Are You in Touch with Your Inner Terrier?

Any other dog people out there?

We have three dogs—Heidi is a 12-year-old Havanese who acts more like a cat than a dog.  She doesn’t really play into this story.

Max is a 10-year-old Red Miniature Pincher who can best be described as a curmudgeon.  He had a rough start in life, and after we rescued him when he was 2, he never had a sense of playfulness.  Max is content to sleep under his blankie and go for 3 walks a day.

Enter Maisie, our new 3-month-old Scottish Terrier puppy.  Maisie is a true terrier—feisty, tenacious, and won’t take “no” for an answer.

Why am I introducing you to Max and Maisie? Because there’s a lesson here with these two pups about starting your business.

Most aspiring entrepreneurs struggle with getting their business off the ground because they want to be sure to get everything right the first time. Are you waiting until you have all the answers?  Or maybe the delay is because you are afraid of what people will think about your business.

There’s also the “big fear”–what if no one wants what you have to offer? (Don’t worry, they will.) Or what if they can’t afford you?  Or don’t want to pay you?  How can you find clients, and what happens if you can’t?

Basically, all these “what ifs” come down to a fear of rejection.

A fear of rejection can be pretty profound. No matter how confident you feel in your professional or home life, starting a business can trigger plenty of self-doubt. And no one wants to be rejected, right?

It’s also easy to start agreeing with the people who reject us.  Maybe you start thinking that you really don’t know what you’re talking about or aren’t as good as you think you are.

These thoughts can be very painful.  And the only solution is to get in touch with your inner terrier.

What do I mean by this?

Learn what a terrier does best—tenacity.  Our little Maisie is the most tenacious being you can imagine, and the object of her tenacity is our old curmudgeon, Max.

Maisie loves Max. She LOVES him. She always wants to be by Max and he wants absolutely nothing to do with Maisie. He nips at her. He bites her. He outright attacks her. He runs away from her if I let them outside.  He hides from her under the bed.  She chases him. She runs after him. She always wants to play. She’ll roll over on her belly. She does not give up.

He rejects her and rejects her and rejects her and tells her no over and over and over again in doggy language. And she refuses to give up.

We got Maisie when she was eight weeks old. She’s now 15 weeks old. In the past seven weeks, Maisie has tried and tried to get Max to play, and he keeps telling her “no.”  The problem, for Max, is that she won’t no for an answer.

Finally, last week when Maisie and Max were out on their walk, Max started to play with her.  Maisie ran up to Max, nibbled his ears, bit his paws, and all he did was grumble a little.  He didn’t bite her or run away.

Now, a week later, Max wants to be in the same room as Maisie.  If she is asleep and doesn’t follow him outside or to a different room, he will find her and nudge her before he walks out.  Usually, he is quiet and has accepted her—even welcomed her into the pack.

He really wants what she has to offer.  He wants the playfulness and frisky feeling of being a puppy again.  He wants her attention.  He just had to get past his own fear to realize it.

Obviously, there’s an allegory here for your business.

If you are procrastinating because you’re doubting yourself, afraid you won’t find clients or in demand for what you offer, get in touch with your inner terrier.

Don’t just wait until it’s perfect to get started!  Try something.  Maisie tried about 9 million different tactics to get Max to pay attention.  She wagged her tail.  She rolled over.  She bit him.  She chased him. She kept trying different things and eventually she won him over.

That’s all it takes to get your business off the ground.  Tenacity and the belief that your customers will find you and want to do business with you, eventually.

You can start by trial and error, throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, or you can shorten your learning curve and follow a system.

My Business Builder Blueprint is designed the help you know what to try to increase your confidence and eradicate self-doubt.

It will help you be more like Maisie.  She is so sure that every single person on the planet will find her irresistible that she never worries about rejection.  What if you could have that kind of confidence and tenacity?

If you’d like to work within a system that will set you up for success, reach out to me and let’s get on a call.

And today, try to be in touch with your inner terrier.

About the author

Dr. Judy Morley has been described as a “human potential specialist.” Her years of experience in different arenas varies from being an advertising executive to a college professor to an executive to an entrepreneur and franchise owner.  Each of these positions has given her great insight into helping people find their authentic style of leadership.