It’s an interesting question and one I’m interested in finding out an answer to
And the reason why?
Because like mostly everyone else, I’ve always given a damn what other people think. I’ve cared what people thought, I’ve cared how they viewed me, and I cared what they said about me. And even though 98% of it was usually good, I like most everyone else tended to focus on the 2% who said something negative or mean about me.
Of course I would tell myself it didn’t matter – and then catch myself wondering what people would think the next time I made a decision launched a product and whether it would upset me if I had negative reviews or comments.
And it’s exactly this kind of thinking that leads to fear; specifically, the fear of failure.
I’m going to get back the whole fear of failure thing in a moment, but I want you to consider something:
Imagine you’re a sales person. You’re new on the job and it’s your responsibility to call total strangers over the phone to sell them a high ticket item. Scary thought, right?
However, you know your product inside and out. You know the competition and you know how your product is different from theirs. You know the market. You know everything about selling this product.
But you’re still afraid to make those sales calls. Why? Because people might say NO. They might REJECT you. They might get ANNOYED or ANGRY with you. They might HURT your feelings.
Now you’re freaking out about making sales calls. You’re using every evasive technique in the world to keep from calling those customers. You already hate this job and you’ve barely even started.
So let’s try an experiment by turning the whole thing around:
Think about this scenario.
Instead of worrying about getting rejected be radical, take a week away and go out and get as many rejections as you possibly can. Visit loads of offices, be polite and go through the motions of selling your product but don’t count sales, just your REJECTIONS. And the sales person who gets the MOST rejections this week gets $100,000 cash.
Now can you see yourself running from office to office, breathlessly telling them about your product so you can get to the next office and claim a rejection? Can you see yourself working the phones like crazy, stacking appointments up so you could get more “NO’s”? Can you see yourself GRINNING and buzzing like crazy each time you get turned down?
What a difference a change of thought can make. 
Getting back to the fear of failure in Internet Marketing – or the fear of failure in ANYTHING – how can you turn your brain inside out so you look forward to failing? Because if you ask ANY successful person they would tell you they went through a lot of failures to reach their success.
In fact, their very success is BUILT upon their failures – meaning if they hadn’t tried and failed and tried again, they NEVER would have succeeded at all. Think of all the successful entrepreneurs out there who failed like crazy before they became fantastically successful.
Failure is a prerequisite and a requirement to achieving success. Donald Trump is one of the biggest failures in history, managing to pull off at least 19 business failures over the course of 17 years. (The guy’s running for president now for heavens sake)..
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard NOT to start Microsoft as legend would have you believe, but to start Traf-O-Data, a company that turned out to be a huge failure and you’ve probably never heard of.
Henry Ford went broke 5 times before successfully launching the Ford Motor Company.
Behind every successful person is a long and distinguished string of failures most are proud of.
So let me ask you – what happens if you launch a product and it bombs?
What happens if you write a controversial blog post people hate, or you try a traffic system that totally flops?
What happens if you build a website and pour everything into it and no one ever visits it but your family and friends?
Have you failed? Or have you begun your journey to success?
I think you know the answer to that one. But it’s what you do after your failure that makes all the difference. Many people have a failure, hang their head then quit in shame and disgust because they didn’t get it right. And your friends and relatives may even tell you that’s exactly what you should do, encouraging you to get a ‘proper’ job because they are concerned about you.
Utter crap…
If you’re a member of the “I-Don’t-Give-A-whatsit-Club-For-IMers” then you’re trying to fail as fast as you can to get it over with, because you know every failure gets you that much closer to your success.
And most of all, you shouldn’t give a tits wotsit what anybody thinks or says because you KNOW it doesn’t matter what they think or say. The ONLY thing that matters is what you yourself DO.
Did you have to file bankruptcy?
Did you crash a business into the ground?
Did you try and fail 12 times and get up 13 times?
Then you’ll most likely succeed, it’s just a matter of time and perseverance before you do.
So from now on, every time fear tries to close its nasty clammy little hands around your heart, just smile and say “Bring it on!” You may just be surprised to feel the fear almost immediately replaced by a surge of adrenaline and a renewed belief and energy that you will in fact succeed here and now.
Fear nothing and wear your failure with pride…