Three Cheers For Fear!

Intimidated about starting your own business?  Not possible.  You’re a Mom.

Five–not three, not two–five different women this week told me about one major factor that was preventing them from starting a business: fear. Some feared not having enough time to get the job done. Some feared the amount of work they (optimistically) thought may pile up before them. The majority of these women were scared by the competition.

What competition?

They spent hours late at night looking at other companies that were doing just what they wanted to do. They saw glitz, glamour, shiny websites and dazzling products. Theoretical competition, really, since they haven’t formed their own companies just yet.

What they failed to see, and what I’d like you to know, is that without this “brilliant,” “amazing” competition, how can you succeed? If Google never got into business because Yahoo already had a search engine, how would your kids be completing their homework right now? If Target was too scared to launch because Wal-Mart was first, who else would air those dreamy ads that force me to buy *more* clothes there? If welfare-stricken J.K. Rowling never picked up a pen because of the billion authors who came before her, Harry Potter would not be. (Do not even go to that sad place with me).

Don’t run away from the competition. Look at it from all angles and ask yourself how you can do better. You know you can. And if I can’t convince you, just listen to Nike.

(P.S. Everyone else had children before you came along. Did you have these same fears about producing your own kids?)