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Well the dramas of yesterday resolved themselves early in the day and we won't be making that rushed trip south before Christmas. We will be doing it early in the new year but we can at least plan for that.

With all the drama over I was able to make yesterday a very productive day for work and by the end of it I was surprised at just how much I had got done. Steve worked his fingers to the bone too and several clients got work much quicker than they were expecting.

Today may be a different story though. I was sitting here with a complete mental block and had no idea what I should write about for this column. Because I've got myself into the habit of writing this column early in the morning, before I usually tackle anything else, that mental block wasn't just holding up this column ... it was threatening to hold up my whole day.

Then I remembered something I read on a copywriter's blog last weekend. He said that mental blocks for writers were nothing more than an indication that the writer was scared of failing. At the time I thought that was the silliest thing I'd ever heard and I'm still not sure that fear of failing is the sole cause of those times when you sit looking at a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen and can't think of anything to write.

However what he said certainly had some resonance for me because today I am concerned that I'm going to fail. Oh I don't think I'm going to fail with this column but the job I have to move on to after that ... and the job after that one ... do have me worried.

The first job is some marketing and search engine optimisation text for a client. Now I'm always worried about that because there are so many variables when it comes to search engine optimisation that if I don't get it right then the client is going to have wasted his money. On top of that I don't have control over the site design so that means the design of the site might have such a negative impact on the search engine spiders that my text, even though it may be good, will not have the impact that the client and I hope it does.

So I'm afraid of failing with that job.

The next client has me writing some short descriptions for a whole bunch of movies. Now these aren't your normal hardcore movies where the text should be as lurid as possible; this client wants the language to be toned down but still have an impact. I've done it for this client in the past but will I be able to do it this time?

Yep I'm afraid of failing with that job too.

So having a mental block about what to write for this column is a protection ... if I can't get the column written then I can't go on to those jobs that really scare me.

And the answer to that dilemma? I just talk myself into getting on with the job. I've been around this industry long enough to know that I have to overcome these fears or I'm going to fail for real and that is a concept that I'm just not prepared to accept.

Instead I'm writing this column and then I'm going to open up the first job and get on with it. I've done it before and I can do it again and, if you're smart ... or determined to succeed like me ... then any failure is really only a stepping stone to success.

Let's face it, everyone fails at something sooner or later but it's how you handle that failure that makes all the difference. If you see a failure as the end of the road for your business then that's exactly what it will be but if you see a failure as a chance to learn and grow then you will. Ant that's exactly what failures are; they're a chance to learn from your mistakes and move on to succeed.

If the fear of failure is preventing you from doing something then don't let it. Push through that fear and get on with the job. Even if you don't succeed with whatever it was that you were attempting then learn from your mistakes and don't make them the next time.

Perhaps you're afraid of starting your next free site or gallery because you think it will fail and you will have wasted time and money. Perhaps you're afraid of taking the next step that might take your business to a whole new level.

There are lots of things that we can be afraid of but whatever those fears are you simply have to push through. You simply have to overcome those fears and get on with your life because if you don't then you will fail. Your business will stagnate and you will simply fade away and that's what you should really be afraid of.