At the start, most of us business owners have a certain fear of selling. It is usually caused by the bad images of pushy and annoying sales people that keep filling our heads with dreadful experiences and cheesy tag lines. Also, another reason why we might hate selling is that we never want to get rejected by a prospective client.

As business owners, we need to overcome this irrational fear and get over it as soon as we can; because if we don’t there are great repercussions as to what it can do for ourselves and our business.

There are three main reasons why we need to reconsider our unwillingness to sell. The first reason is very obvious. No selling equates to our business suffering. No sales equate to no revenue. No revenue equates to no profit; and ultimately, no profit means no business.

The second reason is very obvious too. Not selling also has its negative effect on our self-confidence. It may even come to a point that the fear of rejection can stop us from entirely selling.

The third, and last reason – though not so obvious and is usually forgotten by most of us, is that not selling equates to us not helping as many people as we wanted. We established our business and created our products and services so that we can help people out (and profit while doing it). Not selling means that we are not fulfilling our mission as business owners to help our customers and the industry.

If you’ve got that fear of turning into the salesperson you hate, then now is the time to change your mindset. We are all in the middle of an alleged economic crisis where every dollar earned counts.

I also kind of did an introspection as to why I am hesitant to sell my product; and these are the things I found out.

There are also three reasons why I don’t want to sell; and these are mainly just biases based on very bad experiences with sleazy sales people. I’m sure these might also look all too familiar to you.

The first reason being is that I love to buy, but I don’t like being sold to. I’ve had that experience with an annoying car salesman wherein I felt that the only thing he cared about was  getting my money. Oh, how I despised that person that time. I felt like that he was desperate and only focused on getting that fat commission.

Next reason was that I always had a notion that all salespeople are insincere, dishonest, and are very self-focused. This was another bias that stopped me from selling. The third and last reason was that I always had that fear of being rejected. Who doesn’t?

If you can relate to these three reasons, then, like me, you’ve put some limitations on yourself regarding selling and have already sold yourself short of what you can actually put on the table.

Here are some tips on how I cured this fear. Who knows? It might cure yours too.

1. You need to change your mind set when it comes to selling. Selling is an exchange of value. It means that I provide you something, and in exchange, you give me something of equal value. Think of the ‘barter trading system’ of the old days.

1. You need to believe that your product or service is the best. When you have this kind of belief in your product or service, selling usually comes naturally. Just think of the best movie you’ve watched this year. When you discuss it with your friends, aren’t you very enthusiastic about it to a point that you try to sway your skeptical friends to also consider your point of view? This is what most people call the ‘raving fan syndrome.’

If you’re not a ‘raving fan’ of your own product or service, then you might want to re-evaluate the product/service itself. Be mindful that not being a ‘raving fan’ of your own product and service might turn you into the ‘sleazy car salesman’ who’s only goal is to hit the quota and get that commission.

1. Always remember that the customer is more important than the sale. Offering value and helping people with their needs are your most important goals as a business owner. Though you may not have made a sale this time; but if you continue focusing on these important goals, you will build a lifetime fan. This will, of course, equate to more sales in the long run.

Fear is a natural human instinct, even the bravest and most experienced feel fear, and the only difference is how well it is handled. Fear can even be used as a catalyst to do something great, as a stimulant to want to be better.

I have come to witnessed someone spoke in court with the excellent confidence that one glance of him would make someone think his gift is in-born. But the truth is, he was just like anyone of us, he started as a terribly speaker, he trembles in front every time he speaks. His fear overwhelms him when he stands and speaks. But instead of succumbing to the paralyzing effect of fear, he rather did the opposite. He used fear to stimulate him to become better. He went out of his way and learned the required techniques of public speaking. He desired to be better, and so he became way better than he was. He grabbed every opportunity to test his newfound confidence and skill, and then fear gradually become lesser until he was able to conquer it.

He might have stumbled and made a few mistakes as he learned but all the while he makes his leaning greater; he never wavered. He conquered his fear by fear and so succeeded.

We have a tendency to procrastinate towards conquering fear. But fear stays as fear when we do nothing about it. We have to make an active stand on overcoming our worst fears. Fear keeps us from being the best that we are designed to be. So to help you with overcoming fears, it might help you to repeat some Positive Words and Affirmations:

Speak Positive Words

• I will conquer my fear
• I will not be deterred by fear in any way
• I will not procrastinate, I will do it now
• I will improve my skills, I will become better
• I will seek people’s council and wisdom
• I will make mistakes my stepping stone towards progress
• I will exhaust all possible ways to improve myself
• I will never be conquered by failure
• I will succeed at all cost
• I will experience growth and progress along the way

Speak forth Affirmations

• I am successful in everything I do
• I am as brave as any of the great heroes
• I am as skilled as the greatest artists
• I am poised for all the great possibilities
• I am loved
• I am secure
• I will live to be a blessing for others

You get to choose your own affairs, you choose your fate. Success do not happen by accident, it is always by choice. Therefore, when fear grips you, choose to be confident instead. When you feel like giving up, choose to strive harder instead. Choose to become better than dwindle in frustrations. Choose to be confident.

Often times, we are a little bit of hesitant about spending money for our business; and we should be. After all, the money that we spend is good, well-earned money. However, as business owners, it is our task to disburse our well-kept funds in order to make our business grow. A growing business is a surviving business in this cutthroat competition-driven market.

