How to overcome your FEAR

Fear is a very real emotion that comes into play when starting your own business. There are two ways to deal with this fear.  You can choose to let it overtake you and never start your business or you can allow it to be a driving force to keep you focused.

When is Fear Good?

Fear is not always a bad thing.  I remember being very nervous before singing a solo at my high school's spring concert.  My music teacher, calmed me down by stating that a little fear is always good.  He believed that it would force me to remain focused on my notes and words.   When no fear is present, we risk becoming overconfident and lose sight of our goal. 

When is Fear Bad?

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.  ~Mary Manin Morrissey

Mary Morrisey said it best.  We run into trouble when we allow our fear to outweigh our faith.  So now comes the question, 'How can we eliminate our fear and increase our faith?"

1. The More you Know the More Fear will Go

As a teacher over 14 years, I found that students who didn't study for tests would be most fearful of exams.  Meanwhile, the students who were sure about the topic came in the class with very little or no fear at all.   As an entrepreneur, you must strive to obtain the same level of faith as the prepared student.  Become the prepared business person.

Understanding your business will make you more confident and less fearful of starting it.  The internet is my favorite source to research my business.  I encourage you to spend time surfing the net.  You can also seek out government funded programs that will help you with your business such as SCORE.  Mentors at SCORE will be more than happy to help you and give you free advice.  Another great resource is www.SBA.gov.   This is a U.S. government operated site that gives information on how to succeed as a small business owner.

2.  Find a Mentor 

It is a very good idea to link up with an experienced entrepreneur who is in your field or a similar field.  Talking with someone who has been there and done that will ease your worries. Hearing their success and failures will give you a better idea of how you should conduct your business.  A mentor can also be used to express your worries and concerns.  If the mentor truly believes in you and your business venture, he/she will help you ease your fear and help you increase your level of faith and confidence.

3.  Keep a journal 

Keeping a journal with a record of progress will help reduce your fear.  Write everything down.  Write down the day that you became incorporated.  Write about your licenses and your certifications.  Write when you landed your first job.  Write about the research that you found in your field.  Your journal could be used as a cheerleader.  Pat yourself on the back when you see that you are making progress.   Celebrate as you increase your experience and knowledge.  As your faith and confidence grows, your fear goes.

Let me know what you think.

How do you know when it's time to leave your JOB?

Questions you Must answer Before Leaving:

Taking the big leap from Job to full time business owner takes a lot of guts and faith.  My advice, DON'T LEAVE YOUR JOB until you are ready to say YES to the following questions:

1.  Are you ready for long hours?
Quitting your job and starting your own business may seem like a dream come true.  This may be the case for many but there some things you have to consider.  If you were quitting with the idea that you may work less hours, you are wrong.  Owning your own business requires hours of planning before, during  and after you are in operation.

Can you commit to the time needed to be successful?  You must factor in your life's circumstances.  Do you have children or family to give your attention to?  If yes, you can still own your own business but make sure that you think about how much time you can afford to give  your business and your family.

I am a wife and mom of a 1 year old, 6 year old and an 11 year old. I have been asked how do I do it? Fortunately, I have been able to obtain childcare for my children during the day but I am still working on balancing my evenings with family and business.  I have to pick my children up and rush home to cook, feed the children, make time for homework help and then put the children to sleep.

Business doesn't end after the kids are asleep.  After putting the children to bed, I find myself typing away on my laptop, researching ways to grow my business.  My bookmarked space is filled with hundreds of sites.  Owning your business and growing it is non stop research.  Are you ready?


2.  Are you ready FINANCIALLY?
Wow!  This is a tough one.  I would suggest that you count up your cost of living for a month.  (If you want me to go into detail, let me know and I will create a blog on this.)  Now multiply that amount by six. If you are the head of household or single,  I would suggest that you have at least six months saved before you leave your job.  If you have a partner who works, then you may get away with relying on his/her pay to help with your living expenses.

Next, you would need to add up the cost to run your business.  Please consider marketing expense.  So far, marketing and labor has been the most expensive for me.  There are tricks to pay very little or no money for marketing but I am not sure how effective those methods are.  Maybe we will discuss this in a future blog.

With starting a business you must consider upfront costs and then the ongoing costs.  Think of little things like gas, vehicles, etc.  This would require some homework.  Multiply the ongoing costs by 12 and then add the start up costs.  This will be the cost to keep you going for a year.

Do not plan to see a profit in the first year.   Are you ready for this?

****Certain businesses such as consultant or Tutor will have immediate profits because there aren't many materials involved.  Understand the business you are going into and count up the cost.

