Here is an excellent guest post by Lance Cashion. Lance is a life and health insurance broker and financial advisor from Fort Worth, Texas, specializing in wealth preservation, liquidity retention and distribution. He attended EntreLeadership Master Series in Cancun, Mexico. You can follow him on Twitter or Facebook. You can guest post, as well! Read about it here.
“Fear has left the building” is what Dave Ramsey said about my situation to a room full of business leaders, pastors, entrepreneurs and their teams in Cancun. Moments before Dave made this pronouncement, I had an opportunity to privately speak with him. I compressed my life situation, business challenges, the reason I was in Cancun and what I had learned in the past five days into a few minutes. Fortunately, Dave was able to make sense of my fragmented story.
You may be asking; “Fear of what?” Well, the fear of knowing that I must become a leader, but I did not know how. I feared failure. My family and career depended on me leading. No one could do it for me. In 2009, I found myself working in the family business, going nowhere, sinking into frustration and bitterness. I love my family, and I felt I was not serving to my full capacity.
I had two choices: grow out of my situation or die in it. That is what I was left with. I could allow the waves of life to toss me around until I succumbed to the currents, only to sink to the ocean’s depths. OR, I could pick a fixed point on the horizon and start swimming. I chose to start paddling.
Two years have passed since I came to the humbling conclusion that I needed help. Thanks to EntreLeadership, the seed of leadership has grown and flourished in many surprising ways. After several months of working within our business and not getting the results I desired, I decided to branch out and expand from our core market (individual health insurance). Had I not found the right coaching and encouragement, I would not have made this move.
I discovered how to recognize the root of fear and neutralize it. I learned to transform a vision into a reality. Most importantly, I learned how to build a business and life around a central vision that is based on my calling.
In 2009, I was spinning my wheels and allowing fear to rule. In the last two years, I have launched a successful insurance firm and a financial advisory/wealth management firm. They are a representation of my vision in the marketplace, and they work in concert with each other. I have become the leader of two small groups at our church and have embraced my role as spiritual leader of our family.
My biggest lesson about leadership was learning to reach out to other leaders who are willing to share their secrets.
Decide to do something worthwhile and authentic. And then, figure out how to do it and rally the troops around the effort. Don’t allow the fear of failure to bring you down. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Be determined. Years from now, you will look back on the day you began to lead without fear.
Question: How do you handle fear in your life?
