How to Cultivate the Confidence You Need for the Business You Want

Confidence is the thing that often makes one person successful at building an online business over another. When you know you are hands down amazing at what you do, it’s easy to show up online, write content that attracts potential clients, and close on a sales call. When you know that the work you do always gets your client’s results, you HAVE TO tell everyone about it.

You don’t hesitate to brag on the results you get, talk through people’s fears on sales calls, or follow up with a lead. You know what people want, and should work with you. Getting this rock-solid confidence can take a little work and often it can be a commitment to doing the work. As we reach new levels in our business, meet new obstacles, and lean into a pivot, we have new fears that come up and need to cultivate new confidence.

I truly believe that you can cultivate confidence no matter how you are feeling, and I am going to show you exactly how to do it. 

Face Your Fears

Lack of confidence is rooted in fear. Fear of being judged, fear of failure, fear of not being worthy. There are so many fears that come up when it comes to being the person you need to be, to have the business that you want. We have to learn how to spot our fears, heal them, and then work through them quickly when they resurface, if we want to cultivate the kind of confidence it takes to propel our success.

If you are ready to feel confident, first, you have to be brave enough to put your fears on the table and observe them. Then, you have to dismantle the story behind them, so that you can move these blocks and begin to create more confidence.

The easiest way to do this, is to start with a fear inventory. Take 5 minutes every day to write down every single fear that is coming up around the thing you really want right now. Notice the patterns and the big fears that seem to overflow into many areas of your life. Look at them like an observer without judgment, guilt, or shame. Ask yourself, when was the last time I felt this way? What triggers this feeling? When was the first time I remember having this feeling or fear?

Rewrite Your Stories

I love the Henry Ford quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.” Many of my clients love the part of launching their biz where they choose a color palette, logo, and get their website launched. Then, when it’s time to market their business and scream from the rooftops how amazing they are at what they do, they panic. Sound familiar?

You have to be 100% bought into the idea that you solve your ideal client’s problem and what you do is THE THING that they really need. What often happens is tons of fears come up and thoughts like, “ But, I haven’t had a client yet,” or “maybe I need a certification” come up. Especially when people are launching or pivoting from corporate to entrepreneurship or pivoting their business.

Clients that I see grow their businesses the fastest are those that don’t wait for validation. The fully embrace their experience and expertise, however they get it, and declare who they are, what they do, and who they do it for.

My favorite way to rewrite stories is to use this format, “I used to believe that (fear thought here) and now I know that (new belief here).” For example, I used to believe that I was bad at sales, but now I know that people always want to buy a solution to their problem.

This works because beliefs are just thoughts we repeat to ourselves. When we change our beliefs. we can change our results.

Create Proof

As much I as I know that our thoughts are powerful and when we decide what we believe we get more of the results we want, I also know that our brains love proof. The funny thing is, that proof of how good we are at what we do is all around us. It’s those pesky fears and limiting beliefs that keeps us from seeing it.

Create your own brag book. This may sound silly but it’s so valuable to see a list of all of our accomplishments and have it handy for those times where you are doubting yourself. Make a list of all of the results you have gotten for yourself or others, your trainings, education, and experiences that make you amazing at what you do.

Gather testimonials. Nothing makes you feel on top of the world more than a client telling you how much they loved how you helped them? Pull together your client testimonials in a Google doc and use them often. Look at them when you need encouragement and share them on your website and social media to attract more clients and gain even more confidence in your ability to serve your people. If you don’t have a regular system for getting testimonials, start one now. If you are just starting your business or new service, offering your work at a discount or free for beta testers, is the very best way to connect with new clients, perfect your offer, and build a ton of confidence, so that it’s easy to sell your work or service.

Celebrate often. As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to fall in the habit of working really hard for the result we want, then immediately going on to the next goal. When you land a client, how different would it feel if you gave yourself the rest of the day off to celebrate? What if you popped some champagne and toasted yourself for making your business dreams come true, one client at a time. How much more confident would you feel if you really take the time to sink into the feeling of accomplishment and celebrate?

Cultivating confidence will put so much ease in your business as you grow. From your first step into entrepreneurship, to every single new sales call and offer. Creating confidence is a system that you put into place when you are tired of waiting to feel like you are enough, to have the things you want. Instead, you have decided that you are ready for the business you envision to be yours.