“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” – Pope John XXIII 
How does fear from rejection stops your business cash flow grows? What haven’t you achieved in your business dealings because you didn’t have the tools and strategies to break through fear? Where would your cash flow be if fear of asking for money was no longer a barrier? What if it only took you acknowledging and understanding your fears to change this?
When debt collecting and asking for payments the most common fears that small business owners experience are:
- Fear of rejection
- Fear of failure
- Fear of what the client or customer might think
- Fear of not being understanding enough
- Fear of not knowing if the client or customer will come back
- Fear of losing business and reputation
- Fear of not being recommended
- Fear of being publicly exposed in a negative light
When it comes to debt collecting, fear is the ultimate killer of action and progress, because most people are unwilling to recognise it and then look at the uncomfortable feelings that it creates. When it comes to asking for money, even if it is our money we are requesting, unless we psychologically and emotionally get stronger and move through internal barrier – we feel blocked and powerless.
But, there is a way to empower yourself to feel confident to ask debtors for your money.
If you are debt collecting personally (which most of small business owners end up doing), here is a little helpful list to go through just before you start debt collecting.
- Acknowledge your uneasiness with chasing debt: We all know this task is uncomfortable and this feeling subconsciously builds internal stress to fully express ourselves in regards to not getting paid. And by this I do not mean being aggressive, rude and unprofessional, but professionally firm! By knowing that it is fear, we decrease its power over us and empower ourselves to go and get what we want!
- Restate your Purpose for debt collecting: By restating to yourself (internally) the purpose of this action – to get what is yours and to grow your business – you empower yourself!
- Feel in Control – By observing that debt collecting is uncomfortable but necessary you get a powerful sense of purposeful action to grow your business! When you do actions that are not pleasant but a must do on your way to your goals – you get a great sense of YOU being in control of your circumstances.
- Feel Inner Strength: This very same thought pattern gives you a deepened sense of inner strength and self-confidence.
- Develop Self Motivation: By doing the ‘hard yard’ in debt collecting and seeing for yourself that this action does produce results and improvements, you will feel increased motivation to take inspired action in your future debt collecting to improve your business cash flow and to achieve your other business goals
It is highly recommended that before you start collecting, you have the steps listed in front of you and go through it by spending a minute or two thinking about your own psychology in regards to each step. This would empower you to start calling your debtors in the right state of mind and this will show in your debt collecting results. By looking at business debt collecting from this perspective you will slowly start breaking any fear that comes your way and it’s for sure your business results will show it.