Why is Confidence Essential in Business?

It was one moment, and in that one moment, everything changed.

Let me rewind a little.

I've paid with blood, sweat, and tears to get to where I'm at. In March 2003, I walked to a gas station and turned in an application. I stayed for 14 1/2 years and ended up making good money and left with a healthy 401k.

Along the way, I was a Training General Manager one of the busiest stores they had. I ran it for two years, and when I left, out of 21 people on the roster, 13 had been with me for at least a year. The thing ran like clockwork. I was a master team builder. But if all I did was build profitable single location teams, my career would be stonewalled. I had to find a way to provide value at a higher level.

One of my mentors had drilled into my head the importance of knowing your numbers. He used to tell me "Your business is your numbers, without them you have no business."

This lesson stayed with me over the years and I always stuck with it. I knew when monthly P&L's dropped because I checked three times per day. Once they dropped, I highlighted areas of success and areas of opportunity. I always memorized a certain set of them regarding sales, margins, gas, and food. My mentor taught me that I should always be ready. He said I'd never know when "the suits" will be coming around and if I wanted to be the best, I'd have to be the best prepared.

So there I was just running this monster store and just crushing it. One day "the suits" come in. Luckily (luck is where preparation meets opportunity right?) P&L's had dropped around 9 am that day. They came in around noon. I'd gone over my numbers and committed the big ones to memory, solely out of habit. We started shooting the breeze and I mentioned "Yeah man things are cranking. June came in strong again at..." and I rattled off my numbers. My boss' boss' boss said "You mean May right?", implying that June's data hadn't dropped yet. I said "Nope, June. P&L's dropped about 3 hours ago."

I went and got my organizer brought them my highlighted and 3-hole punched piece of career gold. We went over the numbers and I could tell they were impressed by my knowledge and preparation.

Within a few weeks of that visit, I had an interview to become a District Manager Trainee.

The confidence I had in that moment (looking back on it, I had brass damn balls to correct a dude 3 levels above me) wasn't a confidence in myself. That's how people go too far and become arrogant. It was more of a confidence in my work ethic. I knew my numbers and data were solid, and that in the oil world I lived in, numbers were king. 3 levels above or not, data trumps all.

I had put in the work, at the right time, and had the right conversation with the right people.

They respected me and rewarded me with the promotion.

Fast forward to today. I own my own Social Media Advertising, Marketing, and Consulting company. In short 3 months, the business is already breaking even. I'm about to hire my first employee soon and things are exploding. I make #LinkedIn posts and videos all of the time documenting the journey. I try to keep my videos upbeat and share the successes that happen along the way.

What people don't see is the grinding behind the scenes. They don't see me staying up past midnight, many nights, studying and learning everything that is Social Media, with a focus on Facebook Advertising. I'm running a campaign that's driven almost 150 local Facebook Event responses to a Grand Opening of a client, with a cost of $1.27 per response. FIRST TRY. You couldn't get that many responses out of a $5,000 billboard. Is it luck?

Nope.

It's the preparation. It's the grinding. and it's a full-fledged military type assault on everything related to self-doubt and internal struggle. Bury it. Destroy it. Do whatever you have to do, but you give it its power and you have the power to diminish it. You can never quite get rid of it, but by spending the hours on the legwork behind the scenes, you can walk into any situation that presents itself and know you're the most prepared person in the room.

Confidence created from preparation is a force. Harness it, and you'll accomplish everything you've ever set out to do.

Stoddard Worman is the President of Team W Media, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. TWM creates Social Media advertising and content generation campaigns for businesses and/or personal brands that drive sales. We also do Social Media Training and Consulting. Our website is www.teamwmedia.com Stoddard can be reached at [email protected].