Why fear can be good for your business

Most of us think of fear in terms of negativity. Our instincts tell us to be fearful when it comes to the unknown. Our first reaction, when something is foreign to us, is to step fearfully away from it; it’s only natural to fear something we have no understanding of.

But, at some stage, we need to ask ourselves, “Why am I scared of this?” This continues until we start to explore the possibility of opportunities within the unknown. Our thinking changes to “Okay, this might be unprecedented. But it is the new normal." 

During the pandemic, as much as certain industries have been impacted, such as travel and tourism, the world is still moving and life still goes on. And, within the constant movement comes opportunity. 

I believe it is okay and perfectly natural to have fear, but we all need to take a deep breath and recognise there is opportunity out there as well. Many of us are still adjusting to a “new normal” – we still want to do our best, we still want to continuing showing up to work; that hasn’t changed.

Fear of failure haunts the world of the entrepreneur, especially the fear of losing clients and running out of money. 

But research shows fear of failure in business can both inhibit and motivate us, presenting a unique opportunity to better understand entrepreneurial motivation.

The research, by James Hayton and Gabriella Cacciotti, involved interviews with 65 entrepreneurs, identifying seven sources of fear: ability to fund the venture, financial security, personal ability/self-esteem, potential of the idea, threats to social esteem, the venture’s ability to execute and opportunity costs. 

In other words, our fears can be as varied and as complex as our feelings. Yet for many people, the fear is what motivates them and, at times, fear drives greater effort. 

In the words of one interviewee, “It just makes me more aggressive to get this thing going as fast as I can.”

One way to respond to fear is down to our emotional self-awareness. Recognise when your emotions are impacting on your decisions. Then you’re able to use this awareness to reduce the impact your emotions will have on your actions.  

As we step closer to a new year, many of us have multiple fears – there’s the fear that 2021 will be as bad (or even worse!) as 2020. In terms of Covid-19, we might get a vaccine early, or we might not. Once again, it’s the fear of the unknown. But it’s important to feel positive during periods of uncertainty.

There’s a lot to be said about using fear to fuel your business. Uncertainty is the biggest fear people have, because uncertainty breeds what I call “business paralysis.” Think of the things we tell ourselves: “Well, if we're not sure, we’d better not kick off that project, “or “We’d better not open up our office or launch that product.”

This kind of uncertainty paralyses everything and people don't want to go forward. The only solution is that you just have to get over that obstacle somehow and push forward.

I’m a big believer in having failure as a KPI for my team because failing completely, and learning from failure, isn’t easy. But it’s the only way to keep moving forward. If you remain static, you’re just waiting for something to go wrong. 

We need to take the view that, even though we’re in a pandemic, we must still continue. The drive to learn new skills as the world changes and economies become more digital is still there; the pandemic hasn’t changed that at all. If anything, it has probably accelerated that drive. 

We certainly weren’t planning for a pandemic. But does it change the demand? It does; but it changes it in a positive way as well.