Sure, you’re probably saying to yourself that entrepreneurs aren’t supposed to be fearful–there’s the image of the daring entrepreneur jumping off the cliff. Me, looking back, I jumped off some cliffs and was pushed off others. I went off on my own, leaving a good job when I didn’t have to, and I got through the worst of it, that dark year in my business that about every business faces, because I damned well didn’t have any other choice (meaning, I was pushed).
Somebody asked me about it once (or challenged me on it, I should say, because there was some contention at that moment): “Aren’t you too fearful to run a business?”
“It’s obvious that you’ve never run your own business,” I answered. That didn’t solve the argument — heated it up, actually, I’m sorry to say–but I did offer, a few minutes later, that being fearful is part of what you’re supposed to do. They pay us for that.
With that as background, I’d suggest you take five minutes and watch Pamela Slim’s five-minute piece The Upside of Fear from a recent Ignite Phoenix event. You’ll notice I borrowed her cliffs metaphor, but that she works that one, among others, beautifully. And by the way, this is also a great example of how slides ought to work in presentations. Part of the format in the Ignite events is a five-minute limit, slides that advance automatically and show for 15 seconds apiece. That makes for great presentations, as Pam shows us.
And more important, she’s right. Take five minutes and watch this.
If for any reason you can’t see the video here, you can click this link to see the original on BlipTV.
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
