Does Fear Paralyze You or Protect You in Business?

Does Fear Paralyze You or Protect You?

Dated: June 4th, 2009

Today on a home business forum I read the following post.

“People are scared because not everyone has an entrepreneurial spirit. Some people enjoy working their jobs, getting their paycheck and want nothing more. Others long for something else but the fear of the unknown has them shackled to jobs they aren’t satisfied with.

Still others want more but don’t want to do what it takes to get more. They ask for work at home opportunities that cost nothing yet everyone knows you have to work two weeks for your first paycheck. What do you use to get to work? How about meals to keep you alive until that first check arrives? They spent money to make money when they agreed to take their first job. They just don’t see it that way.

I just keep looking for the people who are open to taking a chance, to step out on faith and make things happen. These are the people I’m looking for. Take care and God bless.”

I do agree with some of the points this forum user made. I agree that it takes money to make money. I agree that fear all to often paralyzes us and keeps us from doing what is necessary to succeed financially in life.

However, there are many things that I disagree with in this post and those are the points I wish to write about in this article. I do not wish to disrespect the user that wrote this post for I believe that this person, as far as I know, is a successful and honorable home business owner. I write this to help those who are looking into home businesses to not make the same mistakes that I made. I also hope that this article will help any of those people who are struggling in home businesses and are only loosing money or barely braking even. My hope is that this article will cause those people to step back for one moment and rethink how they are doing business and quit spending money until they have a clear marketing plan in place to succeed.

The point was made by the user who posted this comment on fear that if people are willing to pay for gas to go to work and to buy food then they should not be afraid to invest in a home business for it costs money to make money. I don’t think it is fair to compare the costs of maintaining a job to the costs of joining a home business. Here’s why.

When we join a home business we are required to purchase a certain amount of product each month or annually to remain “active” This can cost us a lot and in most home businesses people are unable to earn more than they spend on their own product.

There is NO guarantee that if you purchase the required product that in two weeks you will receive a paycheck. However with a JOB you are guaranteed that if you put gas in your car and drive to work you will recieve a paycheck at the end. As for groceries and food you have to buy those anyways, those are not part of the cost of having a job.

I don’t think we should let fear paralyze us to the point that we do nothing for we have to do something, but I would suggest that we exercise caution and use intelligence in deciding how to better our financial situation.

If you are considering a home based business or are currently loosing money in a home based business I would suggest you consider the following things:

If you have a job DO NOT quit your job until you have the income you need. That is unwise.
Understand clearly what the cost of doing business is. Not only the cost of the product, but also the cost of marketing and time that you will have to invest.
Know what it takes to be in the positive. For example how many people will you need to put on auto-ship to pay for your minimum product purchase each month? How many will you need to earn $1000 per month? How many for $5000 per month? Uplines and sponsors often don’t want you to think about this because it is rational and they want you to make an emotional purchase. If you come in to your business rationally and not emotionally then you will stick with it longer and you will have more success.
Create a personal marketing plan and know what you are going to do to grow your business to the point that it is earning you the amount of money that you need to be making. We claim to be entrepreneurs, but NO entrepreneur would get funding from an investor without a clear business plan and that business plan must include an extensive marketing plan. So if investors won’t put money in to our business with out a plan why should we invest our own money without a plan.
Do NOT settle for the promise that “we will train you.” “If you do everything that we tell you then you will make money” “The only people that don’t make money are those that don’t listen to us and follow our system.” These are lies. Learn how you are going to succeed before you invest the money and time into that opportunity. As you do so you will learn skills that will make you successful in any business and you may find that their is a better business opportunity out ther for you.
Resuming the other 5 points. Be quick to learn, ask lots of questions and slow to purchase products unless you want those products regardless of whether or not you make money selling those products.

I hope that this helps somebody and I invite you to comment and contribute to this topic.

I’m not telling you not to join a home business. Much to the contrary. I’m simply telling you to learn, network and create a marketing plan and a system and then join the business that is right for you rather than join a business, begin spending money on product every month and loose money. If you are interested in learning how I build businesses and want step by step instruction on how you can do the same please join my newsletter and you will have access to my LIVE trainings and my recorded past trainings.

You can join my newsletter by clicking here. http://mlmnetworkingtools.com/dotcomifymyhomebusiness/