Overcoming the Fear of Commitment
I am a full time Grandma. I currently Nanny my youngest granddaughter and help off and on with six others. The "other six" are school aged so mostly I'll just help if they're on school vacation or their parents are away. Lily, though, has been my full time job for three years.
Little girls grow up and in a mere 2 weeks Lily will start preschool. Yes, only a couple of half days each week but the writing is on the wall. I decided a couple of months ago to start looking for an opportunity with which to spend what will be my ever expanding free time.
After having the freedom to run my own show for all this time, a workplace job no longer appealed to me so I started poking around on the Internet to see what I could find. I happened to stumble across Wealthy Affiliate and it intrigued me.
I knew nothing about affiliate marketing before I blundered into their website. I didn't even know that it existed. But still...something just clicked. I knew instantly that this was going to be my new thing and I am still just as enthusiastic now as when I started months ago.
I recently had a scare that made me almost want to quit. I was on level 4 of my training and part of the lesson was to share my website on my Facebook page. On my PERSONAL page. I was terrified. I had thoughts of all those other crazy things I had done, all those other new business ventures. You know the ones I mean? The ones where they ask you to sign up your spouse, your mother, your 4th grade gym teacher and absolutely everyone else you have ever met? The ones where your up line hounds you every day for a list of people who want nothing to do with your new business? The ones where you have to spend money to make money, the ones where they tell you that you should only use their products because how can you expect to sell something you don't believe in 100%? And now here I was again.
I was terrified, panicked, I may have even grayed out for a few seconds. I was afraid of being embarrassed in front of my family and my friends. What if I'm no good at this? What if this is just a stupid idea? What if I fail? (Because, let's face it. What do I know about affiliate marketing anyway? That's right. NOTHING.)
Then I thought of all the time I had put into this already. Easily 30 hours every week, usually more, of working all day on my days off, cramming in some writing while Lily napped, getting up at 4:30 am to see what I could accomplish before I had to head over to her house. And not to be immodest but I thought my website looked pretty good. More than that, I thought it looked great. I had also promised myself that I would follow the training to the letter to give this program a chance to work for me. No, I would not give up. Not this time.
A few days later I found myself sitting around a kitchen table with two of my oldest and dearest friends. I shored up my courage, took a deep breath and told them what I was doing. They immediately wanted a link to the website and promised to look at it. And they did. By the next day and over the next week, they got in touch with me to tell me how much they liked it. They proofread my posts and offered advice. They discussed the ideas they liked and offered ideas of their own on things I could cover. I was surprised and touched by their enthusiasm.
Then came the real moment of truth. The day I would share with my Facebook friends and family. All 225 of them. Gulp. I wrote my post, I added my link and forced myself to click on "Share Now". Then I put my head on my desk and waited.
It's been 10 days now and you know what's happened? My website clicks have quadrupled. People have been engaging on my Facebook business page and my website every day. People have liked and shared my posts. They have posted comments on how much they enjoy my site, which ideas or recipes they have tried, how they tweaked it to suit their own style and how that worked out for them. And I smiled. They like me. They really like me.
I suddenly realized that this is NOT like all those crazy business ideas I tried before because I'm NOT trying to sell them something. I'm just trying share to my ideas and to help broaden their knowledge if I can. They can just enjoy my site, go over the ideas I put forth and perhaps even try something if it entices them. They don't have to spend a dime but if they do happen to click through and find something they can't live without, then I'm glad I could have helped in that way as well.
"Be bold enough to use your voice, brave enough to listen to your heart, and strong enough to live the life you have always imagined." - Anonymous
All My Best,
Cynthia
Recent Comments
4
That's a fantastic post, Cynthia--good to see you overcome your fears and take off--and you know what? You're doing GREAT! Keep it up and never look back!
Jeff
Awesome. It is important to face commitment just like challenges in life, it is the mark of a mature person! - Florentino