Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

  • Home
  • About
    • About Jim Connolly
    • My top marketing tips for 2025. Yours now, for free!
    • Privacy Policy
    • How I use cookies
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
  • Hire me
    • Let’s Grow Your Business
    • Pick My Brain for the results you need!

Chasing your dreams or running from your fears?

By Jim Connolly | January 24, 2014

Some business owners are chasing their dreams. Others are running from their fears. The difference this creates in their results is huge. No, bigger than that!

So, are you focusing on what you want or what you fear?

One will empower you and lead you to opportunities and growth. The other will lead to pain and stop you from getting started.

Focusing on fear

When we focus on fear, it has a huge, negative impact on our thinking, our decisions and then the actions we take.

Here are some examples of fear driven thinking:

  • We copy our competitors, because it feels safe. This makes us invisible. Here’s a better approach for your business!
  • We stay within our comfort zones. This makes it impossible for us to grow.
  • We adopt the perfectionist mindset and become unproductive. Nothing is perfect, so waiting for something to be perfect slows us down or stops us from even starting.
  • We waste money on things that make us feel good in the short term, yet avoid risking an investment that our business desperately needs. Investment equals risk. Fear focused people hate risk.
  • We attract others who have the same fear focused mindset. This reinforces our fears and supports our decision to hunker down and do nothing new.
  • We work for average people and charge them average fees. Here’s how to break free from that trap.
  • We stagnate.

Those are just some of the things that happen, when we try to avoid what we fear, rather than pursue what we want.

Here’s an interesting question

What 3 things would you do today, if you knew for certain that you could not fail?

Write them down.

Why? Because that list will contain 3 things, which you are currently not doing, from fear of failing. What if one or more of those ‘things’ were to succeed? What if you were to learn something of even greater value, from looking fear in the face and doing what needs to be done?

See failure as feedback, rather than pain. Learn from the feedback. Improve. Embrace change. Give it your best shot.

When you do, you will be following the success formula of every successful person who has ever lived.

The small business owners I work with enjoy far more sales, attract better clients and grow amazing businesses.
If you want the same, here’s exactly how it happens.

FREE marketing tips & advice

Get my best marketing tips, advice and ideas delivered direct to your inbox. Just add your email below.
I respect your privacy.

Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I help small business owners to increase sales, boost their profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

Featured by

marketing advice, marketing help

Site sponsor

packaging consultancy

Categories

  • Blogging (406)
  • Business development (478)
  • Copywriting (303)
  • Email marketing & mail shots (186)
  • General marketing (1,664)
  • Professional development (534)
  • Social media marketing (355)

Hosting provider

20i hosting

Search

Recent posts

  • Grab. Focus. Urgency: How to vastly increase your sales May 20, 2025
  • Attract. Don’t sell May 14, 2025
  • Marketing gold: The follow-up May 10, 2025
  • How to make more sales, in uncertain times May 8, 2025
  • 17 Tips to help you grow a stronger business May 6, 2025
  • How to increase your prices May 2, 2025
  • Your economy April 27, 2025
  • From rags to riches? April 26, 2025
  • Tiny tweaks. Huge wins April 21, 2025
  • Working in. Working on April 15, 2025
  • How to own your competitors. It’s easier than you think April 12, 2025
  • Four questions that helped a subscriber boost sales by 68% April 8, 2025
  • Ignore the uninterested April 7, 2025
  • Does your business pass the coffee shop test? April 6, 2025
  • It’s back to normal for you and your business April 5, 2025
  • Marketing 101: Vigorous, written marketing April 2, 2025
  • The horrible truth about marketing April 1, 2025
  • I have no clients. Seriously. Not even one! March 26, 2025
  • Finish strong March 20, 2025
  • Read this and improve your advertising results, fast March 16, 2025
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Home
  • About
  • Hire me

Copyright © 2025 Jim Connolly