Page 192 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Fearless Career Change

4. Click on the Business Plan icon.
5. Later, if you’d also like to write a separate marketing plan,
click on the Marketing Plan icon.

All the transferable-skills exercises you’ve done in previous
chapters can be put to use here. There are many skills you may
have developed over a lifetime in both work- and non-work-related
settings that can be of value in starting your own business. Even if
you’ve never been a CEO, you may have been captain of the vol-
leyball team! You’ll need essentially the same abilities for planning
strategies, communicating effectively, and being at the helm of the
ship when you’re in your new office as when you were on the
courts. If you’ve never managed a business or budget before, just
think about what it takes to run a household or maintain a car—
budgeting, cleaning, maintenance.
Many of the things you presently just take for granted will be
the recipe you’ll need for success when you’re running your own
business. It may be a little scary at first, but there is an interesting
paradox about the emotion we call fear. When we experience fear
in our bodies, we feel an elevated heartbeat, increased rate of
breathing, and a rush of blood to our extremities. The emotion of
excitement causes exactly the same reaction in our bodies as does
fear. Have you ever considered that your fear may actually be excite-
ment? I challenge you to consider this conundrum! Remember
your first date? Was that fear, or was it excitement? A little of both
perhaps? Welcome to the world of running your own business!
Being your own boss can be one of the most rewarding choices
that you can make in a lifetime. If you are willing to take the chal-
lenge along with the rewards, the sky’s the limit!

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