Guest blog: Leading business strategist Andy Lopata looks at the invisible factors that hold many business leaders back

What's holding you back from achieving your goals? What is stopping you making the most of the networking opportunities that come your way? Is it possible that the answer might be you?

Some time ago, I spoke at the Executive Club in London. The Executive Club is a network and a resource for non-exec and company directors who are looking for career development and new business opportunities. I focused on how networking can play a key role in moving your career forward.

At the beginning of my talk, I asked who had come to look for a new opportunity. Some three-quarters of the audience put their hands up. I then asked who would like to tell everyone else present what they were looking for.

Not one person put themselves forward.

Not one single, solitary person took the opportunity to tell a room of over sixty well-connected businessmen and women how they could help them. What could possibly explain this?

I addressed this question later in my talk. I suggested that two factors were prevalent in holding people back from volunteering. One was, quite simply, fear. We have an inherent fear of speaking in public, and that fear strikes people irrespective of their experience and success in business. If we are going to grab opportunities as they come along, we have to learn to overcome this fear first of all.

The second factor is a lack of focus. People had come to the event with a general idea of what they wanted to achieve but no firm picture of the introductions they wanted, the information they were seeking, their dream position. As a result, when offered the opportunity, they were not in a position to grasp it.

At this stage of my talk, one of the attendees put his hand up. He had not been in the room earlier, he said, and could he take his opportunity now? He explained that he was looking for a career change, wasn't quite sure where he wanted to move and was thinking of setting up his own business. After asking him a few more questions, I asked the audience who felt that they may be in a position to help him. Five people put their hands up.

Subsequently, I had an email from him telling me how a number of doors had opened as a result of the conversations he had after the seminar and, as a result, he was now in the process of following some of the advice received which would propel him towards establishing his own business.

Are you holding yourself back from achieving your goals? Is fear stopping you from taking a step in the right direction? Do you lack direction and a clear vision? And if so, what are you going to do about it?

And if you are prepared to do the right things to help yourself, what can you achieve?

Andy Lopata is a business owner named by the Financial Times as "one of Europe's leading business networking strategists". As an exclusive offer for Business Sense readers, he is offering his acclaimed book, Recommended: How to Sell Through Networking & Referrals published in July 2011 by Financial Times Prentice Hall, for a special price of just £12.25.