Most people I know or have met who play small (and never make a big impact) have one thing in common…
Major successes, on the other hand, have the opposite in common.
And I don’t care if we’re talking about entrepreneurial success, or ANY calling. Parent, teacher, community leader, whatever.
In fact, I was listening to an interview with a TV host who has gone deep with over 500 successful entrepreneurs and leaders in hundreds of different fields, and he made this same observation.
It’s about failure.
Not whether you have it or not… EVERYBODY FAILS.
Rather, the secret is in how you react to it.
If you’re afraid of failure, you will not do big things. You will not try. And even when you do, your attempts will be meek and half-hearted, and not get you the results you want.
Ironically, cowering in the face of failure only increases the likelihood it will get you.
If, on the other hand, you embrace failure, you will screw up a lot! You’ll make mistakes. You’ll fall short. And occasionally, you’ll win. You’ll reach your goals. You’ll have an impact.
And some of the successes you stumble into, through failure, will be far bigger than you might expect.
It’s only by embracing and moving towards failure — rather than running from it — that you will ever be able to achieve your biggest goals.
I’m writing this essay to myself, as much as I’m writing it to you…
I’ll explain…
I’ve been working my butt off, behind the scenes, building and growing my training site, BTMSinsiders. (4 AM mornings have become the norm!)
By many accounts, it’s been a smash hit, less than 90 days in.
I’m not going to tell you the exact number of members, but the membership is selling fast enough that I now consider the site to have “traction” in the startup sense.
Not only that, I run monthly viewership stats, and last month viewers watched an average of 4.3 hours of training, in addition to the live engagement with my members-only Think Like an A-List Copywriter webinar. (I count recording views toward the viewership stats, but not the live webinar attendees.)
I recently ran a Net Promoter survey, and most members are satisfied to enthusiastic, with 61.5% of members qualifying in the top category of “Promoters.”
Here are some excerpts from what members are telling me…
“It’s VERY useful / profitable stuff!” — Alex Popov
“I’ve spent quite a bit of time digging into The Most Valuable Customer Strategy. It’s based on sound marketing strategy… [you] provided the blueprint to adapt it to my market.” — Walt Goshert
“It provides very actionable, proven, step-by-step marketing advice without wasting time on noise and fads that most likely won’t be around in a month.” — Anthony Larson
“I like your stuff, Roy, and think it is practically oriented which helps me a lot as a newbie freelancer just starting out.” — Mike Hulme
“The content you put out is fantastic. It’s not all about ‘copywriting.’ It’s about business building.” — Chris Rock
“The content is current and valuable, and the approach resonates with the way I think.” — Steve Hill
“Your content is usable — not fluff or theory — hands-on, tried and tested, and immediately applicable — I love it!” — Gary Cooper
There was more, but I’ll stop there.
No, “You made me a millionaire!” yet, but we’re only 90 days in — give me time.
In short, I SHOULD be extremely happy with BTMSinsiders, and everything I’ve accomplished and contributed on the site so far.
And in fact, on one level, I am.
But I don’t want laurels. I don’t want to rest.
My vision for this site is to consistently be helping tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and business-builders grow — either their businesses, or their clients’.
Right now, all I can see is the gap…
That is, right now, I look at where BTMSinsiders is. And I look at where I see it going in the coming months and years.
I don’t expect magic to happen. I don’t expect it to suddenly go viral and catch on.
I expect to have to EARN every member. Through value contribution. In these essays and the other content I put out. As well as through paying for eyeballs on my messaging.
And the idea of doing that is, admittedly, a little bit terrifying.
I can grow by baby steps by doing more of what I’ve been doing.
But I’m not interested in baby steps.
I have every intention of creating rapid scale, using the exact same methods I teach.
I’ve done it for clients, and now I’m also doing it in my own publishing business.
But that requires putting myself out there a whole lot more.
I’ve been developing a handful of NEW campaigns, and I’ve noticed something about my feelings…
Doubt has crept in more than once.
I think about the message I’m putting out in the market. I think about the lessons that I’m teaching as a bridge towards asking someone to buy.
And my biggest fear is that they won’t feel new and exciting enough.
That they won’t feel big enough.
Even though they’re the same lessons I’ve applied alongside my clients to help them build seven-, eight-, and even nine-figure businesses.
(And yes, I’ve occasionally felt the same way about these essays — and then gotten raving fan mail about the essays I most doubted.)
Here’s the thing.
That fear will ALWAYS be there.
I should know, because I’ve felt that fear every single time I’ve released a client campaign as well.
Including promotions and sales letters that went on to make millions.
It was only by accepting fear of failure that ANY of those promotions ever went out into the market. It was only by embracing the possibility of failure that…
I got my first marketing job…
I got my first freelance copywriting gig…
I wrote my first million-dollar promo…
I got married…
I had kids!…
And on and on.
The more I move TOWARD failure, the more success eventually finds me.
It’s not always straight up. But it is a trend.
So what’s the secret to conquering your fear of failure?
In short, do what you’re afraid of.
Embrace taking action, even when you can fail. Heck, even when failure is LIKELY!
Fear of failure is all about the uncertainty of the outcome. You want the outcome to be one way. But it could be the other. When you actually do the thing that decides the outcome? Then, the uncertainty is gone. You know what the outcome is.
If you didn’t get the result you wanted, you try to learn from it and move on. If you did get the outcome you wanted, you try to learn from it and move on.
Then you do the next thing that scares you, and the next.
It’s a positive feedback loop that leads to you achieving all your biggest goals, even if it means you have to pick yourself back up from a bunch of failures along the way.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
PS: The market is unforgiving. To be a direct response marketer, you must be willing to embrace failure. The simple act of spending $1 on advertising today is NOT guaranteed to bring $1 in return. However, your chances of success go up dramatically when you base your marketing on proven ideas to grow your business. That’s exactly what BTMSinsiders is all about. You pay one low monthly fee and get instant unlimited access to a library of proven ideas to grow your business. Learn more about the BTMSinsiders All-Access Pass, and try us out at zero risk or obligation today.
