What pending decision is waking you up at night?
We all have these moments because Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, sometimes known as the FUD Factor, are present in any major decision-making process. We are afraid of making the wrong choice. We dread learning something 6 months down the road that we wish we had already known. We listen to our co-worker's advice based on the bad thing that happened when her brother-in-law did something similar.
There is no hard and fast rule on how to move past this phase, but I can share with you what has worked for me.
To overcome fear, I get in a safe environment. I do something I love. If I have passion, I can overcome fear. I just heard a story where one of our bakers walked next door to a new 
Bar B Que franchise that was opening up and asked “What kind of ‘Que?” The answer was effectively, does it matter? Isn’t it all the same? Uh, no. And, if you don’t understand that, then you have no chance of success. In Great Harvest, I was originally, and still am, passionate about our business model and our whole wheat bread. I am too excited by it to be afraid. Passion and comfort overcome fear.
To overcome uncertainty, I do research. I talk to people and ask lots of questions. The type of research depends on the decision. For the people we talk to daily about a bread franchise, our application process does its best to put you in the right position to understand the viability of the assumptions in your dream. We look at your lifestyle and suggest you talk to similar current franchisees. We look at your market and suggest you talk to Great Harvest bakery owners in similar cities. We look at your balance sheet and try to fit it to the best opportunity. We evaluate each application and try to do our best to give you common data points to assess your situation and bring some clarity to the Great Harvest opportunity as it applies to you.
Overcoming doubt. To me, doubt is the most emotional of these three and it is also the emotion that let’s me make my point. Information is never, and I mean never, perfect. All of the research in the world is never 100% certain. All of the effort to get perfect information is, well, imperfect. You just can’t know and anticipate everything. You have to believe in your abilities to adjust to new information after you make the decision. I think back to some of the sticky problems I’ve effectively solved and remind myself that I can do it again.
At the end of the day, the way to overcome the FUD factor is to get the best information you can from the best sources you can and make the decision you are most comfortable with. But, make a decision. My first business was the most fun one I have ever owned. It was also the least successful, but I learned a lot and have some great memories. In hind sight, I believe that if I had had a support system around me it would have been successful too. In Great Harvest we give you the chance to have fun and be a success.
But, you still have to make the decision.
Thanks for reading.
