Six Reasons Why Confidence Matters (for life + biz!)
Alright, friends. I want to talk to you about something I think about a lot. I also work hard to practice this every day, all day long. But first, let me backup a little bit.
I believe the things that we talk about (or preach about) the most, are the things we actually need to hear. As someone who has a very small online platform, I am always thinking about what topic I want to share about. Or what message needs to be said.
And more often than not, the moments when I have a powerful message that I want to share with others, it’s typically because I need to hear the message more than anyone else.
So, as I write about confidence and why it matters, know this: I need to hear this message more than you do! And I’ve also been practicing this for a long time.
Confidence is something that every single person should be practicing and working on. It’s like a muscle. You don’t just come across confidence one day. You aren’t born with it. You have to practice and grow your confidence muscle.
But why is this so important, you ask?
Well, for a multitude of reasons. Beyond your own personal development, there’s countless ways confidence in yourself will better the lives of others, the world, and your business (if you’re a business owner).
Reasons Confidence is Important for Your Personal Development:
Self-talk: if you function out of a place of low confidence, you will constantly be telling yourself negative things. You will not believe that you are important or worthy or loved. And when you don’t believe these things about yourself, you speak incredibly unkind to yourself. Positive self-talk is important for mood, success, happiness, stress, and so much more.
Your children (if applicable): if you have children, do you want them to grow up with confidence issues? I doubt it. So, in an effort to be a role model to your children, you should choose confidence. Kids watch their parents and are way more intuitive than you think. They pick up on things! Be confident to be an example to your sweet kiddos!
Your relationships: take my word for it, if you are functioning out of a place of low self-confidence, your relationships will suffer. There was a very challenging, dark season of my life and it was also the time where my relationships were the hardest. Because of my extreme low self-confidence, I saw the actions of my friends in a tainted way. And I ended up isolating myself, thus fueling the cycle. I was so convinced that I wasn’t wanted by others, that I took myself out of situations for them to love me.
Reasons Confidence is Important for Business:
Taking risks: I can tell you with 100% certainty, that if you don’t have confidence in yourself, you will miss out on HUGE opportunities for your business. Taking risks is a huge part of running a successful business. If you don’t believe in yourself or believe that you’re capable of big things, you won’t chase after those things. Imagine if I had never tried selling physical products. I took a risk and bought 24 mugs and now look where I am. At the time, it was scary to spend that kind of money on a product I didn’t know would sell or not, but I took the risk anyways. I knew one thing. I knew that I would work hard and do my absolute best to sell them. And they sold. And now I sell countless types of products and most of my products typically sell out. But, what if I had never taken the risk to invest in inventory? I’ll never know. What I do know is that I had to have confidence to take this risk and it changed the trajectory of my business.
Asking for things: as entrepreneurs, not all opportunities fall in our laps. I know that as you watch others online, it may seem like every single other person is having wild success, while you’re just lucky to get out of your yoga pants. First off, social media is a curated picture. You’re not seeing everything. And at the same time, you have no idea where those people started. You typically start paying attention to people when big things happen. You weren’t watching when they were failing or barely booking clients. At the same time, those people you’re comparing yourself to (stop that!) asked for things. They pitched themselves to speak at conferences. They asked to be guests on podcasts. They asked people to come to their webinars and sign up for their newsletter and be a part of their Facebook group. They put themselves out there and asked something of the world. This requires a certain level of confidence. If you don’t believe that you have something amazing to share with the world, you won’t step out and ask for something from you audience.
Your sales strategy: above all, you have to believe in what you’re selling. If you don’t believe in your product or service, how will others? You are your most important asset to the success of your business. So, you must take time to cultivate confidence within yourself, so it spills out into your business. If you don’t believe you’re a fantastic wedding planner, then you won’t be able to market yourself to your ideal client as THE BEST. But! If you truly believe that you are amazing (which you are!), then you are able to clearly communicate your strengths to your ideal client and what sets you apart. Thus, attracting more people and booking more clients.
So, while I am simply a proponent of confidence for the sake of having a happier mindset, it is also a key factor in fueling and running a successful business. Let’s choose confident lives, together!