| |
Self Confidence in the Business World
By Team Writer
There is no doubt that the numbers of women in business continues to grow around the world. Overwhelmingly, one of the largest problems that women business owners lack is business confidence. Interestingly, some compare themselves with men, and suggest that women are, in general, not as confident as men. We believe that the problem of a lack of business confidence may be holding many women in business back from their true potential.
Here are 10 Steps to building business confidence.
1. Learn to take care of yourself
For women; self-care, family, home and the business are often inseparable due to multiple roles women are playing at any one time. Remember that your business starts with YOU. Giving yourself permission to care for own mind-body-spirit needs means you have a greater possibility of business success.
2. Know your business strengths
As women we are quick to recognize to what we cannot do, but have difficulty acknowledging fully what we CAN do. Your clients and customers are great sources of this information. Make your own list. Refer to it.
3. Network with other women in business
Forming cooperative relationships with other women can save you time through resource and information sharing, boost your self-esteem, and sometimes create opportunities for joint ventures and mentoring.
4. Celebrate success - small or large
Most women in business are so busy thinking about their next action that they forget to celebrate current achievements. Remember each step along a path to a goal is paramount to any final outcome. Celebrate!!
5. Have gratitude for what you have (not what you don't have)
Make a habit each day to stop and write down five things for which you are thankful. Practice gratitude - be thankful for what you already have and put your attention on all the blessings you already possess. An attitude of gratitude can have a profound affect on your confidence!
6. Don't be afraid to say "NO"
As women in business, we forget that our time is limited and valuable. This is especially true for women who work from home. We say yes out of habit and fear of rejection. Allow yourself a few seconds to "consider" before you say yes! Remember you do not have to justify your decisions!
7. Listen to yourself!
What is your own self talk? Do you have beliefs that are in conflict with being successful in business? Examples are: "I am not smart enough", "I never do anything right", "I really have no business sense!" This internal dialog, which comes out in our critical self-talk, is a powerful confidence killer.
8. Learn to take calculated risks
Speculations in business are the path to expansion and evolution. Taking chances can also be scary, especially for women. Face your fear, learn all you can know about a situation, calculate the worst possible outcome and how you would/could handle it, determine what you can do to reduce your risk, and only then make your decision.
9. Learn to put failure into perspective
"Someone famous" once said that we learn more through our failures than our successes. Why do we think that as women business owners we need to be successful 100% of the time? Learn to laugh when failure happens and ask, "What have I learned here? How does this open another door where success lies?"
10. Set boundaries with staff and clients
Remember those signs: Your Mum does not work here? Good customer service and caring for staff are paramount for a profitable business. On the other hand, take a serious look at what you are doing that is unnecessary and harmful to yourself in the long run.
And the bonus tip ………..
Be aware of messages from outside (media, social, family etc)
Take notice of what communication we receive about what we "should" be doing, achieving, and acting from television, radio, magazines, family members, and party conversations. Examples are: What your mother/mother-in-law might tell you a good mother does, what a supermodel tells you what you should look like, what the media business woman image "is".
Surviving a Confidence Crash
No matter how much you earn, how fast you find yourself expanding your home business, or how much satisfaction your gain from your business, you can have a confidence crisis. Even women with high self-esteem and self-confidence can suffer from a confidence crash. Sometimes, things happen that knock the confidence right out of us.
At times, our confidence is already shaky as a result of a transition or loss and a single incident like missing a deadline, getting a bad haircut, or spilling coffee on a document can send us storming out of the confidence cafe.
When you crash, it is usually because your daily diet of life has not included enough confidence causing foods.
Confidence is like Vitamin C. You need it in your diet. Your body can only store it for a short time before it needs some more. You have to take responsibility for planning your confidence meals and making sure you have large enough portions.
When you have a confidence crisis, don't despair; don't reach for the bottle of bourbon or the bon bons. Instead, start to use some of these confidence-boosting techniques. Begin with at least two, and then add a third and a fourth. You will gain a lot more than confidence - you will learn to love, honor and appreciate yourself more and more.
Face Yourself
Go ahead and face yourself, once and for all. Look in the mirror. What expression do you see staring back at you? A happy one? A sad one? Suspicious? Angry? If you've got something nasty to say, get it off your chest now. Then let it go. You've chosen the path of self-support, so the criticisms - for right now - don't matter anymore.
Keep a Journal
Keeping a journal is a great way to process, and clarify your feelings. Forcing yourself to write everyday also forces you to take time for daily reflection. Daily reflection can help you solidify what you know, what you have learned, and what you still need to pay attention to. Keep a gratitude section in your journal. This will help you feel richer and stronger in character and that translates into confidence.
Evaluate Your Relationships
Assess the relationships in your life. Do they support you or sabotage you? All relationships change with time; some get better, some get worse.
If you have relationships in your life that are more of a burden then a joy, it may be time to sever your ties - or at least loosen the reins.
Start New Relationships
Identify people that have the qualities you admire - people you feel you could learn from and who could learn from you, as well. Look for people you can have fun with. Boosting your confidence can be really fun, if you want it to be.
Get into a Good Group
This may be time for a traditional support group. Chatting over a cup of carrot juice with your pals might be a remedy. Organize your own group of confidence boosters and support each other in making changes.
Change Your Behavior
What do you do that boosts your confidence and what do you do that brings it down. Exercise, getting enough sleep, speaking your mind and dressing well are all behaviors that tend to boost confidence. Staying up late, spending all your time with Ben and Jerry, and saying "yes" too often to avoid confrontation when you really want to say "no" will bring your confidence down.
Speak Up
When we withhold communication because we are afraid of how we will be received, we chip away another bit of our confidence. Share your thoughts, opinions, and preferences. Speak up in all situations. The insignificant situations will be practice for the important occasions that are sure to follow.
Take a Risk a Day
A risk is something you would do in an instant if you knew you would be successful. It is the fact that you do not know how it will turn out that makes it a risk. The best way to boost your confidence is to start doing things you are afraid to do. Make a list of risks for you and start to do them one by one.
Sometimes, it takes a few days to boost your confidence, sometimes, it takes a few weeks. Occasionally it can take a few months to overcome a confidence crisis. Know that if you are consistent with your confidence boosting techniques, you will eventually find yourself renewed, stronger, and more confident. Your new vitamin C will infuse your life and home business with a new brighter, fresh and more positive outlook that will uplift your whole life!
[ Submitted with ArticleSubmitter Pro - http://www.articlesubmitterpro.com]
About the Author
At Bizymoms.com we use team effort to provide the most enlightening and informative articles on the net. Joyce Gowens is Chief Writer, and Home Business Expert at http://www.bizymoms.com. The site offers home-based business start-up kits, online classes, e-books, chats and enthusiastic support for moms who want to have it all – a family and a career. Visit http://www.bizymoms.com for more information.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/31767.html
| If you wish to add the above article to your website or newsletters then please include the "Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/31767.html" as shown above and make it hyperlinked. |
| Some other articles by Team Writer | Getting the Family to understand 'YOUR' Time
Your family needs to understand that moms need to have a "time out" too. However, you have to grab it before it's gone. Believe ...
Taking Time Out for ME
I can give stay-at-home parents loads of advice about creating schedules to work around kids, organizing their work for optimum effectiveness and efficiency, multi-tasking tips and so on. But there is one key that ...
Involving your Kids with your Home Business
Working from home while caring for toddlers can be an extreme challenge. Trying to find the time to work on your business, without depriving your ...
|
|
| |
|
