We are continuing our discussion of the fear of Internet selling. You see, many would-be entrepreneurs have extreme fear of offering products and services online to potential customers.
Some have expressed their frustration with fears so intense and debilitating that their business has stalled and they have not been able to get past this single obstacle.
In our previous discussion (Part 1 of the same title) we listed the top seven fears that seem to be fairly common among new business owners.
Today's discussion is about how to approach those fears and move past them in order to push a new business idea forward.
Here is a very simple but undisputed fact: only a small percentage of the people that have ideas about making money online ever get to the point of actually doing it!
For many, one or more of their fears have paralyzed their ability to implement their business plan and carry it through for income generation.
Here are the seven top fears that entrepreneurs express as the reasons they have not been able to move forward with their online solo business ... and ... what can be done to dispel the fear:
1. Fear of "spinning wheels" in the wrong niche.
Many people feel that market research is a daunting task. They have read about markets that are not profitable for online business. They fear that by making a commitment to a niche they will be locked into that decision forever.
But in reality, choosing a niche can be a relatively quick and painless activity. One doesn't have to survey the whole online landscape. All that is needed is to find a single niche that looks promising, make some quick online testing of the niche, and decide whether to attack it further or not.
Some serial entrepreneurs feel that the more competition there is in a niche ... the better. They like the idea that there is a lot of activity and selling going on (even by others) and that they will carve out a place for their own business so that they can share in the action.
Fear is often dispelled by action. Jump into the niche quickly, do some testing, and either decide to ramp sales up or get out now!
Fear is often a human emotion that is not totally rational. Fear is flamed by negative thoughts and "supposed" outcomes that never materialize. Some would say fear "is all in the mind."
2. Fear of being able to compete with many other small online businesses who are vying for the same prospects and customers.
If you fear competition you have several alternatives to choose from. First is to dig down deeper into the niche (specialize more) where the competition is less or non existent.
A second idea that will help to overcome the fear of competition is to position your business so that you are not competing directly (or head-to-head) with the other businesses in the niche. If most of your competitors are selling ebooks on a topic, you might decide to sell videos or audio recordings on the topic in order to differentiate your business.
You can also become unique by changing your income generating strategy. Maybe instead of selling books and reports on a topic like all of your competitors, you might decide to create a membership site and hold private "webinars" to dispense your information.
3. Fear of failing at small business.
Creating a viable and successful small business can be a very scary undertaking, especially for newbies that have never attempted this kind of activity.
There are lots of detailed and "uncommon" steps that new business owners need to execute in order to get an online business up and making sales. A certain amount of risk can be associated with business creation. The track record of entrepreneurial success is not in favor of the first time owner.
Because it is so easy to fail, many let their fear of failure become a stumbling block to moving forward to the outcome of success.
Here are some ways to overcome the fear of failure:
(1) find a mentor to help you calm your fears about setting up your business;
(2) outsource those tasks that you don't think you can execute successfully on your own;
(3) set up a management team to guide your business creation so that you can rely on outside talent to minimize failing at various aspects of starting your business;
(4) minimize the possibility of failure by modeling what other successful businesses are doing - both in and outside your niche; and
(5) choose a very simple and straightforward business model that will allow you to ease into business without getting too technical or complicated.
4. Owner fears that he hasn't gained sufficient knowledge and skill to begin making money online just yet.
Some of the same solutions listed in #3 above will also help to dispel the "don't know enough yet" fear that many owners have.
Here are some additional remedies for this mindset:
(1) set a time limit or deadline for the amount of learning or research that can be done prior to working on starting the business;
(2) find a partner that you can work with who already has the knowledge you lack so that together your knowledge and skills will be sufficient to get moving forward;
(3) jump into business and get started even though you may think you lack the necessary tools or skills right now - you will be surprised how much you learn quickly with "on the job training!"
(4) find a "done for you" type business building package - there are many of these being promoted online. You simply let the business system be implemented by someone else. [ A word of caution here: there are many alternatives in this arena but not all of them are tried and proven. This is a niche rife with less than honest sellers! ]
5. Information overload is blocking the business plan.
Most every new business owner feels overwhelmed with all the various business creation alternatives and strategies that are being touted online. There is no end to the number of sellers that will offer you their own "proven" or "guaranteed" system.
My best advice is to get the opinion of several successful online business owners, choose a methodology and strategy that fits your comfort and skill level, then move forward with testing and tracking sales results to see if you can turn a profit.
Refinement, modification, new products, and back-end development all work to increase your business effectiveness and bottom line as you move forward. If it becomes obvious that you are not going to be successful and your business savvy friends agree, get out of the niche or change your strategy quickly so you don't invest additional time and effort in a losing campaign.
6. Fear of the technical aspects of online business.
This is a straightforward problem to have: either learn what you need to know (usually not the fastest or best alternative, at least in the beginning) or get some outside help to accomplish the tasks you need to have done.
I have often heard very successful Internet business owners say they don't know the first thing about creating a web site, setting up an auto-responder, or fiddling with HTML code. They simply leave the technical tasks to others!
Understand your own limitations and get partners or 3rd party service providers to do what you can't do. It's easy to find technically competent help for small solo businesses these days. Popular sites like eLance, Rent-a-coder, and ScriptLance are filled with willing and able experts who offer their services at reasonable costs.
7. Fear of rejection - that the customers will not like an email, blog, e-book, or a product or service that is offered by the owner.
Strange as it may seem to some, this fear is very real to many people who want to run a business but can't bring themselves to "laying it all out" for the customer's reaction. I can tell you that, short of scamming innocent prospects, most potential customers will overlook a lot of owner oversights if they feel that they are "getting their money's worth" from a product or service.
There will always be (in every niche) a small number of customers that will never be satisfied, customers that will take offense to something you do, and customers that will complain about your business or the way you treat them ... regardless whether the alleged wrong is real or not!
Most successful online business owners will simply say goodbye to those few trouble makers and focus on building their relationships with their best customers. They reason that 2% of their customers are not worthy of 50% of their customer service time and commitment.
A second thought here ... every business owner needs to develop the mindset that allows them to not take complaints or criticisms too personally. Some percentage of every business following will be very intense and vocal (typically the complainers). Come to understand that this is their nature and they treat most businesses the same way regardless of what you as a business owner do for them.
The next time you recognize that one or more of your personal fears is standing in the way of your online business moving forward, I hope you will have the courage to admit your fear, think about why you have the fear, what you can logically do to remedy the situation (maybe by reviewing this discussion and taking the appropriate action) and then have the conviction to move forward knowing that you can do business successfully in spite of your seeming shortcomings.
