Whether it be fear of the unknown, fear of failure, or fear of
success, none are good reasons to not get your product on the market. I
have a friend who has been planning to sell items on eBay. I say
'planning' because she's been talking about this for two years now, and
has yet to list his first auction. It's not because she doesn't have
things to sell on eBay. She has plenty of things to sell; the problem is
fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. And fear of success. She's
afraid she doesn't know how to sell on eBay. She's afraid her auction
items won't sell. She's afraid that her auctions items will sell and she
won't be able to keep up with the sales.
You probably know people or have experienced these same fears yourself. Here's how to overcome each of them.
1. Fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown is often a good thing. It can alert you to potential danger, keep you out of trouble, and sometimes save your life. But fear of the unknown can also paralyse you into inaction. In the case of creating an eBay auction listing, or launching a new internet project, fear of the unknown should only come into play if there is a high degree of monetary or legal risks with the project.
If there are legal risks or any question about the legality of the project, either consult a legal professional or choose another project. If there are monetary risks like high startup or high development costs, drop the project, especially if it is your first project.
If the fear of the unknown is simply a matter of not knowing how to start a web site, or not knowing how to create a sales page, or not knowing how to accept orders or deliver products, then don't worry. Doing those things can be easy. Just break each unknown into a single step, and search for articles, how to videos, or discussion forum advice on how to get it done. Then do it!
When you realise that millions of people are creating web sites, developing web pages, and placing products for sale on the web, you start to understand that it can't be that difficult. Just start with a small project with little or no startup costs, where you are selling something completely legal, and build a web site to sell it from. You can definitely do that.
2. Fear of Failure
Another major fear when it comes to launching a new project is fear of failure. You worry about failing, or forgetting to do something important, or looking like a beginner or a fool. And you know what? It won't matter.
On your first project you probably won't succeed. Things won't go as planned, parts of it will look like you are a beginner. And it really won't matter, because almost no one has a major success (or even makes a profit) on their first project. So failing with your first project is almost a guarantee, but it won't matter as long as you haven't invested much money or taken legal risks in getting the project off the ground.
Even if you 'fail' on your first project, you actually succeed. Because by just doing the project, you will have gained a lot of experience and knowledge which will make failure less likely on future projects.
So don't fear failure. Expect it.
3. Fear of Success
Surprisingly, some people fear success more than they fear failure. They worry that when they launch their first project and thousands of orders flood in they won't be able to handle it. They worry they won't have enough inventory to fill orders, or won't know how to package and ship the products, won't know how to track customers, and won't be able to deal with all the success.
Problem is, worrying about all this is like expecting to win the lottery with the first ticket you buy. Your chances of having an overwhelming success with your first project are almost zero (see fear of failure above).
And should you somehow come up with a real winner, and should you be overwhelmed with orders, you can resolve those problems with a part time member of staff and a call to your printer or disk duplicator.
Don't fear success. Success is good. Too many orders is a nice problem to have.
But rarely does it happen like in the movies. In the real world, success usually means a steady trickle of orders. Not an avalanche.
4. The Reality
The reality in the Internet publishing and product development business is this.
Of course, before you can even think about earning that £10,000 a month income from your products, you start by producing your first product. Get it completed, get it on the web for sale, and if sells just one copy, you will have learned what it takes to earn £10,000 a month.
You probably know people or have experienced these same fears yourself. Here's how to overcome each of them.
1. Fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown is often a good thing. It can alert you to potential danger, keep you out of trouble, and sometimes save your life. But fear of the unknown can also paralyse you into inaction. In the case of creating an eBay auction listing, or launching a new internet project, fear of the unknown should only come into play if there is a high degree of monetary or legal risks with the project.
If there are legal risks or any question about the legality of the project, either consult a legal professional or choose another project. If there are monetary risks like high startup or high development costs, drop the project, especially if it is your first project.
If the fear of the unknown is simply a matter of not knowing how to start a web site, or not knowing how to create a sales page, or not knowing how to accept orders or deliver products, then don't worry. Doing those things can be easy. Just break each unknown into a single step, and search for articles, how to videos, or discussion forum advice on how to get it done. Then do it!
When you realise that millions of people are creating web sites, developing web pages, and placing products for sale on the web, you start to understand that it can't be that difficult. Just start with a small project with little or no startup costs, where you are selling something completely legal, and build a web site to sell it from. You can definitely do that.
2. Fear of Failure
Another major fear when it comes to launching a new project is fear of failure. You worry about failing, or forgetting to do something important, or looking like a beginner or a fool. And you know what? It won't matter.
On your first project you probably won't succeed. Things won't go as planned, parts of it will look like you are a beginner. And it really won't matter, because almost no one has a major success (or even makes a profit) on their first project. So failing with your first project is almost a guarantee, but it won't matter as long as you haven't invested much money or taken legal risks in getting the project off the ground.
Even if you 'fail' on your first project, you actually succeed. Because by just doing the project, you will have gained a lot of experience and knowledge which will make failure less likely on future projects.
So don't fear failure. Expect it.
3. Fear of Success
Surprisingly, some people fear success more than they fear failure. They worry that when they launch their first project and thousands of orders flood in they won't be able to handle it. They worry they won't have enough inventory to fill orders, or won't know how to package and ship the products, won't know how to track customers, and won't be able to deal with all the success.
Problem is, worrying about all this is like expecting to win the lottery with the first ticket you buy. Your chances of having an overwhelming success with your first project are almost zero (see fear of failure above).
And should you somehow come up with a real winner, and should you be overwhelmed with orders, you can resolve those problems with a part time member of staff and a call to your printer or disk duplicator.
Don't fear success. Success is good. Too many orders is a nice problem to have.
But rarely does it happen like in the movies. In the real world, success usually means a steady trickle of orders. Not an avalanche.
4. The Reality
The reality in the Internet publishing and product development business is this.
- You create products.
- You create web pages to sell those products.
- You set up then marketing for those products (Google AdWords, Amazon).
- Then orders slowly come in, and you spend a few minutes each day filling orders.
Of course, before you can even think about earning that £10,000 a month income from your products, you start by producing your first product. Get it completed, get it on the web for sale, and if sells just one copy, you will have learned what it takes to earn £10,000 a month.
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