“Fear is the mind-killer.” -- Frank Herbert, Dune
Building a freelance writing business is not for the faint of heart.
Yes, you can make a great living doing something you love.
But you must also contend with fear.
The fear that your writing isn’t any good.
The fear of rejection from editors or potential clients.
The fear that, despite your track record of past successes, the jig is up and you’ll soon be exposed to the world as a phony, a fake, an imposter.
I’ve been working as a full-time freelance writer for five years.
And I can tell you that, right now, no matter where you’re at in building and growing your writing business, fear is the #1 thing holding you back.
That’s because fear defines the outer limits of your experience. Fear says, “You can go this far, Friend, but no farther.” And not just in your writing business but also in your relationships, your finances, your life -- everything.
Fear puts your potential in a straitjacket.
And it’s your job to break free.
So how do you do that?
How do you rid yourself of the fear that keeps you small?
You don’t.
Your brain is hardwired to experience fear because fear was a big part of what kept our ancestors alive.
You can't get rid of fear. Just like you can’t get rid of hunger or the need to sleep.
Instead, you gain freedom from fear by acknowledging it and then -- to paraphrase Susan Jeffers -- doing the thing that scares you anyway.
“Alright”, you may be thinking. “But how do I do that?”
Here’s what helped me.
Let’s say my goal is to reach out to potential clients on LinkedIn.
First, I remind myself that no matter what happens -- the client says “yes”, the client says “no”, the client never replies, whatever -- the world keeps spinning.
In other words, I detach from the outcome.
Then, I take a deep breath. And I tell myself I’m going to do everything I can to improve this person’s life through my writing.
I’m positioning myself as a fiduciary. As someone who guides, protects, and contributes to the client; not someone with his hands out begging for scraps.
Think about it. If your goal is to genuinely help the client, what do you have to fear?
Rejection? So what. It doesn’t diminish you in any way. Move on to the next potential client.
That’s one example.
But here’s the kicker: I intentionally do something that scares me every single day.
By doing this, I’m building up my fear tolerance, accomplishing high value tasks, and my business is growing by leaps and bounds.
And if you’re ready to take your writing business to the next level, then you must plow through your fear.
I can tell you from personal experience that making a daily practice of pushing through your fear will grow your writing business (and your life!) faster than anything else.
So… what scares you?
And what will you do today, right now, to blast through that fear so you can take a big step into your full potential?
Reply to this email and let me know! |
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