Fear of Failure: How it Can Affect Your Business, and How You Can Resolve It

As a Virtual Assistant Coach, it’s my job to ensure that my students are well-equipped to succeed in their businesses. This doesn’t only involve the regular day-to-day tasks like lead generation and community building, but also your mindset.

Last month, I realized that it was important for me to understand what my students are currently struggling with, so I can better serve them. I hosted 4 Q&A sessions last month with over 900 participants and this is when I realized most people are scared to fail.

TBH I was shocked by these results.

Mainly because growing up, my dad always encouraged me to try out all of my interests/passions, so naturally that came with A LOT of failure.

Starting out, I didn’t know the cost of going after your dreams, my dad made me believe I could do just about anything I put my mind to. That’s why in 5th grade I thought that with his help practicing and rehearsing, I could land the part of Sharpay Evans for my High School Musical play😂 The only problem is I can’t sing or hold a note to save my life, so I failed miserably.

Though I was sad, it gave me time to try out other interests like swimming, which led me to join the swim team.

The thing that I’ve learned is, that you have to take a chance and risk failing at something, to get the thing you actually need. If I had given up after my audition, I would’ve never given myself the chance to join the swim team.

I view failure as lessons and research. The more failures you have, the more data you have to make strategic decisions.

Why do so many people fear failure?

There are several reasons why you fear failure, such as:

1. Social Expectations: People often fear failing because they fear judgment and criticism from others, which can impact their self-esteem, and willingness to try new things.

2. Perfectionism: A lot of people have the mindset that if something isn’t perfect, then it’s not good enough and a waste of time, but if you constantly wait for everything to be perfect, you’ll be waiting forever.

3. Negative Emotions: Failure can trigger negative emotions such as shame, anxiety, and depression, which people naturally want to avoid.

4. Fixed Mindset: A fixed mindset is a concept introduced by psychologist Carol Dweck which refers to the belief that one's abilities, intelligence, and talents are innate and unchangeable. Individuals with a fixed mindset often avoid situations where they might fail or appear less competent. From their viewpoint, if you have to try hard, it means you're not naturally gifted. Believing that life is only supposed to be done one way and that you can’t deviate from that does more harm than good.

The fear of failure can have negative physical and mental health effects. It can keep you stagnant, missing opportunities (even the ones you know deep down you’d be good for), and low self-esteem.

To combat your fear of failure you can do the following:

1. Cultivate a growth mindset: Embracing the idea that abilities can be developed through effort and learning can make failure less threatening.

2. Learn from Failure: View failure as a valuable learning experience. Analyze what went wrong, and use that situation as a stepping stone to adapt and succeed.

3. Set Realistic goals: Don’t stab yourself in the back by being unrealistic with your goals. Establish achievable, incremental goals that will challenge you, but won’t deter you.

4. Visualization and Positive Self-Talk: Use visualization techniques and positive self-talk to boost your confidence and reduce anxiety about potential failures.

5. Join a community: Surrounding yourself with like-minded go-getters will encourage you to keep going when you feel like giving up and make the process of trying something new more enjoyable.

Dealing with fears of any kind is not an easy task. If you are a person like me with big dreams and big goals, you have to be willing to put in the work and be kind to yourself (still working on this😅) so you can achieve your desired results.

God is a masterful orchestrator, and he has you at this exact moment for a reason, but if you decide to let the fear of failure or past experiences with rejection stop you from trying again or exploring the ideas and desires inside of you. You’ll never reach the potential that God created you to reach and you will regret it.

You’ll never be able to have your dream life of traveling more, being considered an expert at your craft, taking care of your family, and ultimately a successful business owner.

Do you know how many industries I’ve worked in before making six figures?

Do you know how many businesses I tried before coming a successful virtual assistant, and then coach?

It’s easy to look at where I am now and aspire to be there, but most people aren’t willing to take the same risk and deal with the same amount of failure as me.

I am sharing all of this to encourage you not to stay stagnant!

Don’t let your fear of failure cripple you from having a better quality of life.

So if you’re in a season of self-work, and you don’t want to embark on this journey alone I invite you to join Orientation, a community of like-minded aspiring entrepreneurs invested in growing their biggest asset — themselves!