I’ve had three conversations with fellow entrepreneurs this week and they all have had the same tone with an underlying sense of fear and confusion. These companies are from the outside looking in businesses that are highly enviable. Nothing causes more anxiety as the unknown and the road less traveled and these are the dominant features of owning your own company. As a CEO myself I am not exempt from this.
It made me think back to my days when I had a high paying job and so did my husband. I remember buying my first Mercedes and not wanting to take a test drive because I had read the reviews and didn’t feel it was necessary.
Having a high paying career can be seductive. I thrived on the intensity of working in technology. I worked for a music software start up, a voice over IP company and launched some amazing corporate products. There were many perks, I traveled and was well compensated and the path ahead was always clear. We had titles then, and everyone knew what was the logical next step.
There are many entrepreneurs now. With the many business tools available today, it’s easy to start a company. Getting it to grow, scale and be profitable is another story.
There are roadmaps, courses, books, and coaches to guide you, but it’s a very cluttered landscape. When all the noise of the constant stress and anxiety of making expensive decisions and the advise that comes with it dies down, what remains is simply the necessity to believe in yourself, your vision and your company.
I think one day being an entrepreneur will be the norm rather than the exception and taking huge financial and personal risks will be common place. I recently read there is only one way to deal with fear and that is to think of it as two roads; down one road is fear, down the other is something other than fear. Choose that.
Love and blessings to all.
Sydney 