Self-Confidence Tips to Boost you and your Business

Self-confidence is a vital ingredient for success.  If you believe in your product and yourself, it will shine through to your clients and will help to make your business thrive. It’s normal to feel fear about new things or experiences, however if you wish to develop your confidence in these areas there are many strategies you can employ. Here are my top ten self-confidence tips:

1. Trust your instincts when choosing your strategies, different things work for different people.
2. Spend more time with people who make you feel good about yourself and less time with people who drain your energy.
3. Develop a supportive network of friends, family or other business people like yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help, we all need support.
4. Think positively about yourself, everyone has enormous potential including you.
5. Consider your strengths and weaknesses, build on your strengths and work on areas you feel less confident about. For example, if you are anxious about speaking publicly, find a group that will help you to practice these skills.
6. Set clear personal and business goals for yourself, you can use the SMART approach, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed (with a completion date). When you are setting your goals, think positively about what you want and avoid dwelling on what you don’t want. Remember that what you focus on will be what you get more of. For instance, rather than focusing on debt, concentrate your efforts on increasing your turnover or reducing your operating costs.
7. Give yourself rewards, be kind to yourself in your process of self development. For example, put aside a percentage of your profits for healthy, stress relieving activities.
8. Make time for yourself outside work, eg when working from home use your answerphone when you are having a well earned break and be clear to yourself and others that there are times when you are not working.
9. Prepare for your new, bright positive life by looking after yourself. Find out what you look good in and make an effort to dress well for work, as you will find that looking good makes you feel good and this will come over in all of your business interactions, even on the phone.
10. Be open to new ways of learning, there are lots of different approaches to confidence building. You can find the one that suits you.

Give the tips a go. I’ve seen some people and their businesses literally transformed by using these simple strategies.  And if you’ve found something else that works for you, why not share it in the comments below?