Do you feel as if everything you do need to be perfect before you can show it to the rest of the world?

It’s a common problem and it is a trap that is keeping you from moving forward with your business. Trying to be perfect is only going to make you lose money.

If you know this is something you are trapped in you need to see the video below.

Do you recognize this behavior? Do you do it or have you done it? If you know you are letting this stand in your way of being who you are and getting your message out to the world, what are you going to do to get out of it? Please do share in the comments!

And you know what – turn up the volume because the video did not turn out perfect and the audio is a bit low. But I felt it was important to get this out to you instead of re-doing it until it was perfect.

Is Your Confidence Deceiving You? Is it causing you to believe what is not true?

How confident are you when it comes to making business decisions? How confident are you that your decision is the right one and the outcome will be one you desired?

Lacking confidence can be hazardous for your online business. You need to believe in yourself and your business. Afterall, if it wasn’t for you there wouldn’t be a business. You are your business.

There are two things that normally stops us from doing something. One is the question: “Can I do this?”
and the other thing is called delaying a necessary action.

First we procrastinate because we aren’t sure we can do it and then we start telling our selves that now isn’t the right time.  We have to wait a little until _______your reason here__________ (I have enough of this or that or this happens or I do that..)

Are you going to let your confidence stopping you from growing your business?

Here is a short but very powerful statement I heard the other day:

If not Me, then Who? If not Now, then When?

Take a moment to reflect on that. Every time your confidence starts deceiving you that you can’t do something or should wait a little, remind yourself of that statement. However, don’t jump right into opportunities, now might not be the right time. Think through what you want the results to be and if you are delaying the action this very moment because your lack of confidence.

If not You, then who? If not Now, then when?

Improving your self confidence to take action in your business

• Think about the root of your fears. Is it fear of being rejected, humiliated, laughed at, achieveing success, gaining responsibility or something else?
• Think thorugh how you can deal with certain situations and if necessary create a system that helps you deal with it.
• Get an accountability partner to support you. Join a mastermind group.
• Take classes on speaking in front of a public if that will help you.
• Take a class on posture and etiquette if that will be beneficial for you.
• Get a personal shopper to help you choose the right clothes for you if you aren’t sure your clthing is good enough for public meetings.
• Go to a therapist and discuss your childhood. Much of what we do as adults is realted to our childhood.
• Do an activity that is not related to your business and will help you feel better as a person.
• Ask your friends to write down a few of your qualities they like.

There are many things that are not related to business at all that can help you when it comes to running your business. The important thing is that you cannot let your confidence decide for you. Take a step further, it will feel so much better then and the next time it won’t be as hard as the first time. Believe me, I’ve been there and so have most online business owners. You need to push past your confidence and just get going.

Remember: If not You, then Who? If not Now, then When?

Has your confidence been deceiving you to take action in your business? How did you overcome it? Share your experience in the comments.

Today as I was walking my son to school I got this insight of how we put limits on ourselves. My son, who is 6, is constantly asking for things. He wants me to buy this and that and this and that and so on. Today his invention was that he wanted a mini motorbike for kids.

I kept saying no, and explained that I don’t think it is safe and so on, but he didn’t hear me. He just kept asking. “Mom, can you buy it, please. Please mom” I think he asked at least ten times (he is very persistent my son) and I kept saying no when it dawned on me: He doesn’t see why he can’t have it. For him everything is possible. In his eyes he can have whatever he wants.

I am in no way spoiling my child so that isn’t what this is about. But when he kept insisting I though to my self that he is so optimistic. And I thought about how we put limits on what we can and cannot do when we grow up.

As adults we start looking at the reasons why we can’t do certain things or buy something we want. We need to pay the bills, we are saving for something, we are measuring if it is a good buy or not, if it is safe, if it will be worth the money and so on. We start building up these walls of “no’s” before we’ve even started thinking about how nice, enjoyable, worthy it would be.

And this made me so sad. Because I see this every day. The inner fighting that goes on inside of us. I see it inside me, inside others and I see how dreams are crushed before they even get a chance to grow.

