Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Some years back, I launched a 7-Day Workshop on Goal Setting. It was the very first time I was ever going to launch any paid digital product.
I already had a litany of failed businesses and projects, so failing at one more thing wasn’t going to be a new thing for me. However, because I was willing to do it afraid but give it all of my best anyway, I reaped the rewards.
I had 7 people sign up for that N5,000 workshop. Every single one of them were either family or friends and they mostly did it to encourage me. For me, it was the best N35,000 ($100) I had ever made.
You mean I could put together notes of knowledge I had, use my laptop to make slides, and teach a workshop online using a free version of a software and people would pay me for it? WOWWW! It cost me nothing to create, so it was like making money out of thin air.
This was the start of it all for me. All it took was for me to take that first step. I did not know what the next digital product would be. I did not know if I would write a book or sell a course or become a Coach. All that mattered at that time was taking the first step.
I had way less at the beginning than some of you do now; but I was willing to stake it all for a future that I hadn’t even begun to envision. I was willing to look crazy and stupid in front of everybody. I was willing to be laughed at (and I was laughed at). I was willing to lose and fail and crash and burn.
It was that same willingness to be afraid of all the bad things that could happen but still do it anyway, that led me to where I am today.
Nobody truly starts off knowing it all. Nobody starts off with all the pieces of the puzzle already fitted together. That’s why it’s called a puzzle. You’re meant to figure it out. You might put a wrong piece somewhere and have to take it out again.
It might take you longer than others to finish your puzzle. In the end though, when that beautiful picture emerges after all the pieces have been rearranged, it will be well worth it.
Still afraid of making mistakes? Then you’re not ready to go anywhere. If you allow your fear paralyse you instead of motivate you, them maybe you aren’t cut out for this. Leave the stage. Go get a nice job and wait for a salary at the end of every month.
Keep your mouth shut and don’t try to impact anybody. Don’t share what you learned from the last book you read or the last class you attended. Be comfortable being normal and average and lost in the crowd like everybody else.
However, if you are ready to feel the fear and do it anyway, then I welcome you into your season of greatness. Just like Elon Musk who is one of the world’s most famous person who has failed more times than he can remember, no one will remember your failings when the wins start coming in, in rapid succession.
Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It is the ability to act in spite of the fear. Have courage.
