There can be something really scary about small business ownership. Something so … UNKNOWN … about it all. We’re no longer climbing the corporate ladder; we’re no longer looking to that next promotion on the horizon. Stability is out the window, and we’re alone. We’re shuffling through the haze of being a entrepreneur with a business plan we wrote at 2am (if we even have one to begin with), a suitcase full of dreams & a pint (or two) of ben & jerry’s in the freezer for those rough, rough moments.

Am I the only one who feels this way?! So many dreams so little time. So many BIG ideas, so few resources. SO MUCH yet so little. And all of it under this big umbrella of “UNKNOWN”. Because, really, who KNOWS what your business will look like in 6 months, 1 year, 6 years? Who KNOWS what the next best thing will be? Who KNOWS if you can actually “make it”?

It can be paralyzing, can’t it? Sometimes it’s the very idea of “unknown” that stops people in their tracks, that keeps them from ruffling things up & that forces them into a life of predicability & consistency. Now, those things aren’t bad things at all!! Predictability & consistency are valuable traits!! It’s when we do them out of FEAR that they become stifling!!

I used to live my life paralyzed of the “unknown”. Who am I kidding… some days, I still do!! Some days I sit down & look at my long list of ideas and think there are TOO many unpredictable outcomes, so I’m not trying. Some days I really am my own worst enemy. I bully myself, talk down to my myself, and believe that the mighty God isn’t mighty enough for my mighty dreams.

Fighting fear of the unknown is a sometimes daily occurrence in the life of a small business owner. It sneaks out and roars it’s ugly head when we least expect it. And while yes, there are moments I let it win; there have to be MORE moments I stand tall and say: it’s the “unknown” that makes me STRONGER, not weaker!!! It’s the “unknown” that pushes me, challenges me and EXCITES me to make the future of my business ANYTHING I want it to be!!!! The sky really is the limit!! YOU are setting the pace; YOU are setting the goals!!! Fight the fear of unknown by meeting it head on!! EMBRACE it, learn from it.

I don’t want to look back on my business in 6 months, 1 year or 6 years filled with REGRET because I was too afraid to take the leap. I want to look back knowing that while I didn’t know much, I knew I had to try.

xo! kat

 

Image Credit: Hope Taylor Photography