respected me because I'm doing something different.

00;10;29;29 - 00;10;53;23

Sophie

But the reality is, if I looked at the the situation, they were still stuck in the 95 jobs. I wanted to be free. I wanted to start my own thing. If I hadn't overcome that fear of criticism and judgment, I would have never got this outcome up and running my own my business for six years. So you really have to look at like, is this fear of judgment coming from people that I actually want to be judged by?

00;10;53;26 - 00;11;13;19

Sophie

Because that's not the reality I want to live in anymore. I want to live in this reality. So you need to really identify where this fear is coming from and is it actually valid? Now, I'm going to let you into a little secret. The fear for me, this coming up is actually fear of success. Now, I've walked through all of my fears of failure because I've failed so many times in the past six years.

00;11;13;19 - 00;11;34;24

Sophie

I think that's a key part of entrepreneurship and in my own belief, for failure doesn't really exist. You can only have lessons out of failures. So for me, I've already worked through that fear of failure. Because you do, you become very resilient as an entrepreneur. But the reality is that now I'm in a position where I'm growing my business.

00;11;34;24 - 00;11;57;06

Sophie

I also have this fear of success because I don't know what this true success looks like that I could potentially achieve, because I'm still always evolving, and my vision of success right now is so much bigger than I ever, ever have experienced before. So this is a new fear that's torn up and it's like, okay, if I get this success, can I hold on to it?

00;11;57;06 - 00;12;19;09

Sophie

Can I keep it once I've got it? What does it require of me to show up in a way to match that level of success? And this is a completely different shape of pretty much the same fear. And if I hadn't have stayed in where enough of it to notice it, I probably wouldn't have realized and I would have called it something else entirely, and I would have just been like, okay, I don't have time to grow my business.

00;12;19;09 - 00;12;37;08

Sophie

But the reality is, yes, of course I have time to grow my business. So whatever that fear looks like for you, I really want you to go through those four steps today to truly identify what it is. It's holding you back. Because if you've been telling yourself for months or maybe even years that you just don't have time to start an online business, now you have the tools to know exactly what is going on.

00;12;37;13 - 00;12;54;27

Sophie

It's never even about the hours in the day. It's really about the fear and the subconscious belief that you haven't actually yet. And that is why you haven't started. So now you've got four steps to actually work through it. Plus a heads up that I was probably going to show up in a different shape further down the road, and that is completely normal.

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Sophie

And I really would love to see more people overcoming these fears and starting their online business, because it is such a shame when you've got an amazing idea and fear is holding you back. If this resonates today and you're ready to actually honest about what's been holding you back and turn your idea into a real action plan, come and join me at my next free Freedom Business Boot Camp.

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Sophie

You can register for it in the show notes. It is the same framework for that. I will every new founder through on how to identify the fear, identify what's holding them back, turn that offer into something tangible and into something that they're actually going to be able to sell and identify that ideal client profile. In the meantime, feel free to come and find me on LinkedIn.

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Sophie

Everything I share that goes hand-in-hand with what I talk about on the podcast here. I would love to see you over there and chat with you in my DMs, and I will jump the link to that in the show notes. If you liked this episode, please make sure you like and subscribe. It really helps me spread the word that I'm trying to achieve in terms of building a business around what works for you, and you can also coach buyers over here, and otherwise I'll see you in the next one.