CHAPTER 1 Getting Prepared to Win
Fact: You have what it takes to build an incredibly successful business.
#CLEVERGIRLSKNOW
CHALLENGING THE FEAR THAT HOLDS YOU BACK
So, before we dive into all things side hustles and business, let’s start at the very beginning. Let’s start with you and what could potentially be holding you back: your fear. Yup, that tiny little four-letter word is a pretty big deal because it can negatively impact your ability to pursue your goals in a major way. And more specifically to our topic at hand, fear can impact your ability to start and grow a successful side hustle.
When it comes to starting or growing a side hustle, fear is real and worry is its best friend. Did you nod your head? It’s probably because you’ve felt one or more of several different fears that come with this journey. I have personally felt all kinds of fears and had all kinds of worries on my business journey.
For instance, there’s the fear of the unknown and not knowing enough: “I have no idea how any of this works or how I will pull it off.”
There’s the fear of failure: “What if I start this thing and it doesn’t work out?”
There’s the fear of risk: “This is going to take too much time, money, and resources.”
There’s the fear that you are incapable (aka imposter syndrome): “Who am I to think I can do this?”
There’s also the fear of change: “Just thinking about starting a side hustle and the road ahead makes me nervous!”
And these are just to name a few. Add in worrying about where you are going to find the time and worrying about what other people will think, and you have the perfect formula to do…nothing. Absolutely nothing. And this is where so many incredible business ideas die and get buried.
Fear is a major reason why so many people don’t pursue their dreams or they give up too quickly. Defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary1 as “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger,” fear can actually prevent you from pursuing incredible opportunities, because if you don’t have a handle on it, it can cloud your judgment.
Keep in mind, though, the goal is not to do away with fear completely. There are many instances where we need it to warn us and keep us alert to problems or dangers. Instead, we need to learn how to address our fear, minimize its hold over us, and use it to our benefit.
Instead of letting fear dictate the actions we take (or don’t take), we need to adjust our approach to dealing with it. When it came to building my own business, I’ve felt every single one of the fears I just mentioned. But this time, I decided I had spent too much of my life allowing my fears to keep me stuck or make me give up. I was done with looking back in regret at what I wish I could have done but didn’t. I decided to approach fear differently and instead leverage it to help me succeed.
So how do you leverage fear to your benefit? Here’s what has worked for me in the past and continues to work for me to this day.
Start by accepting that fear does not go away on its own, so you have to confront it head-on. Instead of letting it keep you uncertain and stuck, look at your fears as an opportunity to learn and grow. Whenever I feel fear, I challenge myself to identify what exactly I’m afraid of. I then ask myself what worst-case scenario or outcome could arise from the source of my fear. Once I’m clear on this, I determine the best-case scenario and outcome, because thinking about it this way is super-motivating. Then, I lay out specific actions that I can take to help me counter my fear.
It could be working to improve a certain skill to help me overcome a business challenge I’m facing. It could be asking for help or leaning on my support system of business mentors and fellow entrepreneurs (we’ll get into how you can establish a support system for yourself later on). It could be dusting off my “why” and reminding myself why I want to succeed. It could be imagining what my success could look like after I achieve a certain goal. Or it could be as simple as stepping away to take a mental break and coming back to things later on with a clear head and rested body.
These are all things that you can do as well to power through your fears. Instead of letting your fears set you back, you can leverage them to propel you forward by being objective about the root cause and creating a plan to take action, no matter how small your first step may be.
Fear is an indicator that you are outside of your comfort zone—but outside your comfort zone is where the magic happens. This is where you turn your “one-day” dreams and goals into a successful reality. As you make progress with your side hustle or business, you’ll face fears about different things and in different ways, but the key is to remain objective and take action to counter your fears.
You’ll come away each time feeling more confident in yourself and clearer about what you need to do to succeed in business.
Take Action
Let’s challenge your fears! Take some time to do the following action steps to turn your fears into opportunities:
1 Identify your fears. Write down every fear that has discouraged you or has been an excuse as to why you have not taken the next step to build your side hustle.
2 Determine the worst-case scenarios. For each fear, write down the absolute worst-case scenario of what could happen and what it could look like. You get less sleep, your life gets busier, you cut back on your expenses in certain areas to invest in your business…you may find that it’s actually not that bad. Or maybe you’re envisioning a worse, big-picture scenario: no one wants to buy your product, or you invest a lot of money in your business only for it to fail. (Don’t worry: there are ways to counter all your fears, big or small!)
3 Imagine the best-case scenarios. Now, lay out what it would look like to succeed in detail. You make your first sale, you have a return customer, you get an amazing press feature, your business becomes profitable, and earns you more income than your full-time job! By focusing on best-case scenarios, you can motivate yourself!
4 Lay out specific action steps you can take to counter your fears. Next, write down specific action steps you can take (no matter how small) and timelines to complete them that will help you counter your fears. For instance, if you’re worried about life getting too busy and frantic, create a schedule with designated times to take a break. If you’re worried about money, start by investing small amounts in your business until you’ve proven it can make a profit, while saving money from your day job. If you fear that your idea will flop, spend time researching your target market to validate that there’s a need for it. Set success-oriented goals like implementing what you learn in this book, identifying a business mentor, etc.
GET PREPARED TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
Now that you have a plan to tackle your fears, it’s time to get your head in the game and prepare yourself to build not just any side hustle, but a successful side hustle. And it starts by establishing the right mindset.
From setting financial goals, to budgeting, to paying off debt, to saving and investing, to, you guessed it, actually starting the side hustle, having the right mindset is foundational and critical to your success at each stage.
Having the right mindset gets you ready for the journey ahead, and nurturing your mindset along the way keeps you motivated and focused. This in turn increases your chances of success. But why is mindset so important when you are starting or growing a side hustle? After all, isn’t a side hustle something you just do on the side?
Well,