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Idea to Action Quote: Fear is good. Fear means you are alive. Fear is only to be understood. When you acknowledge it, you can find ways to beat it.
The inner journey to starting a business is just as important as writing a business plan and getting financing. If you don't take that journey the best business plan remains just that. A plan.
The following statements illustrate the mind set of people who have taken the journey:
- You can't keep doing what you have been doing. I had to do something else.
- You realize one day that you can't really work for anyone else. You have to start your own thing. It almost doesn't matter what that thing is.
- You understand the odds are against you, but you believe that you will beat the odds.
- You realize that other people do this all the time. Other people start companies all the time. If they can do it, so can you.
- You weigh the benefits vs. the risks and responsibilities. Then you just do it.
- You jump in, even if it's stupid. At some point, after you consider everything, you just take the plunge.
Do you see a statement that mirror's your journey?
The following 10 considerations can help you take the next step to starting out on your own.
1. Say yes to your yearning. You don't have to know at this moment what you will do or how you will do it. Simply acknowledge the inner voice that's been nudging you to venture into the world of entrepreneurship.
2. Start a journal. Use it daily to write down your ideas, goals, feelings and whatever is going on in your life. Keeping a journal helps you get to know yourself better, and you'll see your progress when you look back.
3. Write down your goals. Studies have revealed that people who write down their goals are five times more likely to achieve them. When would you like to start a business? Leave your job? How much money would you like to have saved? Set goals, and work toward achieving them.
4. Visualize your success. Create a vision of what you desire as an entrepreneur, and write it down.
5. Create and read affirmations. Affirmations are "I am" statements about what you want to happen, written in the present tense as if they are already happening. "I am a successful entrepreneur" is a good one to start with.
6. Evaluate your beliefs. Grab a sheet of paper and write your beliefs about yourself, money, your business and the future on the left. See if these beliefs reflect what you want to believe. If not, write your new beliefs on the right, and add them to your affirmations.
7. Do what you love. This helps you discover and clarify what you want to do as an entrepreneur. If you don't know what you love to do, think back to what you loved to do as a kid.
8. Do something different every day. Shake up your routine, and get used to change
9. Act "as if." Start acting as if you are your own boss. Feel what it's like to make your own schedule and generate your own revenue.
10. Go out and scare yourself. Are you afraid of doing something, saying something or going somewhere? Do it afraid! Being afraid and doing it anyway builds courage and confidence.
Resources : www.entrepreneur.com; www.flyingsolo.com; www.16thletter.com
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