November 2004
Living With Fear
"I've never been afraid to ask for money before, why am I so worried now?" Kate asked me. Kate and Mary were writing a business plan for a new elegant furniture store they planned to open. They had had a failed attempt to run a similar store in another state with several other partners. They told me they had learned a great deal from their failure. ("We got an MBA in retail in 6 months!")
They left the partnership with a lot of knowledge but not much money. Now they were ready to strike out on their own and actually had a possible angel investor who knew what had happened in the other state and really believed these two young women had the ability to do it by themselves. All Kate had to do was ask him to invest-but she was still scared to do it.
Asking for what you want is never easy. Asking for money is really scary. Kate was determined to get this store up and running. Her vision was very strong and she was passionate about the business. So passionate in fact she couldn't bare the thought of her potential investor saying no.
It is important when you start a business to have a clear vision so you know what you are creating. When you really see that vision it is supposed to excite you and Kate was excited. Now comes the hard part. When you see something you want really badly you get so attached to the possible result that it can paralyze you with fear and that was what was happening to Kate. She was stuck.
What would help get unstuck? I suggested that Kate start to think what told them that the Angel Investor would want to invest. Kate and Mary said that they had already shared bits and pieces of their vision with him. He kept calling them to find out what they were doing and how long it would be before they were up and running. They also told me that he had considered investing in the last venture, knew the details, and still believed in them but not the previous business.
First step to getting his commitment will be for Kate and Mary to review their vision with him in detail and go over their plan with him to show him what made this idea different, why they need funds and exactly how much they will need. If his faith in them was as they said, he might volunteer the funds but if not Kate and Mary both would need to practice the words, "Would you be willing to invest X dollars in this?" at the end of the presentation.
When I asked Kate if she would still be afraid to ask once she was properly prepared for the presentation, she admitted she was. To her it seemed like everything was riding on this one investor. There were no other alternatives.
It is tough when the outcome seems so important. When I asked Kate if she had ever been in a similar situation, she immediately thought of the last venture. "Things got really ugly in the end, but we managed to survive with all the partners still on good terms with us even though we quit and moved away."
When I asked them what got them to take action then, they admitted they had it all planned thoroughly before they told the partners. They said they had considered all the possible reactions of the partners and had answers for every objection they could think of. Preparation was key.
Together we brainstormed some back up ideas for financing that were not as attractive but were possible if their potential investor turned them down. This plus their business plan and presentation practice made them feel well prepared and even excited about asking that important question! The fear was still there of course but they knew they wanted to take action.
Questions to answer
- What question are you afraid to ask?
- What would you do if you got exactly the answer you wanted?
How would you feel?
- Is that outcome worth taking a risk for? What would you lose
if the person gave you the answer you did not want?
- How could you prepare in a way that would make a negative outcome
unlikely?
- If you got a negative outcome what other possibilities do you
have?
- Have you ever had a time when you were afraid and took action
anyway? What happened? What did you learn?
Once you have completed the preparation then Take Action!
Here's a book title that might help Feel
the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers . To order from Amazon
click on this link.