Fear Holds People Back from Success. Here’s How to Annihilate It.

Is fear holding you back?

Most people have deep fears and anxieties that they might not even be fully consciously aware of.

And when you're thinking about starting a business, you may find yourself getting this sort of odd feeling.

Something that's somehow stopping you from just sitting down and getting started.

To succeed as an entrepreneur, you've got to get rid of that fear.

To do that, you need to do two really important things.

First, you need to start. Set up a website.

Write some content. Follow people on social media.

Do something preliminary to start making your idea a reality.

Then, you need to persist. You can't just give up partway through because you're frustrated.

Perseverance is key.

Starting a business is a grind. It's a lot of work, and it takes time to get the ball rolling.

A lot of people end up ditching their project before it even really had a chance to get started.

In a recent article from Entrepreneur, the author explains how getting started, then staying committed, can help you get rid of fear.

Get started.

“If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it. What you should be doing is getting started.”—Drew Houston

We all have dreams, ideas and goals, but few of us make our dreams a reality. Why is that? Because we don’t get started.

The would-be athlete gets stuck in the bondage of doubt, wondering if their running shoes are too cheap to get them ahead of the competition.

The would-be author gets stuck in the bondage of writer’s block, doubting every plot point and character.

The aspiring entrepreneur also gets stuck in the bondage of their unwillingness to act, blaming investors for not giving them the chance to build their dream company.

The one thing that all of these fearful folks have in common? They don’t get started. They are stuck in the bondage of procrastination, which is another form of fear. Becoming a successful entrepreneur is all about having the guts to package your crazy ideas into a product, the hoping for the best.

Never, ever give up.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” -Nelson Mandela

It really feels scary at first.

You quit your day job and go on to build a business that you’re not sure will work. As a founder, your startup is just an institution operating, as Eric Reis, the Lean Startup founder, puts it, “under a condition of extreme uncertainty.”

So you might start running your business venture today, and you won’t attract any prospect or close any sale for a month or two. It’s an uncertain world, and that’s why only a few patient entrepreneurs succeed. The majority give up and quit.

If you want to beat your fear, focus on the process of building the foundation of your entrepreneurship career, and make the whole thing enjoyable. T

hat’s how successful entrepreneurs do it.

“Whatever you’re doing in business, it should be fun,” advised Richard Branson, the business magnate and founder of Virgin. “That has always been a priority at Virgin, and it’s a vital component of our success.”