The fear, an ally for the entrepreneur

For Danièle Henkel, entrepreneur quebec of moroccan origin, the fear is inherent to entrepreneurship. Over her career, she has made an ally.

The life of an entrepreneur is full of fears : fear of failure, of not measuring up, of disappointing, of not being loved. Maturity has allowed me to learn to deal with each of them. But it has not always been so.

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The heart that is accelerating. The ball in the stomach that rises up to the throat and that often brings out the tears. As far as I can remember, I've had to face, as a child, with these fears that were in my stomach. Growing up, I have learned to use these moments to analyze situations in order to get out of it.

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The fear, I have finally learned to take it for what it is : an alarm signal and a normal human emotion and legitimate that grows to pay attention to what's around you. A long time ago that I understood that fear, at bottom, is my best ally.

Leave without ever looking back

In 1989, it is the fear that made me leave Algeria, which was then a rise of extremism, to a country where it is good live, Canada. I emigrated with my mother, my husband and my four children in the hope of finding a decent job in order to send my children to good schools and lead a quiet life. The reality was different. I had to start over at the bottom of the ladder in jobs and at wages well below my skills. I came up with this new reality until the day that I left everything behind to take a leap into the void without a parachute. One of the great fears of my life !

The turning point was the day I saw the photo that was going to serve for the renewal of my passport. At the time, I was working for the subsidiary of a us company that I had helped to save it from closure. I reported daily folders home to work up to 1 hour or 2 hours in the morning, seven days a week. When I saw the photo on my face pallid, my rings, my hair unusually long, I did not recognized. I looked so unhappy ! The next day, I called the president of the company, who was in Vancouver to announce to him : "I am quitting".

I was panicked, but I had to act, my health was at stake. I had not made all these sacrifices, uprooted a family, messed up several lives to fail. Come what may ! The fear will be my ally.

One step back, two steps forward

I followed a course to become a real estate agent. I was talented, but for me it was not. Then, germinated the idea of the glove in Renaissance at a time when we talked more and more of health, beauty, wellness. The ritual of relaxation and exfoliation clean in the hammams of Morocco and Algeria I was missing. I imagined a product for exfoliation made of plant cellulose for skins north american. I found a supplier partner in North Africa.

I have set up a business plan that I went to present with confidence to the banking institutions to be concluded with the refusal of all units. Invaded by fear, I questioned up to my personal abilities and my desire to engage... That's not a problem, I gathered my courage, and I returned to the base : calls to customers, demonstrations, door-to-door, with the famous glove. At the end of eight months, I returned to see the banks showing that I had done my homework. I was finally granted a line of credit of $ 5,000 canadian, which would allow me to get a loan to start a business with the BOC.

I have added a range of cosmetics to my offer and, six years later, during a business trip to Paris, I fell under the spell of an equipment of a medico-aesthetic and non-invasive of the French company LPG. Therefore, I had the certainty that I had to distribute this outstanding technology in Canada ! I rejected breaking up the company, because I certainly had neither the technical training nor the financial or human resources to launch me. Listening only to my passion, I have persevered, leaving the scared me propel rather than paralyzes me. I finally got the license and built this project as a brick wall, piece by piece. Even today, eighteen years later, this is one of my most beautiful business success.

hang on to 3 W

It is at the turning point of the fifties, when I realized that I was in the second phase of my life, that has sprung from the fear of death. For the welcome, I've put my affairs in order, I talked with my husband, I have prepared my children for the next generation of the company. This journey, that I pursue daily, will help me likely to be more at peace when death will strike.

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Books entrepreneurs

"The courage to say, is an asset in business" Entrepreneurs, if they stop to say : "I'm not doing this for the money," "to Be an entrepreneur, it is to be passionate,"

In moments of doubts, where I can feel more fragile, more tired, frightened, I hang on to my three W - What Went Well today. When the day goes wrong, my brain needs to hang on à of positive. Was this the big hug of my dog this morning? Lyrics extraordinary-pronounced by my husband? The smile of a stranger? I anchor in this strong feeling of well-being, and it works every time. In life, as in business, I have chosen to never leave me as a victim of the doubts and fears. I understood that the answer, the solution is usually found at the bottom of me.