How To Overcome Fears in Online Business

There are a lot of things people fear when they venture into making and selling their own handmade items online. Some fear failure or fear taking a financial risk with no guarantee of reward. Fear can hold you back and prevent you from taking the steps necessary to succeed.  You have to overcome your fears in order to succeed.  They will only hold you back.

Overcome the fear of the unknown by learning as much as you can about a process. As you think of things that concern you, write them down. You may fear the marketing aspect of your business, shipping overseas, or working directly with customers. By researching each topic you can get a better understanding of what you will need to do to handle each task. Buy books on the topics, research online, or watch entrepreneur interviews for ideas. One of the main reasons I wrote my book was to show people the overall view of each aspect of making and selling handmade items. As you gain knowledge you will have fewer unknowns and can confidently keep moving forward knowing you can handle anything that comes your way.

Consider the worst case scenario. Often times we fear things that really do not matter or never materialize. Ask yourself, what is the worst possible outcome of this situation? Usually it isn’t too bad. In many cases the worst case means you either wasted time or lost a few dollars by making a poor decision or by doing a miscalculation. Everyone makes mistakes. Most of what I have learned about making and selling crafts has come from mistakes. If everything went perfectly all the time I would not have learned nearly as much.

Many people have a fear of failure or fear of what others will think of them if they do not succeed. The more you learn and the more you work, the fewer failures you will have. You cannot concern yourself with what others will think of your products or business. Many of the naysayers have never even tried to make and market their own products. Most people that have been successful are really supportive of others doing similar things. You cannot control what others think. There really are no total failures. If you do everything right and still cannot sell your handmade items, you can at least use the knowledge you gained from making those items to create another line of products. You will already have a website set up so it will be easier and quicker to get going the second time around. You can always give away unsold items to friends and family or list them on Ebay in a no reserve auction.

If financial risk is one of your fears, learn how to bootstrap. Bootstrapping from a business standpoint means doing things with as little money as possible and without asking for any outside investment. This includes credit cards. Set a budget that you can afford and work around it. If you do not want to spend the money on creating a website, list your handmade items on Etsy. Save money on packing materials by getting used boxes and packing from local stores or on craigslist. Choose a product to make that you already have the tools for. You can also ask to borrow tools. Buy only the materials you need and compare prices online. Marketing does not have to cost anything. Research social marketing. Just about everything can be bootstrapped. It many ways it is fun to do and it makes you be creative. You will also turn a profit much more quickly if you can avoid spending too much up front. Reinvest the profits to grow your business and it can fund itself.

Happy Selling

Richard

Tags: failure, money, overcome fears, risk, succeed