It begins with the letter F.

It distracts you from what is important.

It makes you forget your priorities.

It makes you do things you never thought you would do.

It makes you feel shame.

Do you know what the word is?

(No, not that one!)

That's right, it's... FEAR In your business, fear is a guest in your house that has overstayed his welcome.

I'll explain that. People cannot survive without the ability to fear. If we did not fear, we would be touching hot stoves, walking over cliffs, driving 120 miles an hour into telephone polls and insulting professional wrestlers.

We need fear.

We also need fire (another four letter word that begins with F.) But the misuse of fire can have consequences that are not in our best interests.

Seems like these F words are double-edged swords, eh?

Many people, when they begin their home business, experience a lot of excitement, but they also bring a sense of fear. They have seen the stories, most enjoy whatever product or service they market, and they know people are doing the business with amazing success.

But it's a new experience for most people who have never been in a home business before, so when we are exposed to something new, we experience FEAR.

Let's put it out there...it's OK.

When Diane and I got started in 1999, the fear was like a film over us. Diane had all that weight to lose. I had to see myself as something other than a guidance counselor.

We had fear that everything we had worked for would disappear if we put too much of ourselves into our business.

How many of you have felt that way? ALL OF YOU!

Today, the fear is completely overwhelmed by a sense of excitement, energy, gratitude and love.

("What happened Larry? How did you make the fear go away?")

Here's what happened...which is what will happen to you if you do your business correctly.

1. We looked at our lives and saw the direction we were going without our home business. That scared us more than being in the business.

2. We stayed connected. Connected to the company, connected to our leaders, connected to our group, connected to the home business industry.

3. We never EVER wavered from using the products our company markets. We love them, we believe in them, we will use them for the rest of our lives, whether we distribute them or not.

4. We found a system for doing the business that we knew we could do with success. Others had done it before us and were succeeding like crazy. We plugged in and did it consistently.

5. We committed to being the best people we could be, not just the best business builders. This is one business where you can't separate the personal from the professional. The two are connected forever.

You have fear. That is a normal healthy condition. Don't be afraid of your fear!

You also have people who will go over the mountain with you.

They'll be your friends, cheerleaders and role models.

They'll hold your hand as you walk forward.

Fear not, we're with you!