Do You Have the Courage to Be Self-Employed?

Working for yourself can be a scary proposition, conjuring up all sorts of fears. Fear that you won't be able to handle whatever comes your way. Fear that you won't be able to earn enough money. Fear that you will fail.

Most experts counsel that the best way to deal with fear is to take action despite your fears. "Feel the fear and do it anyway," says Susan Jeffers in her book by that title. Courage, say the experts, is not a matter of losing your fear so you can take action; courage comes from taking action.

Once you are working for yourself, you will begin to flex problem-solving muscles that you didn't even know you had. After all, you didn't need these muscles when you were working for someone else. You had the safety net of a secure job. But once you're on your own, you will have to confront some fears.

Maybe you'd rather eat glass than make a presentation before a large audience, for example. People who have conquered this fear learned that it is important to start small. Make a presentation before one person. Work your way up to two or three people. Do it again and again and again. Before you know it, you will be prepared to speak before a crowd of people.

Don't know how to sell? Once you have a product or service you believe in, you will be surprised how easy it is to tell someone about it. Do that convincingly a few times, and you become a "sales person."

And what you don't know, you can learn. Take classes at your local community college on interpreting a financial statement. Read books about sales and marketing. Attend workshops on business communication. Listen to tapes. Use the Internet as a resource.

At every step, taking one thing at a time, you will empower yourself, developing traits and characteristics you never knew you possessed - and overcoming your fears in the process.