So What Are You Afraid Of?
Posted On: 2014-01-29
Over the years that I've been involved in this industry I've been amazed at just how many adult webmasters are living with fear as their constant companion. There are more people in this industry who let fear totally rule their lives than you might imagine.
It's not because they work in this industry that fear is a major part of their lives. They work in this industry because it gives them the ability to make money without actually having to go out into the world and face their fears.
When you think about it there's no better industry to work in if you have a fear that involves other people or just being outside. Mixing with large groups of people ... even smaller groups of people for that matter ... can be a terribly scary scenario for some people so they can't go out to work.
Some people are too afraid to walk out their front door. Even a trip to their mailbox may take hours out of their day as they psych themselves up to take those few short paces from the safety of their house to the mailbox.
Those people acknowledge their fears ... many of them are not afraid to admit that they have a fear that is ruining their lives and if you're one of them then I salute you. You are far braver than many others in this industry simply because you admit that you have a problem with fear.
But these people aren't the only ones in this industry who live with fear and who let that fear take full control of their lives. There are many more adult webmasters out there who are afraid to succeed.
They're afraid to succeed because success will take them out of their comfort zone. They're afraid to succeed because they don't know what will happen next. If they succeed they may have to do things that make them feel uncomfortable ... they might be asked to succeed even more and then what will they do?
And if they don't succeed they will fail so it's far more comfortable to stay doing just enough to get by.
I know a copywriter who is very good at what he does ... although he rarely admits to it. Last year he wrote a very simple Adwords ad for a client. It was quite different to the run-of-the-mill Adwords ads that the client's competitors were using for the keyword phrase that the client wanted to target. Possibly if the client had seen that simple little ad before it went live they might have wanted to change it to something closer to what everyone else was saying ... but they didn't.
That ad ran for about three months and the client spent a very modest amount on it but part way through that three-month run ... and as a result of that Adwords ad ... the client picked up a new contract worth $1.2 million.
Now you might think that the copywriter who wrote that ad would be out there pushing for more work. After all there aren't too many copywriters who can say that they've made $1.2m for their client with just one response to one ad ... but he isn't out there at all.
You see this guy is afraid to chase more work because he's worried that he won't succeed a second time and explaining why he hasn't succeeded is much harder than sitting in his home office doing great work at sweatshop rates for people who don't appreciate that he has the skills to make them bucket loads of money.
He's afraid of success because success will take him out of his comfort zone and challenge him to go further and further beyond that comfortable zone that he loves so much.
So what are you afraid of? What is holding you back from achieving the success that you once dreamed of? What's stopping you from turning those dreams of big wads of cash into reality?
Why aren't you going beyond where you are now and taking your business over the horizon and on to bigger and better things?
What are the reasons you're not doing that right now? List them ... write them down on a sheet of paper ... get them in front of you where you can see them rather than just leaving them hidden away in your mind where you can skip over them rather than deal with them.
When you have those reasons set out in front of you stop and think about them ... how many of them are just excuses? How many of those good solid reasons why you can't succeed are really just wishy-washy excuses?
Now stop hiding behind excuses and being scared of things that are nothing more that smoke and mist and get out there and succeed!