Delegation is critical to long-term growth no matter how small or large your business. It's a strategy also fraught with land mines of fear, resistance and dreadful past experiences. Sign up for this teleseminar if you "know" you need to delegate and would really rather not. Learn more...

Do you Dare to Make Mistakes?

Perfection, defined: the state of being without a flaw or defect
Perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfection)

It's hard to take the risks you need to take to grow your business - and live a full life - if you're paralyzed by the need to have everything just so before you take action. If you hesitate too long, you'll miss opportunities. Perhaps more importantly, you'll miss out on the joy of winning when you weren't sure you would.

I've witnessed the fear that grips those who might be perfectionists when it's time to go out and try something new. If you hesitate to act until you're sure something is "perfect" you might say something like this, quietly, to yourself: "I can't do _______________ before _____________ is just right." I can understand this. There's no question that it's wise to prepare and assess before acting. The difficulty comes when you put things off for weeks and months because all the ducks aren't fully lined up as you think they should be. Not only that, you can't fully assess these things unless you act.

• You won't know exactly whom you serve before you start serving them.
• You won't fully understand your customers' needs before work with them.
• You won't know if the marketing methods you chose will work until you've tried them, not just once but over and over again.
• You won't know if the person you hired is the right person until you hire him or her.
• You won't know if the new system you installed is working until you start using it. (That's why software companies put out beta versions.)

Of course, if you wanted the security of getting paid, even when you make mistakes, you would have stayed employed rather than heading out on your own.

Business experts will tell you that "failing" is part of the game. Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) failed at his first business. Albert Einstein failed 10,000 times before he figured out the light bulb. If we can appreciate their failures, why can't we appreciate ours? Perhaps it has to do with 2 of the 6 basic human fears.*

• Fear of poverty
• Fear of criticism

Publicly failing is really hard, and that's what most of us are afraid of. I know I am. (The moment I realize I've made a mistake that someone else might have seen, a warm flush of fear runs through my body.) It's also hard to accept the possibility of failure when you've got no time to fail because your survival is at stake. However, if you're not willing to risk it all to succeed, you probably will fail. How's that for a catch 22?

* After 25 years of study and conversations with thousands of people, Napoleon Hill distilled down all the fears we might name into 6 basic fears: fear of poverty, fear of ill health, fear of criticism, fear of loss of love of someone, fear of old age and fear of death.

Inspiration Corner

If you were to talk to my Administrative Partner, Angee Robertson, she'd laugh and tell you that I suffer from the very issues I describe in this issue. Every time I send out a newsletter I have a mini panic attack the moment I tell her it's ready to go out. Every time I head out to a speaking engagement, I wish I hadn't said I would. I would have preferred my website redesign was finished before I started the Dare to Series. So, I know about these things you face. The question I have for you: do you let them stop you?

What's Coming/What's Next?

Next Dare to Teleseminars Series (no cost to you)
The "Dare to" (mostly) monthly teleseminar series is offered on the second Thursday of every month. Joan will introduce you to specific tools and strategies to help you grow your business and live your life. The Dare to Teleseminar Series is scheduled for 9-10 am Pacific (12-1 Eastern, 5-6 GMT). Put it in your calendar now. Click here to register for the next program or access recordings of past classes.

Do you have a clearly defined niche and target market?
Target Market Tuesday
If you don't know how to tell people exactly and specifically who you serve and how your services benefit your ideal clients, you are probably having a hard time attracting clients and getting sporadic results with your marketing efforts. Nail your target market and 10-second introduction. Sign up for Target Market Tuesday. Class is limited to 5 people so that each person gets individual attention. Learn more…

Resources and Other Projects

Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working, Girlfriend! Last week my book partner and I received the pdf proofs for "Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working, Girlfriend!" from the publisher. This is the final round of editorial revisions before they send it out to be reviewed. Next week, the galleys! To learn more, visit our blog.

Get Clients Now! Answer Center provides instant access to hundreds of detailed answers to all your sales and marketing questions for only pennies per day. The Answer Center is a comprehensive sales and marketing knowledge base containing complete articles, step-by-step how-to's, detailed forms and examples, audio workshops and interviews, and an amazing Q & A library. Learn more about The Answer Center...

Joan's blog- Business Toolbox for Solo Entrepreneurs: If you'd like a little more of the personal touch of past issues of my newsletter, visit my blog. You can subscribe to the blog in the upper right corner of the blog. Visit the blog now.

Copyright information and Subscribe/Unsubscribe:

You are welcome to use feature article in your own publication or forward it to a friend, client or colleague. I ask that you keep the article in tact, and include attribution, as follows: written by Joan Friedlander, author of the Dare to Series offered by Lifework Business Partners. Joan is a business coach and strategist for solo entrepreneurs who want to develop focused, targeted strategies to take their business to the next level without working any more hours. For more information about Joan's work link to http://www.lifeworkpartners.com.

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