My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [64]
This left Stephen with no choice but to face his now deeply rooted fear of failure. This was more frightening than any business problem he had ever encountered because this challenge was inside him. His fear could not be outsourced or overcome with better financing. To overcome his fear of failure, Stephen had to face it head-on.
ESCAPE FROM RAT-RACE HELL
Stephen forced himself to step back from his situation and see the bigger picture. In doing this he made a stunning and unexpected observation: Maybe facing failure was an integral part of being an entrepreneur?
He realized for the first time that he had failed before—many times, in fact—and he was still alive. Failure was never fun or comfortable, but it also wasn’t that bad. He could survive it again. If anything, his previous business failures taught him what not to do next time.
Stephen took his first step in this new direction by calling Brian, an old college friend. He told Brian that he had decided it was time to stand up for his dreams and never again settle for less. The more Stephen talked about daring to be great, the more Brian laughed over the phone. Brian thought, “Who was Stephen to talk about pursuing greatness? He was a repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat failure!”
Two months later, Stephen and Brian had both quit their high-paying jobs to become business partners. They launched their new decidedly low-tech business from a shared desk and phone line in the extra bedroom of Stephen’s house.
I met with Stephen shortly after he had shared his story of repeat business failures with a classroom of college business students. He joked that the more details he shared, the fewer notes the students took. Apparently, they couldn’t believe someone could have over $90,000,000 in losses on his résumé before turning thirty. What most shocked the students was learning Stephen had the audacity to launch another business.
One student finally asked Stephen the question on everyone’s mind, “Aren’t you scared to start another business? I mean, every business you’ve ever started in your entire life has failed. What if you fail again?” Stephen shrugged, “If I fail again, I’ll just have to start another business. It’s part of what makes having a dream so great. If you fail, you get back up and you keep trying. There is no why or how. You simply get back up and try again until you make it happen.”
Stephen’s answer was right on. So was his decision to face his fears by starting another business. At press time, his low-tech rental business was on track to make Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America.
FEARS ARE HUMAN
Like Stephen, you have fears. Everyone has fears. Fears are natural. Fears are human. You may even share some common twentysomething fears such as these:
• Never being able to pay off your credit-card or college debt
• Marrying the wrong person
• Living on your own
• Losing your job
• Not finding your bigger purpose
But fear is not necessarily always a bad thing. Since the beginning of humankind, fear has played an important role in alerting people to avoid potential danger. Thank goodness our ancient ancestors were prewired with fear. This acted like a physical alarm, helping them evade danger so they could live longer and make more babies. This internal alarm was essential to staying alive in a world full of never-before-seen creatures and experiences.
Back then there was no Internet to find out if a certain snakebite was deadly. There was no 911 to call if you were being followed by a stranger. There definitely were no laser-guided weapons for a preemptive strike. When our ancestors unexpectedly came across a grizzly bear, fear would tell them, “Warning! Warning! Warning! Fight or run! Fight or run!” Then our ancestors would flee, fight, or fake death.
In the modern world,