Overcoming Fear in Network Marketing

Fear is the biggest emotion in network marketing.

Overcoming Fear in Network Marketing

Fear is the biggest emotion in network marketing and I’ve certainly found that to be the case.

You may guess what I’m about to tell you.

The first thing is probably what you would initially think and then I’m going to talk about something a little bit different.

My favorite book about fear is by Susan Jeffers, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. She talks about the five truths of fear and one of those is that everyone has fear. You’re not alone.

One of those is realizing that if you don’t get over the fear, and you don’t do the thing that you’re fearful for, you live in helplessness the rest of your life.

Hopefully, your fear of living in hopelessness is bigger than your fear of whatever it is you’re afraid to do.

We know we can’t just flip a switch and eliminate fear.

I had a lot of fear for a long time.

People want to be an influencer online but they’re afraid of doing live videos.

Maybe they’ve done one and it was such a scary experience that they never do another one.

So, how do you break through that fear?

The Secret to Overcoming Fear is Doing the Thing That You’re Afraid of.

I’ll admit, when I first started doing live videos, it was a little bit nerve-wracking. There was a little fear going on.

When I first started recording videos that I’d put up on YouTube many, many years ago, it was fearful and nerve-wracking.

My videos sucked but I overcame the fear by doing the thing that I was afraid of. That’s the intuitive thing.

Everyone talks about how the key to overcoming fear is to do what you’re afraid of and eventually the death of that fear is inevitable. That’s true. And we know that. I think you’ve probably heard that a million times.

I want to dig a little deeper today.

You Can’t Flip a Switch and Eliminate Fear.

I’ve tried praying and meditating on it but the bottom line is you’ve got to do it. Do it and you’re going to overcome it.

Someone can tell you do it, do it, do it all day long, and you still have so much fear, you don’t do it. So, what do you do to get yourself to do the thing that you’re afraid of?

I think you probably know in your heart if you just kept doing it over, and over, and over, even if you’re afraid, you can get over it. Hopefully, you know that’s the case.

It’s the same with public speaking.

I Was Deathly Afraid of Speaking in Public.

My mentor told me I was going to speak one night and I was like, “No way! I’m not.” And he said, “Yes, you are”.

So, I eventually did it.

I was pressured into doing it. I sucked and was terrible.

The first presentation I did, I remember there being six people. Luckily, only six people showed up. There were supposed to be 100 and I was so bad, three out of the six walked out.

Have you heard the saying in network marketing that you can’t say the wrong thing to the right person and you can’t say the right thing to the wrong person?

That’s not true at all because one of the guys that walked out, someone else showed him the business a few months later, and he joined and became a top earner in our company. But he had seen part of my presentation and because I was so awful, he left.

I said the wrong thing to the right person.

Your fear is going to control you if you don’t have a commitment that’s bigger than the fear.

I was really afraid of speaking in public but my commitment to being a success in my life, my commitment to being a hero to my unborn children, that was greater than my fear of speaking in public.

Consciously, I chose that my fear of not being a hero to my children, my fear of not having financial freedom, and my fear of not rising to my potential was way bigger than my fear of getting on stage.

I had to wrestle with myself and I had to have many conversations with myself about that.

Make Sure Your Commitment Is Strong Enough

If you are struggling with fear today, and you don’t seem to be able to break through it, you need to take a serious look at your commitment. Chances are that commitment is not strong enough.

You want to develop reasons why your commitment is going to be stronger than the fear.

When you figure out why you must overcome the fear, guess what happens? You figure out how to overcome the fear. You end up getting over it because your commitment is bigger than the fear.

I look at my life and who I want to be.

I want to be a hero to my children. That’s important to me. That’s something I’m amazingly committed to and because I’m committed to being a hero to my children, the fear of not living up to that commitment is bigger than my fear of doing a live video.

Another part of my purpose is helping other people live up to their highest potential. My fear of not helping other people live up to their highest potential is greater than my fear of stepping out of my comfort zone.

You want to stack these commitments.

My fear of not living up to my own highest potential is greater than my fear of stepping out of my comfort zone.

It’s why I am able to step out of my comfort zone.

Why I’ve been able to do it consistently for years is because I have commitments that are greater than the level of fear of breaking out of my comfort zone.

Be More Committed Than Your Are Fearful

Figure out what you really want your life to look like. Get committed to those things and start programming yourself that you’re way more committed than you are fearful.

And your fear of not living up to those commitments is bigger than the fear of stepping out of your comfort zone in whatever way that you need to.

I hope this makes sense.

It’s an extremely valuable process that I’ve gone through. You can almost relate it to “I am statements”.

Who are you and who are you committed to being?

I’ve got a list of things.

Be a Super Daddy.

Be one of the most confident men in the world.

I’m committed to touching, moving, and inspiring people.

I’m committed to making a difference and leaving a legacy.

Also, I’m committed to leaving an impact that survives me so that I have a legacy that lives on.

The more I step out of my comfort zone, the more likely I am to actually make that a reality.

Once you’ve overcome the fear, you’re going to look back in disbelief at how fearful you really were.

Take public speaking for an example. It consumed me. I was so incredibly afraid to get on stage. It was like butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to vomit. I always wanted to back out.

Before it was time to get on stage, I was like, “Man, I wish I wouldn’t have done this because I hate this feeling” but my commitments were higher so I continued doing it.

When I get on stage now, I can’t believe I was so afraid because today, the fear is gone. I’ve done it hundreds of times.

There may be some people who’ve done it 100 or 200 times and they still have crazy amounts of fear, but what you find is in general, most people are able to get over that.

Now, I still stress myself out but I almost consider that to be healthy.

Before I get on stage, I’m always kind of stressing out because I want to deliver in a big way.

My mission and purpose are to impact lives so I want to make sure that I say the right things, come from the right place, and I have the right energy. So, there’s still a little stress there, but the crippling fear has gone away.

Same thing with cold calling people, meeting strangers, whatever it may be. Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you’ll look back, and you’ll say, “Wow! I can’t believe I was so afraid”.

The joy in all this, and this is really what I want you to feel, the joy is turning into the person who is able to overcome a crippling fear.

If you want to know some secrets to being very, very confident, that comes from you becoming the kind of person who has overcome obstacles.

The more obstacles you overcome, the more confidence you end up developing.

Overcome the fear because of the feeling that you get to have, being able to look in the mirror, and being proud of yourself, versus looking in the mirror and staring back at unrealized potential.

That was the way I lived for a long time.

When I’d stare in the mirror, what was looking back at me was unrealized potential.

Today, I look in the mirror, and I certainly have a lot more potential.

I have a lot of room for growth in a lot of different ways, but I’m proud. I’m proud that I was able to step out of my comfort zone in so many ways to overcome those fears.

If you feel like this can add some value to some others, feel free to share this.

If you’re looking for some advanced training on network marketing specifically, hop over to LeadwithMatt.com. I’ve got some leadership strategies there. Not only on becoming a powerful leader, but also on being able to attract powerful leaders into your organization.

As we know, network marketing is a game of leadership. Leaders with leadership, we grow by multiplication versus addition.

Addition is slow and painful. Multiplication is fast and fun.

Appreciate you guys so much.

If you’d like to learn about the value of promotions and why they’re so important in network marketing, check out this blog post.