After coaching dozens of online entrepreneurs who are women, I’ve noticed a common trend. Women really struggle with confidence when it comes to running their businesses.
For some reason, women often think other people are better trained or more skilled than they are. They wonder why clients would want to work with them when there are so many others with similar skills.
It can be tough to differentiate yourself from others in your field, but either way, creating confidence is a key ingredient to success as a female entrepreneur.
Here’s how to get there:
1. Find Your Tribe
Even if you’re a freelancer or a one woman show when it comes to your business, it’s still important to find your tribe. For example, I regularly speak to several other female writers every day. When I need encouragement, they support me. When I have a question, they have the answers. When women in business motivate each other and try to help each other succeed, it helps improve the confidence of your entire inner circle.
2. Realize You’re Not the Only One
We’ve all been rejected. We’ve all been told no. We’ve been lowballed, ignored, and left out of business deals. It happens to the best of us. Sometimes, if customers don’t like your product or a client turns down your proposal, it wasn’t meant to be. Over time, as you develop more confidence, you start to see those moments as positive lessons, not failures.
A confident woman will welcome failures because they always come with great rewards and can offer insights to improving your business. A confident woman will also realize that business deals that fall through aren’t personal. They’re just business.
Remember, there is not an entrepreneur on this Earth who got every single client they ever wanted or every single price point they asked for. Running a business takes trial and error, so have confidence in your skills along with the knowledge that you’re not alone when things don’t go your way.
3. Do It Anyway
Every time you feel nervous about pitching a client, telling someone about the product you invented, or simply sharing your entrepreneurial story, do it anyway. You might find this hard to believe, but confidence increases with practice. It might feel uncomfortable at first to blind pitch a company to tell them about your services, but doing it anyway will help normalize the process.
As entrepreneurs, the road is always uncertain. Many business owners, whether they are male or female, struggle when they have bad days, wonder if they made the right choices, or worry if their business will survive a slump. However, for someone who consistently practices confidence, working with others, and improving their business, the successes start to be more powerful and more frequent than the failures.
Ultimately, confidence can definitely be learned, and more women should actively try to improve upon this valuable trait. After all, managing a business is hard work but having confidence in your abilities will make all of that hard work not only enjoyable but incredibly fulfilling too.
