This is a guest post by Nathan Hangen.
Fear is a mean enemy.
It hides long enough for us to forget, only to come in near the end…beating drums and blowing it’s horn as it rears its ugly head.
At that point, it’s even worse, because we’re already committed, but we haven’t yet finished our act.
It toys with us in a way because it knows that, for most people, it’s in control.
It’s a mean SOB.
The Cop Out
And so, once we’ve faced fear a few times, and we learn how it operates, we realize that it’s easier to not act at all so that we won’t be surprised.
In the process, we sabotage our dreams and goals in order to protect ourselves. It’s an unconscious decision mostly, but it’s a decision nonetheless, so my job here is to teach you how to overcome it.
I’ve Been Scared
I’ll be honest…I’m scared almost every single day.
I’m scared when I hit the publish button, when I send out a sales pitch to my newsletter, and especially when I first release a new product to the world.
For instance, when Beyond Blogging launched…even though Mike and I had the backing of over a dozen “A-List” bloggers, when we launched at midnight on December 28, I was sick to my stomach with fear.
But here’s the thing about fear…it often serves as a gateway to greater things
Had I known Beyond Blogging was going to reach 5 figures in less than 2 days, the fear would’ve been a non-factor, but at the same time, I probably wouldn’t have worked as hard as I did to make sure everything was perfect before the launch.
However, since I was worried about things like being laughed out of the blogosphere…I busted my butt to make sure that not only was my product good, but so was my sales funnel, marketing, and everything else in between.
My First Launch
My first launch was Twitter Rockstar, and actually took place while I was deployed to Afghanistan. The funny thing about that process was that I didn’t even plan on creating the product until I’d bought another Twitter ebook and been pretty disappointed reading it.
So, I slaved away for months working on my own version…without fear…without worry.
But then suddenly, as I was about to launch, I started to get the rapid heartbeat and think those crazy thoughts:
“What if they hate it?”
“What if people call me a fraud?”
“What if everyone wants a refund?”
They’re were dozens more just like that…each one more disastrous than the last.
But you know what happened? I pulled the trigger on the launch anyway, because I knew that if I wanted to live my entrepreneurial dream, then the worst thing that could happen was that I failed.
And guess what? I didn’t.
People bought it in droves, and although I dealt with your typical “Clickbank swindlers” (buying knowing they get a refund anyway), I still made several thousand dollars in my first week marketing the product.
Confidence Kicks the Crap Out of Fear
From that time on, I knew what fear looked like, but I also knew that beyond fear lied the door to my destiny. In taking fear head on, I now had the confidence to keep working on my dream, going with my gut, and more than anything…designing a life.
Sure, there are times when I lose the battle, but most of the time I win. Even when I fail I win, because I learn something in the process.
I wrote an ebook that sold 1 copy…yep 1.
I spent months writing it…hundreds of dollars designing it, and several hundred more marketing it.
Instead of getting down and saying “I knew that wasn’t going to work,” I just looked at the experience as a lesson in market research and realized that it was my fault for getting cocky and thinking that everything I made would turn to gold.
The next product righted the ship and I moved on.
When battling fear, you take it head on…with confidence, and with action.
Entrepreneurs deal with fear every day. You can’t get away from it. But the way I look at it is that unless I’m scared, then I’m not trying hard enough.
Get comfortable dealing with fear on a daily basis. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
When it gets tough…find something to work on and don’t stop. In the end, you’ll see fear show up right before you go live, but that’s where he’s calling your bluff. If you aren’t bluffing, then you’ve got nothing to worry about.
Nathan Hangen teaches people how to build digital empires, helps them rock through their workday, and works with small businesses to implement digital marketing campaigns.
Image Credit: Flickr
About Paul Cunningham
Very inspiring post, Nathan…. I agree with you when you say, ‘if you are not scared means you are not trying hard enough’ …. So true.
Thanks for letting me come by and hang out man. Love what you’ve got going on here. Very fresh design!
My pleasure Nathan, any time. And thanks for a great post.
A great post that inspires us to keep going!
When I launched my first ebook, I was petrified. Will anyone buy it? Is it total garbage?
The first sale came a few minutes after launch. Whew! I didn’t make six figures, but I was delighted (and relieved).
And, hey, it’s a lot less scary than deployment to Afghanistan (thank you).
Jodi, that first sale must have felt great. I experience my own mini panic waiting for the first comment to arrive on a new blog post :-)
I get scared every time! Just launched Blogger Beats and was no less scared this time than I was on my first launch.
However, the fear was under control this time, and I tried to use it to my advantage :)
Thank you Nathan.
I’ve now tacked this to my office wall: ” Get comfortable dealing with fear on a daily basis. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” Nathan Hangen
Fear is a creative challenge to be danced with, and learned from, it’s great exercise.
This was great…and great timing.
I have battled anxiety and depression for years due to numerous tragic deaths in my family. So this is a place where I live on a daily basis BUT have learned to overcome (instead of BEING overcome – and I have to give a huge shout to The Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety which gave me the tools to exterminate anxiety attacks from my life.)
That said, in spite of having an already hugely busy life, I am launching a new home-schooling website on May 3rd. It has been a dream of mine for years, and in the works for many months. And yes, I wake up every day wondering what the hell I’m doing.
You’re right, fear is a monster that we can banish by not giving it the time of day. Treat it like the bogey-man it is.
Again, great post. Something we all need to hear at some point.
Hi Anne, congratulations on pushing through and following your dream.
Thanks Paul! My very first ever blog post published today. I’m checking to make sure everything is working right (appears to be except it didn’t tweet automatically like it was supposed to!)
It’s at: http://homeschooling911.com/getting-started-in-home-schooling-part-i/
One more comment: I think it’s hard for us newbies to believe that the “big-time” bloggers like yourself and Nathan (well you are big-time to me!) still get that fear when they publish a new post. It is somewhat comforting, for me at least, to know that it is a common response for most, if not all, bloggers – even those that have been blogging for quite a while.
So today is the day for launch right? Let me know how it went!
Checking out everything, making sure there aren’t any bugs. Going to be announcing it shortly on Twitter and to family and friends (I have a lot of home-schooling friends so I know I’ll get support there). Looking forward to seeing what kind of response I get!
Thanks for asking Nathan!
Well the site launched yesterday. My daughter and I spent a lot of time ironing out a couple of bugs and I learned some things still!
I have a half dozen people signed up for my newletter and more on my RSS feed. I have also had people tell me they have forwarded the info far and wide so I am looking forward to getting more readers…you know the old commercial (I think it was for shampoo) that said “if you tell 2 people and they tell 2 people and so on” – that’s kind of what I’m hoping for.
I am enjoying working on it and perfecting my communications with it (through AWeber). It’s challenging, but a good challenge.
Sparring with fear is one of my favorite pastimes. You’re absolutely right, if you are not doing something that you are afraid of, you’re probably living a boring life.