07 Sep Keeping Your Ideas Secret Might Hurt Your Business

Who are you talking to about your business? Why or why not? For some people, talking about their business is taboo because they feel someone might try to steal their idea, business model, competitive advantage, etc.…. That “some people” was me; I was some people. I used to fear sharing my business ideas with others because I was not honestly ready to execute the idea myself, but I did not want someone else to take off with the idea and run with it. Have you ever heard the saying, if you don’t do it someone else will? I truly believed that statement and so in order for me to share my ideas I felt I had to already be doing the business.

I began doing some soul searching in preparation for my new book, “Everything By Faith.” What I discovered was every time I avoided sharing my business ideas with others, I was making that decision based on fear; not faith. I simply feared that someone was going to take my business idea and run with it. Furthermore, it was confirmation that I wasn’t ready or prepared to execute the idea myself, but, at the same time, I did not want to look up one day and see my idea making someone else a lot of money; so I kept my mouth shut and my ideas to myself. I noticed, however, all of those business ideas started to jumble my brain, and I became overly anxious and overwhelmed with all of those thoughts running through my mind but not knowing how I was going to make it all happen.

I got to the point where I no longer desired to base my decisions on fear. In fact, I learned that one of the characteristics between faith verses fear is faith comes by hearing (meaning there is some kind of communication); fear comes in silence. Any time you are eerily silent about your business, it may cause a type of fear known as anxiety. Anxiety is an indication that you are in a state of resistance about something. You resist talking about your business ideas for fear of rejection, fear of judgment, fear of being taken advantage of, etc.… This kind of fear will keep you in a state of idleness and inability to execute those ideas. By sharing your business ideas with people that you know, like, and trust, you will be able to overcome fear and anxiety so that your business can thrive.