How My Fear Stopped Me from Pursuing Passive Income
This may sound nuts, but if I follow my fear to its end, I fear being completely wiped out of all my resources and becoming homeless. I fear being in survival mode, constantly scrambling to make sure I have enough to get by.
I’ve been in The Futur’s Business Bootcamp for 3 weeks now and the first few weeks really got me thinking about what’s keeping me back from reaching my goals, and surprisingly, it has to do with this fear of mine.
The first week of the bootcamp was all about mindset and limiting beliefs. “Yeah, yeah, just give me the tactics and formulas and I’ll be on my way,” I thought. But once I dug into the first few lessons, I quickly realized that no amount of business and marketing formulas could get rid of the massive roadblocks I had been hanging onto. It was so hard for me to identify a limiting belief (those negative things that I tell myself of why I can’t or shouldn’t do this or that). So I asked myself “what is holding you back from pursuing what you really want to be doing?”
As I journaled my answer to that question, I saw some patterns emerge, and the limiting beliefs started popping out to me one by one. It’s funny how answers will come to us if we simply take the time to ask ourselves and wait for the answer.
I quickly saw a reoccurring theme: I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough money or resources to get by. I believed that if I took any major risks, I could even become homeless.
I recently saw this limiting belief play out in a very specific way. I’ve had a passive income business as the side hustle to my main hustle of client work for over 2 years now. I haven't made my passive income business the primary focus because I always thought, deep down that it would fail. I feared being in survival mode, scrambling to make ends meet. I believed that if I pursued that business—the business I really want to be doing—I would struggle forever. That's why I've taken client job after client job–because I felt it would give me the runway needed to be financially sound. I operated from a scarcity mindset—focusing on what I'd have to lose, rather than all I could gain.
The mind is a powerful thing, and once I discovered my limiting belief was the only thing keeping me from diving head first into my passive income business, I felt like I was already halfway to my goal.
Dismantling these beliefs has been a slow and tricky process, but I'm beginning to see past them. I'm starting to realize that I will be just fine. Making money isn’t the hard part anyway, it's the mindset change that takes the most work.
And hey, if I fail, I fail. It’s been said that FAIL stands for “first attempt in learning,” anyway. See? It’s all in how you look at it.
- Melinda Livsey
I talk a lot about giving value and sharing your process and I try my best to practice what I preach. That’s why I started a personal email newsletter where I share what I’m doing to grow my branding business. I go over what I’m trying out in my marketing, sales, how I do branding, and things I’m learning along the way.
It’s one thing to hear about someone’s journey when they already have reached their destination.
It’s another to go on that journey with them.
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