Your mindset is the #1 most important thing when becoming an entrepreneur.

You know that feeling when you’re determined to do something, and you’re really excited about it – but you’re kinda scared at the same time – and you’re ready to take action, but you keep finding excuses to delay actually starting because of fear?

Maybe it’s because you’re:

• Comparing yourself to other people
• Telling yourself that it might not work
• Not confident about what you know
• Afraid of what other people will think or say about you
• Wondering if anyone will value what you have to say

Have you ever felt this way before?

I know I have – MANY times.

Every single one of these thoughts and feelings is driven by fear – your mindset around fear – and your mindset is something you can shift if you’re dedicated to understanding why you feel a certain way at any given time, and also willing to practice making that shift over time in order to breakthrough that fear.

Mindset shift

When I talk about breaking through fear, I don’t mean that I don’t (or that you won’t) still feel those feelings: fear and a lack of confidence; but now I’m able to (and you can, too) embrace the fear that causes those feelings and breakthrough it as a result.

How?

That’s why I’m writing this post: to share 3 Ways I’ve found to embrace fear in order to breakthrough it.

Because let’s face it: fear isn’t going anywhere; however, we do have the opportunity to change our mindset around how we react to fear so that it’s no longer something we allow to hold us back.

1. Community

Surrounding yourself with the right people on your entrepreneurial journey makes all the difference.

Having support is unparalleled, because when you feel like you can’t take that next step – when you’re doubting your capabilities and fearful that what you have to say won’t matter – your community will be there to help you move forward despite that fear.

Just ask our Elite Mastermind Tribe:

During our Annual Meetup here in San Diego, every single one of our members pointed towards the community as the reason why they’re able to move forward in spite of their fear: the support is unparalleled.

2. Baby steps

Sometimes we set ourselves up for failure by looking at what it is we want to accomplish as something that is unattainable: That project is way too big; What if I try it and I fail?; or, I don’t know how to do that so I’m not even going to try…

We make excuses because we fear we won’t be able to accomplish this huge project or task that’s before us.

But if we begin to look at our end goal as something we can attain through a series of baby steps, then suddenly it’s not so scary.

Instead of a huge leap from point A to point Z, break down the steps you have to take so you’re starting out with simply finding a way to make it from point A to point B, then from B to C, and so on.

I’ve done this throughout my whole journey at EntrepreneurOnFire. I didn’t go from joining the team to running communities and posting on the blog and managing our email marketing and building campaigns in Infusionsoft; I took it one step at a time, each step building on the last to get me to where I am today.

3. Focus outward

A lot of our fears are focused inward on ourselves: I can’t make a difference; I’m not good enough; I don’t have the knowledge; What if I fail?…

Instead of focusing inward, let’s instead try to turn our focus outward.

Think about the results of us not putting ourselves out there… When you allow fear to control your actions, it turns out you’re doing a great disservice to those who you could be helping.

Breakthrough

So do you see how embracing fear can actually help you breakthrough it?

Yes, we will all still feel fear – that isn’t going away. But when we find ways to embrace it – like in the examples I’ve included above – we start to realize that we’re capable of so much more; we are capable of breaking through it in order to make the impact we want to make.

Your mindset is the #1 most important thing when becoming an entrepreneur, and if you’re just getting started with creating your online business, then this is a huge step.