Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Learn How to Defuse Fear

Fear is a time bomb. Here’s how to MacGyver your way out of dread’s grip and become a more confident leader. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. According to Benjamin Franklin, the only certainties are death and taxes. But with all due respect to the Founding Father, he forgot to mention something just as common, at least for entrepreneurs: fear. Fear can be an everyday state of mind for modern entrepreneurs. After all, when big problems happen, the world knows it at once and responds without remorse or filters. Even before BuzzFeed announced in January that it would lay off about 220 workers, CNN and other news outlets had already caught wind of that scuttlebutt. That left CEO Jonah Peretti in the unenviable position of explaining why 15 percent of his workforce would soon be searching Indeed and Glassdoor for new roles. No startup founder wants to experience what Peretti did. Yet everyone in a leadership position must accept that, in time, tough choices will be necessary. That realization can lead to an increase in the fear already simmering just below the surface. And, unless you shake it off, fear it can become crippling. Scared stiff in the C-suite Of course, fear is hardly un natural, especially for people struggling to keep a company afloat. Considering that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that three-quarters of companies are destined to fail within a decade, it’s no surprise that entrepreneurs might break out in a cold sweat. What’s more, closing shop is hardly the only worry founders have: There’s also the threat of financial ruin and job instability; and the list goes on. Like many other entrepreneurs of his generation, my father experienced these fears as the leader of a successful company. The business was dealing with […]

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