Confidence. Don't leave home without it.

“The only thing standing between greatness and me, is me.”

Woody Allen

Isn’t that the truth.  So often we are the ones getting in our own way, letting our fears and lack of confidence hold us back from becoming who we are meant to be.

Another truth is that starting and running your own business is not for the faint of heart.  

Nothing rarely goes to plan and at the first roadblock it would be all too easy to give up.

But we don’t.  Not if we really, really want to have our own business.  

Sometimes it means taking a step back and looking at what we are doing and want to achieve and asking if you’re on the right track or do you have to tweak something to make it better.

In her book She Means Business, Carrie Green identified that the first step to building a business is to look inward.  “Conditioning yourself for success is far more important than any business strategy, because if you don’t have the right mindset, you’ll get in your own way and won’t be able to create the success you want.”

In order to succeed we have to push past the self-doubt, fear and obstacles. In our Good Enough book, we talk about confidence, and how you don’t want to leave home without it.

But how do you build confidence?  Because it is not something you can put on and leave on.  It is a fair weather friend. In some situations, we can be self-assured and willing to step up to the challenge; in others, we hold back, tentative and fearful of making a mistake.  

And maybe that’s the key.  It’s letting go of that fear of failure and realizing that mistakes are just feedback that we need to listen to and move on.  As we heard from our panel of trailblazers at the conference, just do it.  The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to step out of your comfort zone.

Knowing yourself helps you to better understand what you strengths are and where you may need help.  Ask your friends and family what strengths you bring to your business.  You might be surprised with what they say.

Talking of friends, you want to hang out with people you believe in you, who are supportive and are there to give you honest feedback, and if necessary, the kick you need to get moving. 

Carrie Green is right.  If we don’t believe in ourselves, how can we ask other people to do so.  Her book is divided up into three sections. Interestingly only one is dedicated to the actual business planning process, the other two are devoted to helping you understand yourself, your motivation and developing the right mindset to succeed.

It is one of the reasons why at Company of Women we will be introducing a new series of programs to help build women’s self confidence, because without that component, it is hard to succeed – whether you are in start-up mode or more seasoned and want to take your business to the next level.