Money is not being grown on some money tree; it is being earned through hard work instead. We must be vigilant in spending our money not because we are stingy, but rather, there are things that we could avoid spending too much on with the right outlook on things.

Public relations, for example, does not need to be overly-funded. However, we stress that the advice of experts in the field will be a great help. One way of overspending in the PR field is if you are trying to sell a bad story. If you do not have a good lead or an interesting pitch to your sales call, then definitely no one will buy it. The public will rather see it as a nuisance and will just put it back in the shelf where they have stumbled upon it. So, no matter how much money you spend trying to boost your PR, if the public does not want it, the media will not even bother to look at it.

What you need here is a good lead; a great story. If you have something worthwhile, worth talking about, and worth repeating, even if you have an understaffed PR unit, the media will take it. This is because the public wants it.

Another important thing for business owners like us to remember is the fact that we have limitations.  These are not just economic limitations, but social limitations as well. We must not take this as something bad or unnatural; but this is something that we should always take into consideration.

Here’s an example. Even if you do have a logistical capability and all the resources that you need to undergo long and expeditious trips, always remember that you have a family and you have a home. Those entrepreneurs that can afford long trips are those who are not attached, unmarried or just free-spirits who hunger for adventure and new knowledge.

For us home-lovers, we should take care of our marriage, wife and kids. After all, we undergo business not to just earn money, but to provide a better future for those that we love. This is a central philosophy that we should always take into our minds and hearts as we go along doing our daily routine.

The battle of the cutthroat competition of the free market will make us stronger business owners, but we do not want yourself to be distracted by issues of domestic concerns. We should always set our priorities and goals and always take into account the scope and limitations of our abilities. In the end we will know what and what not to do.

You have an enormous faith in yourself that you could do great many things, and then suddenly you hear voices telling you that you could not. Does it sound familiar? Do you hear voices that inject doubts and negativity? You have the power to shut them all off!

I always thought I could give as much knowledge about Leadership as any other Leadership experts. I know that I have all with me my needed ingredients to be as effective as anybody else. But then the annoying voices start whispering thoughts and words that make me curl and fold. The voices seem to gain strength every time I resolve to reach my true potential. It makes me feel small and unworthy. It seems to have all the right reasons why I should not aim high. It never stops in pointing out what I lack; that I would not amount to anything worthy. It injects fear and worries. The little voice of disappointment is only good in one thing, to disappoint you from gaining confidence and eventually succeed in achieving your goals. You have the power to not listen to its lies. Here are a few steps to help you combat the ill effects of the voice:

• Invite the voice to state all its reasons and opinions, and then take time to think over maybe he has a point.
• Write down all that the voice said to you. If it injects doubt then write down what specific doubt is it referring to and the corresponding reason. This way, you allow yourself to gain a better understanding of your capacity and your limits which you could use to your advantage.
• Talk back to the voice. Make conversation with it and deal with it as if you are really talking to a tangible being. Thank it for the help, and that because of him you gained a far better perspective that would have taken you longer if you were left alone to your own devices. Make a resolve to craft valuable resolution about the things that need improvement.
• Start making decisions that impact your way of life towards achieving your goal and making things possible. Believe that you are capable of achieving anything that you ever thought of achieving. Do not concern yourself about the impossibility; just think that you can do it.
• Project a healthy image of you in your mind. Make a goal of achieving that image. If you wish to become a successful leadership guru then you better start imagining yourself standing on stage giving lectures upon lectures on countless numbers of audiences. Your reality starts in your mind.

By thinking positive, you create positive outcomes. By thinking that everything is possible, you make every bit of your goals possible no matter the circumstances. Your mind has the power to make things into being. If you think of becoming physically strong then you will indeed become strong. If you dream of ever becoming a successful businessman then indeed your dream will be yours. That is the power of possibility.

In every venture, either personal or professional, confidence is an effective yardstick for success. The performance of your business is directly proportional to your expectations and your confidence on meeting those expectations. I believe it is worth your while and mine to discuss a few of pointers about the importance of confidence in starting a small business.

The first thing that comes to mind when starting a business comes up is whether you have the capacity to run it, or even start one. You could be overwhelmed by the tremendous pressures even way before you had your first day of business. It is the tendency of the human instinct to formulate ungrounded fears based solely on unfounded facts. When you fear even way before you move, you lose. Your analysis of what happens in the future keeps you from making bold moves in the present; which is definitely detrimental to your fledgling business.

Before I had my own copy write business, I took a tremendous amount of time deciding whether I am really good enough for it. For days, I kept seeing reasons why other writers are better than me. I was hopelessly on the edge of giving up my aspirations merely because of my own imagined fears. Thankfully, there was one person who told me to get hold of myself and start gaining confidence in my own abilities. He said I should start out by being clear with my goals, vision and capacity. I need to be clear on what specific fields do I really want to flourish. Once things are already clear then I already began building up my confidence, which is a lot easier because I already have a strong foothold about issues at hand. My confidence started to climb unprecedented heights until I realized that people flock to me to hire me to write for their websites. That was just quite amazing for someone who started out without strong self confidence.

I became very good with what I do which probably the reason why people trust my ability to do their work for them. When potential clients approach me, they see a clear terms of what they expect from me as much as they are also crystal clear of their obligations to me as being my clients.

When you have clarity on your skills and your abilities, people get the sense that you could do a certain job seriously wonderful and worthy of their spent resources.