Conquering the fear of failure

There is probably not a single entrepreneur out there who hasn’t experienced failure at some point. As all successful entrepreneurs will tell you, it’s all part of the journey, and many of them have failed multiple times before finally achieving their goals and dreams. But for many, the fear of failure can be overwhelming, and that is because there is so much responsibility carried on the shoulders of business founders. A great example of this can be seen in the words of Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder and CEO of the multi-billion-dollar yoghurt company Chobani. When asked whether he was ever afraid while building his hugely successful business, he said: “Every day. The worry got bigger and bigger as people increasingly relied on the company, making their future decisions. Because if I had failed, a lot of lives were going to be affected by it.” The lesson to be learned here is that fear of failure is indeed a part of our entrepreneurial lives. But what matters is having the ability to look fear in the eyes, to use it as a motivational tool, and to keep relentlessly pursuing those business building goals despite the presence of fear.