“Excuse me, coming through!” I screamed at the people on the bike path as I unsteadily rolled at a fast clip on my blades. It was an uncommonly busy day at the Beach and I’m not the best rollerblader to say the least. Low and behold people were strolling on the bike path and not the boardwalk, impeding all biker and blader traffic.
The single most common reaction to my shouts was paralysis. People of all ages and sizes would turn around with giant eyes and STAY frozen in my path, watching me barrel them down on more than one occasion.
Fear freezes entrepreneurs too. One client who was too scared to pick a niche was incapable of creating a signature keynote or even writing en eBook because she couldn’t pick whose pain she wanted to address.
Another client was afraid to public speak so he avoided not just looking for speaking opportunities but stopped any marketing efforts what so ever.
SYMPTOMS
Entrepreneurial Paralysis (my own word that I shall refer to as EP from now on) is easy to spot. If you own your own business and are procrastinating, stagnating or generally making a lot of excuses but getting nothing done, then you’ve got EP and you need help.
TREATMENT
- Remember why you’re in this business in the first place. If it’s still relevant, keep going.
- Remind yourself of the consequences of inaction. If you have EP now, what will you be like in 6 months of this?
- Write a to-do list with 3 business building actions per day and don’t end the day if they’re left undone.
- Lastly, call a coach, call a mentor, call a friend, call anyone… but get some support. You can’t do it alone.
With kindness as always,
Chala
Related articles
- 5 Ways to Bulk Up Your Entrepreneurial Muscles (smallbusinessbonfire.com)
- The Risk-Averse Entrepreneur’s Guide to Startup Success (entrepreneur.com)
- Fear – The Reason Why Most Of You Won’t Start A Company (soentrepreneurial.com)
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