***Are You Hiding Out and Playing Small in Your Business?

A client was sharing with me how he was afraid to get out and begin doing public presentations to promote his business. While he knew that he needed to make himself more visible he had a long list of concerns about why he wasn’t ready “to go public.” My client was not alone in his conflict - many entrepreneurs struggle with hiding out in their business. What often arises is some form of believing that they’re not ready; not knowing how to talk about who they serve or what they do, or what to say during a presentation, and having fear of speaking in front of others due to memories of past speaking or networking experiences that went poorly. He realized that his concerns weren’t actual concerns limited to just public speaking, but instead were masking a deeper need to be liked and approved and also his fears about being rejected. These concerns reared their ugly heads in almost every aspect of his business. He was afraid of not being liked when he led initial complimentary consultations, or when he was coaching his clients, or when sending out marketing emails. He had a breakthrough when he realized that he didn’t have to wait for his fear or concerns to completely disappear before moving forward with public speaking. He could literally experience fears of being rejected while putting himself out there in a bigger way at the same time. It was only when he chose to move forward in the midst of his fear that he eventually became more comfortable with speaking and his fears significantly lessened until they all but disappeared. Today’s reminder Here’s a daily reminder you can use to stop hiding out in your business I need to candidly ask myself, am I hiding out in my business? If so, how am I hiding out? What are the conversations I have in my head that justify hiding out in my business and playing small? Are these conversations limited to one particular aspect of my business (like public speaking or networking) or is this fear/conce a common thread throughout my business (chances are it probably is!)? Instead of waiting for the fear to completely disappear before moving forward, what is an action step that I can take to stop hiding out and be more visible RIGHT NOW? “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, NOT absence of fear” - Mark Twain