Expat Entrepreneurs: A Little Fear Is A Good Thing

Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Entrepreneurs
1 comment

While you don’t want to be worried all the time (what a life that would be!), a little fear isn’t a bad thing.

Why? Because it tells you that you’re serious about your business. Especially in the beginning, you’ll notice that fear rears its head when things are about to become very real – launching your first website, making that important phone call, or signing a contract with your first big client.


Fear is a sign that you’re moving forward.

If you don’t feel any business-related fear, ever… it’s time to ask yourself if you aren’t playing it too safe. Are you missing out on opportunities that involve greater risk, but also greater rewards? Are you trying new things and generally growing as a business owner?

Do you have a lot invested in your business – be it financially or emotionally – or have you made it so low-stakes that it doesn’t truly matter if you succeed or if you fail after all? If so, how do you get motivated to give your very best day after day and ensure that your business grows?

Instead of seeing fear as the enemy, or as a negative emotion to be suppressed, I suggest that you accept it as a useful indicator that your business is alive, constantly evolving, and going places. And while I’m not suggesting that you look for reasons to feel afraid – we expats already have enough to worry about in our everyday life – when things get a little too comfortable, ask yourself what you could do to stretch your limits a bit and reintroduce some excitement in your work.

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Emmanuelle

Images by calico courtney (top) and clodius-maximus (bottom), both via Flickr Creative Commons