- What do you need to succeed as a young entrepreneur?
- Are you afraid to start your own business?
- What do you have to have faith in, to be successful?
When you are a business owner, it doesn’t matter how much funding you have, where your college degrees are from or whom you network with, if you are not confident about your ideas.
At the end of the day, if you don’t have faith in yourself and your business, you will most likely fail. Despite constant rejection and doubt, successful entrepreneurs are always able to find confidence from within. If you don’t have unwavering faith in your idea, no one else will either.
As a fellow business owner, I understand that it can be challenging to silence the self-doubt, especially when you are faced with a big decision or are constantly barraged by naysayers.
Young female entrepreneurs are inspiring with their uncanny amount of determination and fearlessness. Do not let anyone get in the way of your dreams. Here are some things to learn about finding your confidence:
Admit what you don’t know. If you are aware of the things you don’t know, then you have a lot more faith in what you do know. Part of owning your own business is being able to surround yourself with people to compensate for your weaknesses. No one expects you to be good at everything. If you have a good team, where everyone excels at a certain skill, you will gain more confidence that your ideas will be executed properly.
Do your research. When going into meetings with potential investors, clients or customers, make sure you really know what you are talking about. You have to know the ins and outs of your industry.
Melissa Thompson, CEO and founder of TalkSession, shares how she finds her confidence before a big meeting with investors: “I spend a lot of time studying the market. I make sure to stay educated about the legal part of the equation as well as the practice and business portions. [Since I am not a doctor], I compensate by subscribing to medical journals, actually reading them, and engaging in conversations with industry specialists.”
Heidi Nazarudin, blogger at The Successful Style and president of Blogger Babes, said, “My confidence is a mixture of style and substance. Knowing that I look amazing and that I have done my homework for the task at hand is a great confidence booster — in other words, polished, poised, prepared.”
Don’t pay attention to any disadvantages. Ask Gen-Y female entrepreneurs if they feel that being a woman is a disadvantage. They will likely say “no.”
Don’t put any energy into wondering if you have different challenges than any other leader or business owner because you are female. I think at the end of the day, if you are good at what you do, that’s all that matters.
Just because they don’t like your business, doesn’t mean they don’t like you. For entrepreneurs, the line between personal and professional is blurred. When someone rejects your business proposal, it can feel like a personal attack because of all the time and energy you invest. You have to have thick skin and be able to separate yourself from the opinion of others. Be humble and passionate about what you do. A ‘no’ can’t take that away.
Realize from the beginning that there is more to you than just your business. This way being rejected won’t feel so harsh, and you can bounce back faster.