Gloria Ward of ‘The I’m Loving Me Project’ On Becoming Free From The Fear Of Failure

An Interview With Savio P. Clemente

Stay current. Most Entrepreneurs know their craft but have a hard time keeping up and adopting new trends. With the increase in technology and the power of social media, you need to stay current on what’s changing in your industry.

The Fear of Failure is one of the most common restraints that holds people back from pursuing great ideas. Imagine if we could become totally free from the fear of failure. Imagine what we could then manifest and create. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about “Becoming Free From the Fear of Failure.” As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Gloria Ward.

Gloria Ward is an Entrepreneur, Revenue Strategist, Author, and New Thought Leader who has been at the forefront of helping women and women business owners learn, earn, advance, and profit.

She’s the revenue strategist that small businesses turn to for guidance. For more than 12 years, clients have enjoyed the confidence, humor, and relatable step by step strategies of her business advice and tactics. Her Company The L.E.A.P. Group LLC and The I’m Loving Me Project are personal development and business education branches that inspire and empower women to win the game of life and build a million dollar business from scratch. It was Gloria’s passion for business and down to earth approach that has made her the most sought out female entrepreneur of her era.

Visit www.imlovingme.net for more from the #SelfLove movement.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

I grew up in the Bronx in NYC and came to Atlanta, GA in 1997 to attend college. It was in college that I discovered entrepreneurship and the power of ownership and it steered me into a life long journey of success, failure, and success again. I can truly say I’m grateful for it all.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

I remember when I was working on my book, Becoming Truly You. I’ve never written a book before so I was having a hard time putting my thoughts on paper. I hired a writing coach to help me through the process and she asked me all the right questions and gave me things to think about but I was always struggling.

I wanted to make sure what I said was helpful and everything made sense. I was stressing myself so much that I was literally getting sick. One day when I went to sit and try to write I told myself I’m just going to write anything that comes to mind. Three hours later I found myself still writing. It was at that point that I discovered that when I take the pressure off of myself and just do what I do best, then things will just flow. I stopped trying to get it right and be perfect and just focused on writing.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Three character traits I say are determination, self-control, and patience. When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to have the will and determination to keep striving for your goals even when it looks like things are not moving. You need the self-control to make good decisions and the discipline to work when you don’t feel like it and the patience to see your goals come to fruition.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the concept of becoming free from failure. Let’s zoom in a bit. From your experience, why exactly are people so afraid of failure? Why is failure so frightening to us?

People are afraid of failure because it hurts. It’s devastating to work for something so hard and it not work out. So when you’ve been disappointed so many times you’re afraid to put yourself out there again because you don’t want to feel that pain. What we have to understand is that the lessons are in the failures. The reason why we fail is because there’s something we missed. There was something we did not understand or know. The great thing about failure is once you learn the lesson, you can get back up and try again and win.

What are the downsides of being afraid of failure? How can it limit people?

The downside of being afraid of failure is the lack of hope and confidence you develop. It limits yourself and your mindset. You start to believe that maybe you’re not cut out for success or even a better life. You settle for mediocrity.

In contrast, can you help articulate a few ways how becoming free from the free of failure can help improve our lives?

When you see failure as a lesson, it doesn’t hurt as much when you face it. You start to welcome it. You start to see it as a training tool to move you forward. You experience a total mindset shift and it helps fuel you to move forward towards your goals.

We would love to hear your story about your experience dealing with failure. Would you be able to share a story about that with us?

I’ve failed many times. I remember when I was planning a seminar event for one of my programs and we had everything booked. We rented a room to fit 50 or 60 people. We did everything we knew how to fill the place up. We advertised on social media, we did radio ads, we did promo videos, and made phone calls. As it got closer to the event, we realized that we didn’t sell enough tickets. We realized that despite all of our efforts, we were going to lose money and it hurt. With all of our best efforts, we had 3 people show and lost a lot of money.

How did you rebound and recover after that? What did you learn from this whole episode? What advice would you give to others based on that story?

Well, the lesson I learned and my team learned is not to get so caught up in the numbers. Yes, as entrepreneurs we are in this business to do what we love and make a profit but, what we saw as a loss we realized was a real teachable moment. We learned what it REALLY takes to put on an event and make it successful and we also learned how to still deliver your best no matter who shows up. Those 3 people turned into some great long-lasting partnerships. That’s why you have to see what you think is a failure, is actually a lesson.

Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. In your opinion, what are 5 steps that everyone can take to become free from the fear of failure”? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Be passionate about what you do. If you’re passionate, when you face failure, you might get knocked down but you’ll find away to get back up.
2. Build confidence. Nobody is going to believe in you more than you. Most of the deals and sales you will make in your business will be 20% talent and 80% confidence.
3. Stay Consistent. Consistency is the real key to success. If you can stay consistent and you’re delivering good results, success is inevitable.
4. Get a mentor. Mentorship is so important. The purpose of a mentor is to get guidance from someone who has already walked the journey you’re on. They can give you insight on challenges you will face and help you come up with strategies to overcome those challenges
5. Stay current. Most Entrepreneurs know their craft but have a hard time keeping up and adopting new trends. With the increase in technology and the power of social media, you need to stay current on what’s changing in your industry.

The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “It is possible to fail in many ways, while to succeed is possible only in one way.” Based on your experience, have you found this quote to be true? What do you think Aristotle really meant?

It is possible to fail in many ways, there are so many routes that you can take to achieve success but it is only getting over your fear of failure that you will achieve success. This is what I think Aristotle meant and I agree.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’m doing that now with The I’m Loving Me Project. If I can inspire a woman to love herself and to know her worth and value, she can change her community and even nations.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them :-)

I would love to have a sit down with Oprah Winfrey. I’ve always admired her approach to life and how every decision she makes she ask herself “what is the intention?” to have that level of self-awareness and connection is something that I strive for every day.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Please visit my website workwithgloriaward.com, www.imlovingme.net and all social platforms @imlovingmeproject

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.