8 Ways To Maximize Your Confidence as an Entrepreneur

Published August 2, 2016 | 4 min read

You’ve probably noticed that successful business people often exude confidence.

Have you ever wondered where confidence stems from?

The answer is pretty simple.

Confident people believe in themselves and what they’re doing.

It isn’t necessarily their success that makes them confident, it’s learning to remove self-doubt, or their ability to manage it.

Successful entrepreneurs are able to step outside of their comfort zone at times, and reach for new challenges.

Maximizing Your Confidence as an Entrepreneur

Find a mentor

Find someone who’s “been there” to help you lay the groundwork for entrepreneurial success.

Having a talented, experienced person show you the way is a perfect start to building your business.

A mentor will give you insider tips, and the perspective you need to believe in yourself.

They will also give you knowledge in areas where you may lack experience, and someone to give you a pat on the back when needed.

Also, when you study what other successful people have done to launch new projects and overcome roadblocks, you’ll be learning important lessons for your future.

Learn from their successes and mistakes.

Learn to Assert Yourself

People aren’t born with self-confidence, it’s a learned trait.

To be successful, you need to practice asserting yourself without being aggressive.

Learn to ask for what you want and need in business and life.

This also means learning to say no when necessary.

This will all come easier as time goes on and your self-confidence increases.

Acknowledge Self-Doubt

Everyone has it once in a while, but don’t let a down day or negative feelings hijack your self-confidence.

If doubt arises, tackle it head-on, acknowledge what’s going on and move on.

You’re not going to completely rid yourself of negative feelings, but empower yourself to deal with it.

Also, don’t confuse your passionate jitters for self-doubt.

Sometimes excitement and nervousness can be lost in translation and perceived wrongly.

We need a bit of the jitter sometimes to motivate us.

Ask all the successful entrepreneurs you know, they’ll tell you the same.

Promise!

Be More Than the “Boss”

Always be willing to wear many different hats and volunteer to learn something new.

Have your hands in every aspect of the business and do your best to remain accessible and attentive to whatever is needed on any given day.

You’ll feel more in control of your business if you’ve got a handle on all aspects of the company, which will lead to further self-confidence.

Know Your Strengths & Weaknesses

As a business owner, it’s important for you to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and how those affect your business, and hire accordingly.

Just because you’re a business owner, does not mean you are good at all aspects of managing, running, or growing a business.

The key is to know what your business needs and make your hiring or employee continued education decisions accordingly.

When you know your business is firing on all cylinders, your confidence will fire along with it.

Set Short and Long-Term Goals

No matter what type of company you own, it’s crucial to set short-term and long-term goals for yourself.

Goals are understood paths for the company and its employees and help hold everyone accountable.

You and your employees will have a better understanding of what they are working towards and what’s expected of them, which leads to company confidence when those goals are achieved.

The Risk/Reward Benefit

Look at each opportunity for the risk/reward benefit.

The goal is to make decisions that always ensure the Risk/Reward is in your favor.

It does not mean that you need to take no risk, since doing nothing has to risk itself, but it does mean that if something has a low reward, the risk needs to be small.

For something with a large risk, you need to ensure that the potential payout is high.

Risk can be considered anything from what meetings to put on a calendar (people’s time) to how many people + time will be needed to complete a project.