How To Overcome Your Fears and Increase Your Funds

How To Overcome Your Fears and Increase Your Funds

By

Eric M. Twiggs

“If you live in fear of the future because of what happened in the past, you’ll end up losing what you have in the present.” Unknown Author

Let’s begin with a tale of two shop owners.   “Chuck” has every intention of replacing himself in the business.  He has the resume of a qualified candidate on his desk, but never gets around to making the call.   “Laura” is always complaining about having too much month at the end of her money.  

She just returned from shop owners class, and her key takeaway was NOT to increase her $68.00 labor rate, even though her Mercedes repair shop is located in Beverly Hills! 

What do Chuck and Laura have in common?  They’re both afraid.   As I reflect in these scenarios, I’m reminded of the following study I read about.

In 1967, two researches named Fenz & Epstein conducted a study of twenty-two sky divers.  They placed a heart rate monitor on each jumper to measure their heart rates and anxiety levels. 

The findings confirmed that the sky divers heart rate levels peaked the moment before making the jump, and decreased during the actual event.

In other words, the skydivers felt more fear leading up to the jump than they did during the jump!  Here’s the takeaway: Your fears are based on what you believe could happen, and not reality!   

The moments leading up to the leap only last a few minutes.   Since what you want is on the other side of your fear, all you have to do is muster brief moments of courage to get to the next level.

So what’s keeping you from making the jump?  Stay with me to learn two keys to overcoming your fears and increasing your funds

The Right Perspective

Mark Twain put it this way: “I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” Maintaining this perspective will motivate you to move beyond your fears.  Earlier this week I was speaking with a colleague named  Karen, about an experience she had earlier in her career as a service writer. 

It was the late 90’s and “Bob”,her absentee shop owner, had a fear of raising his prices.  Bob had priced his fuel injection service at $45, which was $100 less than all of his competitors. 

Karen had just attended a local maintenance sales training session where she learned what her competition was charging for the same service. 

Excited to share the good news, she met Bob in his office to give him a recap.   Bob listened intently and enthusiastically replied: “We can’t do that!!”  He was worried that he would lose customers.

Karen conducted a secret experiment by charging the $145 for the injection service anyway. (Don’t try this at home service writers!)  This decision added an additional $5,000 in monthly sales to the shop and they didn’t lose any customers! 

For Bob, losing customers was a worry that never came true. You’re only afraid of the negative outcome you anticipate, and what you anticipate isn’t reality.  Remembering this will help you to maintain the right perspective.

The Right Preparation

Part of the reason the sky diver’s anxiety decreased during the jump was because they were trained to pack their parachutes.   The Navy Seals are famous for saying: “Under pressure you don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training.”

Here’s my question for you: If you fell to their level of your training, would you hit the ground? If you just answered yes, I can understand why you’d be fearful.   Karen from my earlier example, had the right preparation. 

Before raising her prices, Karen attended the training session where she learned about building relationships, communicating value, and overcoming objections.  Her training increased her belief in herself and what she was selling.  Karen had no reason to be scared, since she was so prepared. 

Are you afraid to raise your prices or to hire your replacement?  The feeling of anxiety is just a signal for you to pursue additional training in that area. Having the right preparation is critical because It’s harder to fear what your prepared to face. 

Conclusion

If you commit to embracing the right perspective and embarking on the right preparation, you will overcome your fears and increase your funds.

Your dream won’t come true while you’re sitting in the plane.   If you’re serious about what you want, you have to jump!

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS. Are you afraid to either raise your prices or hire your replacement?  I have a checklist that will keep a lack of preparation from driving your fears.  Email etwiggs@autotraining.net  and I will send it.