One of my favourite T-shirts from my youth had a brash, loud slogan on it – F C U K FEAR it screamed, in deep, menacing red letters (f c u k of course being a popular clothing brand). In 1992, when I was about 17 it was pretty much my attitude to everything, and I suspect that the same probably rings true for you at that age. For me, that approach worked quite well back then, and I managed to get pretty much most things I wanted.
Now, I’m far more tempered and humble in all areas of my life, but the internet marketing inner voice within me still wears that T shirt today, as proudly and arrogantly as in 1992. And, it’s helping me reach new summits in the world of internet business.
How about you? Are you as confident and bold in business now as you were towards life back in the day? Or are you more tempered, and cautious? And, is it possible that a little fear may be stopping you from surging ahead? Let’s find out… because today, I’d like you to consider putting on your own mental F C U K FEAR t-shirt – so that you can grow and develop your business without any worries, and take the considerable internet business returns that many ordinary people like you and I are making everyday.
Here’s a little more on why fear is counterproductive to your business and marketing, why it’s stopping you from doing all things from list building to traffic generation – and how you can overcome it…
1. Fear Is A Primitive Emotion That Has No Place In The Online Business World…
Unless you were bunking biology classes (and shame on you), you’d know that fear as an emotion came about because it helped animals and early humans escape primitive dangers such as being chased and eaten by a hungry sabre toothed tiger. It was important back then because fear, in it’s extreme’s, taught early humans to be wary. Cautious. It helped them to survive, and the ones who did not feel it often ended up as snacky-poo’s for old sabre puss. Ironically, they were the ones who would have probably done quite well in business were it not for the mauling.
Unfortunately, in today’s highly evolved world – where satellites orbit the earth and you can watch the Simpsons on your Blackberry – as emotions go, fear’s become a right old burden. Like your appendix, it’s become pretty useless, existing only to cause problems and serving no real purpose. Fear is responsible for many individuals and small business from evolving. Fear stops otherwise bright people from achieving their true potential. And, fear must be removed as you would a troublesome appendix.
2. Why The Fear? Many New Internet Entrepreneurs Are SCARED To…
Fail. Fear and greed are two of the most powerful emotions in the world of business – and that applies as much to a large corporation with thousands of employees as it does to a work-from-home mom, plugging away at her internet marketing from her basement.
It’s normal to feel fear – fear of failure – fear of wasting your capital – fear of trying new advertising methods. The thing is, 100% of people feel it, but only 2% or so master it – and those are the people and the businesses who perform the very best in the world of business and marketing.
Want some examples?
Fear WON – In 2001, Yahoo was by far the biggest search engine around. It was the boss – the absolute baap of search engines. However, it couldn’t ignore a resurgent, but then very small, Google. With Google’s huge growth, and it’s rampant ability to attract more and more people to use it as their primary search engine, it seemed almost compulsory that Yahoo should have bought Google out while it had the chance. And the financial muscle.
Yahoo would have acquired Google’s growing client base. It’s technlogy. And stopped it’s biggest threat dead in it’s tracks – but it didn’t. Why? Basically, it bottled it. It was petrified by Google’s high asking price. So, it turned it’s back on the obvious business it should have bought out, and then set about on a series of magnificent purchasing blunders of useless, non competing companies and sites that barely added value (have you heard of Pixoria or Konfabulator? Me either, but Yahoo squandered a fair bit of cash on them). That fear, at that key moment in it’s history has relegated Yahoo to a footnote in the chronicles of internet marketing history. Chalk that up as a big win for fear.
Fear LOST – In 2000, two chaps by the name of Edward Wray and Andrew Black launched one of the internets first online betting sites – betfair. They had lots of fear and doubt going in – the internet, while growing, was still nowhere as rampant as it is today. Online bookies were practically a “pie in the sky” concept, and offline betshops like William Hill and Ladbrokes still ruled the hearts and minds of punters. These guys faced an incredible amount of uncertainty – would internet gambling really take off? Could they really dare to snatch the client base of the big betting shops? Would they be able to create an online betting platform that users would feel comfortable in using? And countless other issues. But, they saw the trend of the internet, saw how people wanted to stay at home to have a flutter, and ultimately bet on themselves. For the last results I have available, Betfair has over a million active users and has grown to be a multi million dollar company. The gamble certainly paid off for Betfair – and all because they saw past the fear.
3. How About You? Do You Feel Fear? That’s Ok, Do What You Have To Anyway…
Do you suspect fear may be holding you back from starting or growing your own business? Is there anything that you know you should be doing, but for some inexplicable reason, you’re not? Perhaps it’s finally picking a quality niche and hitting it with all you’ve got. Perhaps it’s advertising your blog/site, or even getting started with one? Perhaps it’s advertising or marketing your site because you’re worried about the time/financial investment.
Fact is, even the most confident and experienced among us can get scared if we look for reasons to. That little voice will always be there whispering nonsense in your ear – telling you that you’re making a mistake. That you’ll lose your shirt. That business and success isn’t for people like you. Sometimes, you’ve just got to close your eyes and take the plunge – because as long as your reasons for acting are sensible, fear is irrelevant. So, next time you hear that little voice, just tell the idiot to shut up. And do what you have to.
Fear? F C U K it.
