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Fear has always been, and will still be the bane of most Entrepreneurs especially the young, new and inexperienced ones. The ability to fight and overcome fear differentiates between the successful and unsuccessful business owners.
It is very common for young entrepreneurs to entertain fears especially at the onset of their business. I remember the first appointment I had with the CEO of a company in my neighbourhood years ago when I was kicking of my ICT training program. It took me nearly one week to make up my mind. One sentence I usually use to muster courage is “If am afraid to take opportunities, then I should be ready to embrace poverty” The word poverty detests me a lot and it usually spurs me into action.

As an entrepreneur or a-would-be entrepreneur, you should prepare your mind against every discouraging factor like fear and inferiority syndrome. Sit down and write down some punch lines that will help spur you into action when you experience such discouraging factors.

Most times, I wonder the kind of hearts Kids have; if you have ever been with kids between 1-4 years of age, you will notice the never-afraid-attitude in them. Kids can do anything, ask for anything bravely, even jump down from a storey building. But as they grow the adults around them would start instilling fears in them through various ways.

To combat fear in business you must emulate kids when taking crucial business decisions. This doesn’t mean you should blindly walk into death trap. You should study every terrain you want to go into, weigh the evens and the odds, if from you study you find the business/decision very okay and promising don’t be afraid to start.

Lesson: Take some time to study one or two kids around you today, note down various courageous actions and characteristics you find in them, try to appy them in your life, I bet you will see a change.

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As he said, we had to get every details right. We had to survey this, survey that and make sure the environment was right. Three months later we were still planning to set up a simple bookshop. Each time we met to talk business he would commence boring lectures on his business experience and his versatility and stress that it was important to make sure the planning was right.

Needless to say I got out instead of continuing to waste my time. Planning till eternity wouldn’t put money in my pocket

Planning for a new venture is very important though. You have to look at every possible aspect and tie all loose ends but when that young man took me through 3 months of planning for the small campus bookshop I wanted to open I knew he was one of those who preferred talking about what will be done than actually getting to do that thing which should be done. He would sometimes tell me of his plans to open a shoe and accessories store in my university but try as I would to get him to begin but he preferred going on and on with elaborate plans. He always carried a bag he claimed contained contract proposals and project documents of projects he was putting together for schools, government agencies and the rest.

In him I saw a talker and not a doer. He was a fan of Rich Dad, Poor Dad but he wasn’t ready to apply the lessons. He shied away from getting down to work.

If you plan to take care of every detail before setting out then you are certainly not setting out anywhere. All those who have started something and taken it to the next level whether it is a novel, football career, business etc started without waiting to make sure everything was alright. You would grow grey hairs and everything still won’t be perfect to start. Do the planning you can and if your mind tells you that the difficulties you’ve noticed cannot stop you, go ahead.

Some tenacious people have even started big dream in the face of overwhelming problems and come out victorious. By all means plan, identify stumbling blocks, make projections, forecast, analyze conditions and situations but don’t for God’s sake sleep there. I hope I am sending a message across to somebody with an idea but yet to start because of procrastination, Get to work!

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1. THE LOST ART OF BUSINESS NETWORKING
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Show me a successful person who has not failed at least once in any endeavour he embarked upon and I will tell you that such a person has not tasted true success. The day such person fails he may find it difficult to accept and may quit.

Once while resting and listening to the radio a song came on air. It was an Igbo song on FEAR. The singer told a fascinating story of a village that paid a visit to Mr. Death on account of the number of deaths occurring in the village. They pleaded with Mr. Death to spare them more deaths. Mr. Death agreed but on a condition.
What condition? Everybody wondered.

“I will only kill three persons tonight and then no more,” said Mr. Death.
Everybody went home in palpable fear. It could be me, each person thought as he walked home. That night was terrible for the villagers. Lightning came and somebody died. A thunderstorm and two were dead. Another lightning and another dead villager. And so they died in their numbers that night.

The next day the survivors were shocked at the number of the dead. Didn’t that evil Mr. Death promise to kill only three? Why so many then? Everybody agreed to pay Mr. Death one more visit and to Mr. Death’s house they went. Mr. Death welcomed them and sought to know the reason for the visit. With disappointment and anger they accused Mr. Death of killing far more than the three he promised to kill. Mr. Death smiled and shook his head.

“I only killed the three I promised you,” he replied,” I think I know the cause of your problems. There is another deadly powerful man living in the next village. You can enquire from him. He should know what is happening. His name is Mr. Fear.”

There the story ended but it made my rest worthwhile. When we fear failure we live within our comfort zone. We don’t try to make life better for ourselves and others.

A worker may be unhappy with his working conditions and wants to start his own company but fear of failing will stop him from reaching out to his dream. Fast forward a decade later, he is getting close to retirement and is full of regrets for having worked for somebody all his life with nothing to show for it.

Man naturally was not created to be afraid of failure. Man is naturally daring and tries something until he succeeds. A typical example of a real man is a child. A crawling child will keep on trying to stand and walk even after several failures. He may fall and hit his head on something but after wailing the next few minutes he is seen struggling to get hold of the table to stand. Why for God’s sake can’t we think of ourselves when we were young, small and innocently brave? We have lots of lessons to learn from infants. Ever watched a crawling baby pursue a ball on the floor? When it seems he is getting hold of it the mother shifts it further, up the child goes after the ball until he gets it.

Naturally we weren’t created to be so afraid for it is through failing that we come to succeed. But as we grew up, our teachers flogged us for making mistakes. Slowly we came to learn that anyone who fails is to be punished and ridiculed so we began to dread failing. That is why many men and women including youths who should be daring are afraid to pursue their ideas.

The boy that wants to learn to ride a bicycle must be prepared for one or two falls. If eventually he learns without falling, good but nevertheless he must be ready to fall off the bicycle. If you don’t try out your ideas now you might regret years later. Time is short. The worst penalty for failing is that you will have to start again. Live your live to the full and don’t be a prisoner to fear, that’s what we preach at NairaBrains.

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