Tag: fear | Danny Brown

There?s a lot of fear at the minute. Fear of knowing is joining fear of the unknown as a staple in our lives.

Knowing the economy sucks leading to a future unknown.

Knowing we can?t stand around but not knowing what first steps to take.

Knowing you want to try something new but so many unknown things to learn.

But you know, fear is a good thing. Fear is what spurns us to experiment. Fear is what leads us to overcoming hurdles and reaching far higher plateaus on the other side. In short, fear is our friend.

It?s right to be afraid. That?s common sense. We know that we?re not in the greatest of times ? anyone who says otherwise isn?t accepting the facts.

But when we accept that truth and face the fear it brings, we can work on it.

We can use the fear.

You may have been laid off. You might be in a job where there are planned redundancies. You might run your own business where clients are shrinking. You might have more time on your hands now than you did three months ago, six months ago. Use it.

Connect that time with your fear. Make yourself a deal that you?ll become master of your own destiny. Use the time to learn new skill sets, to meet new people, to widen your community of knowledge and prospects.

Brush up on your core strengths and add to them. Use the tools around you to see what people are looking for, what businesses are looking for. We have never had so much free information at our fingertips ? use it.

The best resource tool on the planet is one mouse-click away. It doesn?t matter if it?s Google, Twitter, a Facebook group, a LinkedIn forum, online community, online encyclopedia or whatever.

The tool you need for the fear you have is right there in front of you. All you need to do is find it.

Fear is a stumbling block. But we only stumble if we?re in the dark.

Isn?t it time we switched the lights on?

We should be in social media – just not right now.

We should start a company blog – just not right now.

We should be making our website more user-friendly – just not right now.

We should be doing a lot of things – just not right now.

Not right now – it’s the phrase that companies and executives/decision makers use when they know they’re behind in the game but they’re not sure how to get into it.

It’s the excuse that takes the heat off the boardroom meetings when asked about the new platforms that are emerging (or have emerged) and is it something our company should be looking at.

It’s the fallback of folks that could make it happen right now if they wanted to, but it seems like a lot of work.

Besides, there’s too much that can go wrong to make the risk (or perceived risk) worthwhile.

True. There is a lot that can go wrong.

There is a lot of work involved.

There is stuff that will be completely out of your hands.

But look at it another way. When you first started your business, was there a chance things could go wrong? Did it involve a lot of work, and long hours, to make it happen? Were there things you couldn’t control, no matter how much you planned ahead?

Of course there were, yet you’re still here.? Because you put the effort in and took the risks. Because you knew that not everything will always goes to plan; you just need to make sure you’re ready with a back-up.

So if you’re caught in the not right now dilemma – either yourself, or with someone that makes the decisions for you – take the chance and think differently (or try and show the not right now’s how to think differently).

You don’t need to jump in and participate in social media right away – but you can listen.?Twitter Search, Facebook Groups, Google Alerts and other free and simple platforms can help you see if you should be in social media, and where, and when.
If you can use email you can blog. Platforms like Posterous and Tumblr allow you to write a blog post simply by emailing in your thoughts – their tech guys will do the rest. Five minutes of your time today can turn you into a thought leader for tomorrow.
You can change your website now and relatively painlessly and have the most user-friendly platform for both you and your customers. Better still, you’ll be in control and not tied to some web guy’s timescale.

Not right now is easy – anyone can say it, and make a pretty good case for it as well. That’s why it’s used so often.

But while you’re saying not right now today, your competitors are jumping in right now and owning tomorrow. So when does not right now become not now, not ever, because you’ve simply been left behind?

photo credit: photoverulam