Be the protagonist of your game

At times when I wake up in the morning, I pinch myself. I am an entrepreneur – despite the criticism, self-doubt, and discouraging feedback, I made it! The communal, consensus-building values we were taught as young girls can have us women unintentionally downplaying our own worth. I, personally, have found it difficult to put forth my own value as a leader and I am certain my female contemporaries would have gone through something similar.?

When I talk about my company, I always find myself referring to ‘us’ and ‘we’ instead of ‘I’. Speaking in the first person to discuss my accomplishments feels as if I’m bragging, and I despise the idea that if someone knows it’s just me in control, the value of what we do might go down. As I grow my business, I make a conscious effort to own what I have achieved.

Confidence is really the key to success, even when you’re up against a testosterone-heavy boardroom full of men. And confidence stems from knowledge. I had confidence in my competence to run my business – any project or proposal I was trying to pitch was backed up by a solid business case. I have never gone into a meeting unprepared for the questions I knew would come.

Now that I have established both my business and myself, my sincerest advice to women is to recognize the value of their creative ideas.?Often times I have had to catch myself when I noticed that I’m investing way too much time and effort without a financial commitment from a potential client, only because I lacked the value for my knowledge and expertise.??

And it’s small steps like this that shape your attitude. When you can draw a line, when you are not afraid of offering solutions, and when you take the initiative, that’s when you can show the world who you truly are. Some of us are born to lead and it’s not possible to cover up this instinct.

As I meet more female business owners, I realize that we’re a tribe of our own. Our journeys may be tough, but so are we! Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get together someplace and share our experiences – soul sisters, business edit!