In this column, coach Jody Eagen will discuss how his entrepreneurial clients became more effective decision makers by listening to their own internal "chatter" and knowing their strengths.

In the last article, my client Atheena had moved from being confused and discouraged to deciding on which great idea to produce. She overcame the fear of commitment and the potential lost opportunity with her next great idea. She realized that in actually producing a product, invaluable knowledge and experience would be gained. With that, we moved on to implementation.

Atheena faced many of the common entrepreneurial fears around money and staff. We looked at her inner chatter around each. In noting both positive and negative thoughts and feelings, she discovered her real underlying issues. Even when all the possible outcomes have the same probability of materializing we tend to give into our fear mongrels and believe the negative outcome is more probable than the good stuff!

In regards to the staff issue, we worked through the idea of her manufacturing the product. Based on past history, her tendency was to create a few and then start something new. She decided her strength was in the ideas and gathering material, not producing the product.

"But how will I pay staff?" Her inner chatter included forfeiting some of the design, losing control of the business, having to share the profits through wages and letting the staff down if the product didn’t sell. With further discussion, Atheena realized that her challenge was not with the staff but in setting her own boundaries and clearly defining what she wanted.

Soon enough she met a potential production person. After the first meeting, Atheena was excited. The production person loved her ideas, had all the right skills and wanted to be a partner. "But how do I manage a partnership?" The same thoughts came up around losing control of the design, the business and the profits. Once again it boiled down to a willingness to set boundaries. She clarified what she wanted and agreed to discuss it with her potential partner.

Their second meeting included some design and production work. Atheena left on top of the world. Her new partner had a good eye for design, in fact they created more designs than Atheena would have on her own. Her partner was also willing to invest up front in the costs and their separate roles were agreed upon.

With clarity of what she ultimately wanted - knowledge and experience - she had a willingness to make it work. She was more willing to set her boundaries and be flexible because it served her overall goal.

As we see, the very outcomes we fear can turn out to be positive. When we know our strengths and get clear on what we want (rather than the "how"), we can examine our inner chatter and use that understanding to make more effective decisions.