3. Are you Mentally Ready?
Owning your own business is a totally different mindset than going to a regular 9-5.  You set your own schedule.  That sounds great!  And it is great but it can also be very depressing and confusing.   You can find yourself at home, not sure where you should begin or overwhelmed by boredom because you are not as busy as you used to be with a 9-5.   Good news, this feeling will go away once you take steps toward your goal.  Setting goals are very important so that you will not fall into the trap of losing focus and getting depressed.

Are you mentally ready for a bunch of NO's?  You own your own business so now you are in charge of getting clients.  Are you motivated enough to fight through the NO's and continue until you get a YES?

You are the boss.  You are in charge of marketing, getting paid and paying your employees.  Yes, you are in charge!

Are you ready for this great responsibility?


If you answered yes to all these questions, then maybe it is time to quit your job and start your business.  There is a lot more for us to discuss before you do it.  Look out for my next blog on How to fight your fears.

Please leave comments.  This will encourage me to continue to write these blogs and give my secrets away.

How to create a business Idea

Hi,

My name is Janel Williams and I created this blog to help those who may be thinking of starting their own business.  Allow me to quickly give you my background and then I will get right to it.  I was a High School Math teacher in NY for 10 years.  The last 3 years of my career in NY were spent as the Chairperson of the Math Department at West Babylon High School.  At that point I had my Masters degree in Math Education and an Advance Degree in School Administration.  I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and the administrative part of my job and I thought that I would never leave it.

Life is funny.  We never know where it is going to lead.  I met my husband on eharmony and ended up moving to Philadelphia to join him and his son in 2009.  As a result,  I was left with the hassle of getting certifications in NJ and PA as a teacher and administrator.  I got the certifications and taught in NJ for two years.  At the end of the second year, I felt it was time for a change since life changed drastically already.  So I decided to start a business.  At first I was confused about "what" business.  My idea became clear after following the steps  I list below.  As a result, I am now in the process of running a successful Property Preservation Company.  I believe that if you follow my blog and learn from my lessons and mistakes, you too will be a successful business owner and will accomplish your dreams.

How To Create A Business Idea

Step 1: Brainstorm
Take out a sheet of paper and pencil and think of ideas or concepts that interest you. Jot it down without being judgmental.  Think about problems that need to be solved for the average consumer.  Think of products or services that would fulfill that need and voila!  You have a concept that could be profitable.

I knew that I wanted to go into real estate, but I didn't want to become a real estate agent.  I simply sat with my husband and took pencil and paper and started to jot down ideas.  We came up with buying houses cheap and then selling them.  We decided that this might not be a good idea because of the cost to buy and fix up and people were not buying houses due to the economy.  Then our minds drifted toward becoming landlords.  We thought that rentals might be in high demand due to the large amount of foreclosures.  I thought I was sold on becoming a landlord until I went to step 2.

Step 2:  Research Pros and Cons 
I can not stress using the internet enough.  Google every idea that you came up with in step one.  Look for the good, bad and ugly of the business ideas that you came up with in step 1.  Chances are, someone had the same or similar idea.  Find out all the pros and cons of the business that you are entering into.  Knowledge is power.  Obtain as much knowledge about your potential businesses as possible.

I am a research Queen.  I am always on my laptop.  I googled "landlord and real estate and Philadelphia."  After hours of research I realized that being a landlord is not always fun. The pros were, if you get the perfect tenants, you will obtain steady passive income.  I was turned off after discovering that many who owned rental properties were trying to sell them.  I was also deterred by the cost factor.   First we had to consider the cost to purchase a property and then the price to maintain it.  And please, let's not forget that we could possibly get the type of tenants that just don't want to pay.  That meant that we would have to have at least 6 months of the mortgage payment in reserves.  This was not an option.  So this led me to step 3.


Step 3:  Revise and Hone in on one idea

While completing step 2, (researching your brainstormed ideas) you will be exposed to new ideas that you weren't expecting nor looking for.  Keep an open mind.  Take notes on things that capture your interest.  Keep a notebook and research terms and ideas again.   The new concepts may lead you to your destiny.

As I researched the concept of being a landlord and real estate, I found a term I never heard of, "Property Preservation."  I researched it over and over and thought this might be something that I would be interested in.  I wanted to get involved with real estate but without becoming a real estate agent and I didn't want to put out too much upfront money to get started.  I decided to purchase a course on property preservation and learned as much as I could.  I did not expect this,  yet this is where life was taking me.  I have a team of men and women that work with me to professionally clean, maintain and rehab residential, commercial and foreclosed properties.  I am the CEO of J&J Home Preservation, LLC.  You can read more about what we do at  www.JJHOMEP.com.

I urge you to keep an open mind and let your passion lead you.


Look out for my next blog, entitled "How do you know when It's time to leave your job."