Our negative thinking is getting in the way of our success!
Thoughts like:

“I can’t do that”
“I’ll never be able to do that as well as …”
“No one is going to want this”
“I’m not qualified enough for this”
“I haven’t got the money to do this”
“There is no way I can get the money to take this course”

Why do we do that? Why are we so limited in our thinking? Many times we stop dreaming and trying before we’ve even had a chance to take the first step. What happens is that we are left with crushed dreams, hidden dreams that are never allowed to become real because we didn’t try. Because we didn’t have the courage to even try to make it real. Or believe in ourselves.

You cannot control other peoples actions or thoughts, but you can control you own. Everything is possible until proven impossible. Sometimes you need to try over and over again until you get what you want.

What do you want? And how are you going to get it? Are you putting invisible limits on yourself and your dreams?

Personal growth can be very uncomfortable. It can be scary and very overwhelming. But it can’t be avoided if you want to reach some kind of success with your business. It is an uncomfortable need.

If you find that you are avoiding something related to your business I strongly recommend you to tackle that problem today! Take a look at why you are avoiding doing something and why you are afraid.

Need to talk to someone but are afraid of approaching the person? Just do it!

Want to offer your help in regards for a service or product? Just do it!

Are you avoiding asking another online entrepreneur to value your business site because you are afraid of what they will say? Just do it!

Want to start a new project but are afraid it won’t work out? Do your research and lay out a plan for it and just do it!

If you feel that you are struggling with stretching yourself towards acheiveing the success you want I recommend you read the post 12 Powerful Steps Towards Personal Change. It will give you 12 steps to get you started dealing with personal change that surely will help if this is something you know you need to do.

The results? A wonderful feeling of achievement and satisfaction because you took action even if the result wasn’t what you had hoped for. Next time it will be much easier and now you are well on your way towards success.

Do you know that there is something you are avoiding in your business? Take action today and do it!

Have you experienced uncomfortable stretching in your business? What was the results of the stretch?

Photo by Aturkus

If you have been online for some time now and thought about starting an online business but has not yet started – what is stopping you?

Or is your current online business not reaching the success or milestones you’ve set up? Let me ask you: Are your personal struggles keeping you from reaching success with your online business?

There is a reason you aren’t where you want to be with your online business.

Why?

A few questions to think about: have you set up achievable goals? What is the purpose of your business? What are you offering that no one else is? How can you help as many as possible? Where do they search for the information you give? How will this affect their lives and your life?

There is often an reason behind businesses that are not working well for their owners: the one holding the reins of the company is too deep in it to see new solutions.

One of the most powerful things that hold people back is the fear of the unknown.
What will happen if I do this? If I do that: What will people think? What will my family think? How will my customers react to this? What if I am not good enough? What if my services aren’t good enough? What if my product don’t meed the needs and expectations of my customers?

Fear is responsible for most people never realizing their dreams.

If you are paralyzed by fear here is a powerful statement to release it forever: False Evidence Appearing Real.

Fear makes us imagine things that will probably never happen. So the next time you are paralyzed with the immobility of doing anything ask your self: What is it that is appearing so real here and keeping med from moving forward? Remind yourself of the FEAR statement. And get going!

Along with the fear comes another big question that often hold us back: HOW?

“How do I do that?” “I don’t know how to set up a newsletter/ create a list/advertise my services/sell”

This can hold you back more than you realize and procrastination rears its ugly head around what you should be doing and in the end nothing gets done. To get over the how realize this: You don’t need to know it all. Find someone else who knows how to do what you want to do but can’t because of lack of technical skills or whatever it is you are struggling with.

Ask for help! Don’t worry about what the answer will be – just ask.

How to get on track to reach success with your online business today:

1. Understand that your fears may not be real. Start asking yourself Is this False Evidence Appearing Real?
2. Find someone to help you with what you can’t do on your own and that is keeping you from moving forward. If you need a new website for your business but don’t know how to set one up yourself: Go get a professional Web Designer! Don’t try and do it yourself only to find out you need to redo it again because you messed up.
3. Make use of the free resources available online, but invest in the support from others with successful online businesses.
4. If you are a mom, get support and help from other moms with an online business.
5. If you have not started your online business yet but want to get started teh right way form the start – Get the Success in 7 Days guide! It will tell you exactly how to start the right way. No fluff, just real advice to help you get started.
6. This is the most important step: Take Action! While you keep dwelling about what to do someone els is doing it!

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