7 Tips to Build and Excel Your Business with Confidence

The success of your business depends on many things: the soundness and viability of your business idea, the time, energy and money you invest into it, the funding you acquire, your customers and business’ profitability, and much more. However, there is one key ingredient indirectly responsible for your business success, which is something that most women entrepreneurs secretly struggle with, and it is called self-confidence.  

What self-confidence has to do with your business success, you may wonder? It has a lot to do with it. Some even say it has Everything.  Having a creative and unique idea helps you in launching your business; however, it’s ultimately the confidence you have in yourself that gives entrepreneurial momentum to your efforts and allows your business to grow.  Confidence is what keeps a business and its business owner afloat in the initial stages and during the times of crisis, not the amount of funding, your business school degree, or your connections. However, what role self-confidence plays in an entrepreneur’s life and its impact on her decisions and actions on daily basis is an understated area.   

What does Lack of Self-Confidence Look like?  

Lack of confidence takes many forms and shapes. It is that sneaky, nagging voice in your head that makes you constantly ask yourself: ‘Am I good enough?’, ‘Is my work good enough? Will it sell?’, ‘What would people think if I fail?’ One of my clients, Donna, describes this feeling as: “I was feeling unworthy and insecure about myself. I felt like I kept sabotaging my ability to be prosperous and have the life I desire to have. But I didn’t know how I was doing it and was not even aware of these self-sabotaging behaviors.”  Under confidence also manifests itself as the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling we feel when talking to customers. Lack of self-confidence is not just a feeling and attitude; it manifests itself as shaky body language as well.

Consider the case of Audrey, a client of mine, who used to be fearful of public speaking. She narrated the feeling as, “I would lock my knees often and that I grip with my toes.” I used energy clearing to subside her fears and boost her confidence level, which eventually helped her sign-up her event participants as new clients. I also recommend my clients techniques like journaling, meditation exercises before making cold calling in order to feel relaxed and confident. These are the skills that you don’t learn at business school but by working with mentors, coaches, and energy healers.  

What are the implications of lack of confidence for your business? 

Lack of confidence is a trap that makes you underestimate your actual potential and exaggerate your challenges. When you are under confident, you would start feeling insecure about everything, your work, education, experience, even looks. You would dread about setting your rates, making calls to potentials, even sending out emails, meeting clients, getting their feedback, going to events; the list goes on and on. Also, you end up procrastinating a lot on critical decisions and actions, and your business suffers due to this. Moreover, when you are under confident, your competition, partners, critics and clients can sense that. They begin to undervalue your work and your contribution. This may mean that you end up settling for a lot less than you deserve and you are often talked into giving out your work at a lesser price or for free.  

Not everyone is born self-assured or wakes up feeling naturally confident every day; many learn it as a skill and so can you. Here are seven surefire tips that can help you conquer your fears, boost your confidence and give the necessary fire and drive to your business.   

Tip 1: Evolve your Personal Brand 

Before launching your business, you should intensively work on your personal brand, setting its identity and distinctness apart from the crowd. Personal brand is not just a name or logo but how you embody and live it. You should ask yourself questions like:  

• What do I stand for?  
• What do I best?  
• Who is my ideal client, who can I serve best?  

Building a strong personal brand helps you get the needed self-confidence in running and sustaining your business.  

Tip 2: Find a Mentor  

When you are a newbie, just starting out in the business; you have lots of passion but not enough experience and knowledge. You go through a lot of trial and errors and quickly lose confidence if there are a lot of missteps. It is thus very important to be around knowledgeable people, or someone who can act as your mentor, so they not only trust you and provide you with some “insider tips” but also give you the much needed boost of confidence during tough times.  

Tip 3: Be Authentic   

Most of the time, women entrepreneurs feel that they have to look confident all the time, even if it means faking it. This forced act makes them feel like an imposter, unreal and someone their audience won’t be able to relate to. They constantly fear that they will be judged and their expertise would be questioned. The truth is that it takes even more confidence and dare to show people your real self, with all the varied shades. Vulnerability has its own value because it makes you authentic, human and relatable.   

Tip 4: Work on Your Story  

So what is your story? Personal stories are important because they help you build an emotional connection with people. They help you show your audience and clients the pain but also your progress and promise. Stories give others the hope that you have gone through a similar struggle, have the necessary experience and that you can help them do better, feel better and succeed. Websites, blogs, Facebook are some of the mediums where you can share your story or that of your clients and connect with the potential prospects. Personal stories give your brand visibility and authenticity.      

Tip 5: Ask for Testimonials  

Testimonials and endorsements from clients are invaluable for your business. They would not only help you market your business better but also serve as a medium of reassurance when things are slow or not going so well. You can seek and engage with prospects’ opinions and clients’ feedback and get the needed self-assurance.  

Tip 6: Embrace the Social Media  

For introvert entrepreneurs, the social media provides a unique and excellent opportunity to engage and interact with like-minded individuals while becoming a part of a global community by participating in and leading interactive events. Social media outlets allow you to test ideas and innovations, put your opinions out there and get suggestions and support during times of uncertainty and struggle. Not only this, but your followers on your social media, the buttons of ‘like’, ‘share’, ‘tag’ ‘pin’, etc., all serve as ego boosters and subtle reminders that your ideas and work are worthy and valuable.  

Tip 7: Engage in the Sales Aspect of Your Business  

Selling is an Achilles heel for most of the creative and spiritual women entrepreneurs, as they think that selling is contrary to their nature and they cannot invest the necessary time and energy into it. As a result, the lack of leads and sales eventually affects the sustainability, growth and profit of their business. Your self-confidence impacts your selling skills and it works the other way around as well: The more confident you are, the better you would at selling. So, the best way to develop your self-confidence is to get directly involved in the selling process of your business no matter how scary the exercise feels.  

Entrepreneurs walk a very thin line on day-to-day basis, and at the end of the day, their confidence is what keeps them going. When your passion, your ideas and your confidence come together, it can make your personal brand and business unstoppable.