As an entrepreneur – and no matter where you might be on your entrepreneurial path toward success – I’m willing to bet that you’ve had what I call the “3:00 AM Holy Crap” moment.

It’s when you’re lying in bed, awake in the middle of the night, worrying about how you are going to make payroll or pay the bills, thinking that you haven’t paid yourself in six months, and wondering how much longer you can keep going.

Should you tap more of your savings or increase the amount you put on your credit card?

Maybe borrow from someone you know or a family member?

You believe in your dream and you know you want to continue, but you feel stuck.

If you aren’t achieving what you want, I can guarantee it is not because you lack the skill or the desire.

It’s because you are holding yourself back, staying in your own comfort zone, and not doing what you need to do in order to be successful.

Far too many entrepreneurs are the impediment to their own success.

The next time you experience a “3:00 AM Holy Crap” moment (maybe tonight!):

1. Go immediately to the bathroom mirror and see if you can look yourself in the eye and honestly answer this question: “Are you doing everything you know to do to make this dream a reality?” – or is some fear holding you back? Admit to the fear and then “kick it to the curb” and get on with growing your Dream Business.
2. Get rid of your “Plan B” safety net – it’s preventing you from making tough choices and moving forward.
3. Learn to embrace anxiety and being uncomfortable. Big growth never happens inside your current comfort zone. Highly successful entrepreneurs make the tough, big decisions and push forward when others will not.
4. Be willing to “push your chips in” and bet on the future you want to achieve. Investing to work with an experienced business coach and being part of a mastermind group is the smartest way to shorten the curve and accelerate your growth.
5. Turn off the TV – it’s called “programming” for a reason, and is designed to keep you anxious so you keep watching and waiting for hope

Yes, I certainly had my own “3:00 AM Holy Crap” moment.

That’s when I decided that “slow-to-no growth” was no longer acceptable and I demanded accountability from the guy in the bathroom mirror.

Ask yourself, “If not now, when?”

(Spoiler alert: “someday” is a really lousy answer because, if you aren’t already aware of it, “someday” never arrives.)

To get someone to hand you $100K, you’ve gotta do this.