be afraid

Written By Ken Fernandez

ARE YOU afraid of failure?

You should be. Here’s how to turn that fear into hope.

 Years ago, I was looking to expand my business into a new market. In the process, I received a phone call from my number one competitor. He wanted to meet with me. We met at his office at his suggestion. I had never been there before. I knew he wanted to meet there so he could show me the superiority of his company over mine. I am a simple man when it comes to my need to impress. He was an arrogant rich kid who had his business handed to him by his uncle years earlier. I had started my business from the ground up with nothing. For years he had an advantage in business because of his financial backing. But over time we had closed the gap, and now we have surpassed him. 

I went into his bigger-than-needed office and sat down facing him at his bigger-than-needed desk and listened to his bigger-than-needed ego, telling me how great his company is. Now, don’t get me wrong, though we have a different business philosophy, he is a formidable competitor.

Finally, he got to the point: “I have been informed that you are looking to open a store in one of my markets. ‘Possibly,’ I said. “Well, I will tell you right now that if you do that, we will crush you. I will come after your business in every way that I can.’

He continued his threats for another 15 minutes. When he finished, I stood up shook his hand, and walked out of his office; I had a huge pit in my stomach, and I was scared. But, by the time I got back to my office, the fear had turned to anger. 

Finally, he got to his point: ‘John, I have been informed that you are looking to open a store in one of my markets.’ ‘Possibly,’ I said. ‘Well, I will tell you right now that if you do that, we will crush you. I will come after your business in every way that I can.’

He continued his threats for another 15 minutes. When he finished, I stood up shook his hand, and walked out of his office. As I drove away, I had a huge pit in my stomach. I was scared. But, by the time I got back to my office the fear had turned into anger. Who was this guy to try to ruin my business and take away the livelihood of myself and all of my employees? I went into my office and closed the door, sat down at my normal-sized desk to think. As I sat there this amazing feeling overcame me. The fear was gone, the anger had vanished, and now the excitement set in. I am a very competitive person. I knew that I was better than he was. I knew that my people were better than his people. I knew that we had a superior business philosophy, and I knew that he couldn’t win. The next year we opened a new store in his area and eight years later we are still here and stronger than ever.

The point of this story is this: As a business owner you had better be afraid. For me, the fear of failure is a great motivator. The fear of losing everything you have, maybe even your home will cripple most people. What if I’m not good enough? What will people think of me? What about my family; how will I feed them? There are days when it can be pretty scary. One bad day of sales would set me off. It’s all falling apart. Your imagination can drive you crazy.

But, the thoughts of success will drive those fears away. Dream and dream big, really big. Feel what success looks like in your mind. Being the best at what you do takes hard work. Success is hard work, but are you willing to work for it? Do you want to go through life regretting your unfulfilled dreams?  The thought of success and the dreams of success are so motivating. And then one day you will get there and then the next day you blow those original dreams out of the water. When the reality far exceeds those original dreams, wow.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy, that’s why most people will never do it. But being a great entrepreneur is even harder, that’s why most people will never do that. A majority of people will try to do it on their own, they won’t ask questions, and they won’t educate themselves about their industry. You’re not most people though, are you? That’s why you came to me. I have told many people that I know, who were looking to start a business, that I would coach them for free. Do you know how many of those people came to me before they started their business? Zero. All of them struggled, and most of them failed. If you follow the advice I have given you over these past few weeks and you work your but off, you will succeed. Why? Because you will have all of the tools you will need, fear being one of them, to succeed.