Do you have enough confidence in business?
I’m sure there have been times in your life where your lack of confidence and it has plagued you.
Maybe you’ve been wanting to write a book, or perhaps you’ve been dying to go to some events and start networking with new people, but every time you start to take steps in the direction of your goals, your brain backfires and you start avoiding the work or you make excuses and eventually give up.
It is all too easy to fall prey to our childlike brains when they tell us to give up when the going gets tough.
BUT… There is a way to overcome those “I’m not good enough thoughts” and build up the confidence you need and desire in order to build a successful business.
You might be asking, “How do you do overcome those thoughts?”
Here’s how… Take action!
By taking action you begin to build confidence. It doesn’t happen overnight, but each day you take a step toward completing your big scary goals, the bigger and stronger your confidence becomes.
I’ve become very confident when it comes to sales, but it’s something I’ve worked on and honed in on for over 20 years. Becoming confident takes work and I’ve mastered that confidence by continually and fearlessly taking action.
If you listen to Success Unfiltered, you know back in Autumn of 2018, Logitech became a sponsor of the podcast. They didn’t just reach out to me, though.
I have always loved Logitech products, their cameras, headsets, mics and pretty much anything else they offer… I’ve owned and loved. So, because I didn’t yet have a major sponsor for Success Unfiltered, I reached out to them. They showed some interest in working with me so we hopped on a call.
You know how it turned out! They decided to work with me, but here’s why…
My confidence in taking action and reaching out to Logitech showed them that they could trust me and my work. They were able to see and believe that I would offer them what they were looking for; a platform where people loved their products, and a space to reach even more entrepreneurs who use video conferencing for their sales calls.
You can find that confidence in yourself, too! I promise it’s there, you just need to take BIG action to build it.
Learn From Your Past
A guest on Success Unfiltered, Scott Sorrell had some real confidence issues that he struggled with for the first FIVE years he was in business.
Read that again, Scott struggled with building his confidence for five years. The point I’m trying to get across is that building confidence is rarely (if ever an overnight thing).
The biggest NO that Scott ever received was the NO he was telling himself every time he had to ask for money. It went against everything that he believed, at the time.
Scott would sit across the table from a potential client, he’d share the scope of work that they’d chat about the job they were looking for, but he’d never bring up the topic of money. Scott would sit there and wait for the prospect to bring up the money because in his head the NO or rejection just kept coming up. He kept telling himself that no one would want to do business with him.
When price would finally come up, Scott would tell them what his costs were. The amount he’d charge was about a tenth of what other competitors were charging for the same kind of work.
Scott was filling his mind with lies, or as he called it “head trash.” Telling himself he wasn’t good enough, that no one would want to hire him.
This went on for years, until he was sick of living the life he had, and decided to fail forward, learn from previous mistakes and build his confidence.
After selling one of his businesses, he ended up becoming a VP in an advertising agency. There he realized that he had the skills, could sell and that he was REALLY good at it. He just had to be selling someone else’s services.
As he started selling more and more successfully, he began reading more, attending seminars and listening to audio programs, so he could learn even more on selling successfully.
Fast forward a number of corporate positions later, Scott now sells the techniques he’s learned over the years. He’s found that his story shows how credible he is because if he can learn to sell, without having a natural sales persona, then anyone else can do it too.
So, what built up Scott’s confidence?
Taking consistent action. He didn’t start that way, but once he began he realized how good it felt to have the confidence to sell successfully, so he just kept taking that forward action, day after day.
Trust the Research
So many entrepreneurs love listening to motivational speakers, but what you learn at those speeches don’t always stick around. At the moment you’re into what the individual is saying, but because of all of the emotion involved, when things settle down, people often forget.
Scott found that when he would research, and then employ a new sales technique for getting someone to say YES to a higher price, he’d experience success.
It helped Scott realize that he didn’t need to be fully confident in himself to be successful, as long as he did thorough research and had studied the techniques, he could be confident his methods.
And, every time you’re successful in this way, your confidence in business continues to build.
As Scott put it so perfectly, “confidence comes from competence.”
In Conclusion
Instead of trying to manufacture false confidence in business, learn and then use techniques that have been proven to work. Your competence and track record of hearing people say YES to your higher prices will build the confidence you need and desire.
Now, that you’re all pumped up and ready to go out and sell, what’s the first piece of action you’re going to take today? I’d love if you’d share in the comments!
