If you've been an employee for someone else most of your life, you've actually been rewarded for getting your self-confidence from expertise. As an employee, the higher your mastery of a set of skills, the higher your salary. You move logically from a hopeful novice at the entry-level job, to a more confident and higher skilled employee at the intermediate job level, to the highly confident master at the senior job level, and then back to the hopeful novice level when you are promoted out of the role of individual contributor and into management, where you begin the cycle again.

Sound familiar? How many times have you moved through this cycle from novice to master in your life?

So here you are now: self-employed and perhaps not feeling very confident in some areas of your business. That's because you're still relying solely on expertise to build your self-confidence. In today's economy you can't afford to rely on expertise to generate the confidence you need to build and operate your business. You haven't got the time for that. However, you have another way:

You can arrange to have the self-confidence you need.

You don't need to rely on yourself to create your confidence. Nor do you need to wait until you have attained mastery of your services or skills. You can arrange for support structures and encouragement, and can design situations that feed you the confidence you need. For example:

• Instead of sitting there staring at the phone with dread because you know you need to call someone you've never met about the possibility of hiring you, arrange to bolster your confidence first. Call your most ardent business supporter, ask her or him to tell you why they believe so strongly in you, let them encourage you and bathe you in their support. When you're feeling great again, thank your supporter, hang up, and immediately make the call to pitch your services to the person you've never met. Your relaxed, optimistic tone will come thru in your cold call and affect your success.
• Another technique you can use for those important cold calls, is to call your business coach and role play the call until you feel confident that you're ready to handle any direction in which the call might go. Then immediately make your cold call.
• Or, identify the important points you want to communicate during the call and create a checklist for yourself. Remember, the person on the other side of the phone call can't see that you're using a checklist. But don't let the checklist be a distraction ­ use it only as a guide. Be open enough to let the conversation flow in a different order than what you might have put down on your checklist.
• If you'll be giving an important presentation, make arrangements to walk through the facilities a day or two in advance. If you usually jot notes on a whiteboard during your presentations and you find that the conference room in which you'll be presenting doesn't have a whiteboard, you can arrange to bring a portable whiteboard with you on the day of your presentation. And you'll be more confident in your presentation working with the tools that are familiar to you in a setting with which you are familiar.
• One way to arrange for confidence during your marketing talks is to invite a business supporter or colleague to attend these sessions with you. Your colleague can help break the ice either by responding to your questions during any prolonged silences or by asking you for clarification of specific points. And you'll always have their supportive, friendly face to look on if you get a bit nervous during your talk.
• If you're feeling a lack of confidence in your marketing planning, strategic business planning, or ot
  Test Your Networking Know-How
  Let's test your knowledge on networking:1)The best definition of networking is: a) Schmoozing at meetings and events b) The solicitation of funds c) Building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships d) Marketing and selling your products and services to everyone in the room so you can meet your sales quota before your boss fires you2) Why do you network? a) To develop your business b) To help other people c) To share information d) All of the above3) What are t
  ny times have you moved through this cycle from novice to master in your life?

  So here you are now: self-employed and perhaps not feeling very confident in some areas of your business. That's because you're still relying solely on expertise to build your self-confidence. In today's economy you can't afford to rely on expertise to generate the confidence you need to build and operate your business. You haven't got the time for that. However, you have another way:

  You can arrange to have the self-confidence you need.

  You don't need to rely on yourself to create your confidence. Nor do you need to wait until you have attained mastery of your services or skills. You can arrange for support structures and encouragement, and can design situations that feed you the confidence you need. For example:

  • Instead of sitting there staring at the phone with dread because you know you need to call someone you've never met about the possibility of hiring you, arrange to bolster your confidence first. Call your most ardent business supporter, ask her or him to tell you why they believe so strongly in you, let them encourage you and bathe you in their support. When you're feeling great again, thank your supporter, hang up, and immediately make the call to pitch your services to the person you've never met. Your relaxed, optimistic tone will come thru in your cold call and affect your success.
  • Another technique you can use for those important cold calls, is to call your business coach and role play the call until you feel confident that you're ready to handle any direction in which the call might go. Then immediately make your cold call.
  • Or, identify the important points you want to communicate during the call and create a checklist for yourself. Remember, the person on the other side of the phone call can't see that you're using a checklist. But don't let the checklist be a distraction ­ use it only as a guide. Be open enough to let the conversation flow in a different order than what you might have put down on your checklist.
  • If you'll be giving an important presentation, make arrangements to walk through the facilities a day or two in advance. If you usually jot notes on a whiteboard during your presentations and you find that the conference room in which you'll be presenting doesn't have a whiteboard, you can arrange to bring a portable whiteboard with you on the day of your presentation. And you'll be more confident in your presentation working with the tools that are familiar to you in a setting with which you are familiar.
  • One way to arrange for confidence during your marketing talks is to invite a business supporter or colleague to attend these sessions with you. Your colleague can help break the ice either by responding to your questions during any prolonged silences or by asking you for clarification of specific points. And you'll always have their supportive, friendly face to look on if you get a bit nervous during your talk.
  • If you're feeling a lack of confidence in your marketing planning, strategic business planning, or ot
    Tips for Your Investor Presentations and Due Diligence Visits
    When you create your power points or walk over to the nearby diner or coffee shop for a quick informal chat with an investor, remember the following:1. Focus and niches are still very much in. Broad brush and shot gun approaches are out.2. Your strategy needs to relate to your competition. If you differ dramatically you must have a defensible reason for doing things differently and it must be supported by customer validation.3. Depth in all areas - technology, domain, implementation, business development and recruitment - is required.
    fidence you need. For example:
    • Instead of sitting there staring at the phone with dread because you know you need to call someone you've never met about the possibility of hiring you, arrange to bolster your confidence first. Call your most ardent business supporter, ask her or him to tell you why they believe so strongly in you, let them encourage you and bathe you in their support. When you're feeling great again, thank your supporter, hang up, and immediately make the call to pitch your services to the person you've never met. Your relaxed, optimistic tone will come thru in your cold call and affect your success.
    • Another technique you can use for those important cold calls, is to call your business coach and role play the call until you feel confident that you're ready to handle any direction in which the call might go. Then immediately make your cold call.
    • Or, identify the important points you want to communicate during the call and create a checklist for yourself. Remember, the person on the other side of the phone call can't see that you're using a checklist. But don't let the checklist be a distraction ­ use it only as a guide. Be open enough to let the conversation flow in a different order than what you might have put down on your checklist.
    • If you'll be giving an important presentation, make arrangements to walk through the facilities a day or two in advance. If you usually jot notes on a whiteboard during your presentations and you find that the conference room in which you'll be presenting doesn't have a whiteboard, you can arrange to bring a portable whiteboard with you on the day of your presentation. And you'll be more confident in your presentation working with the tools that are familiar to you in a setting with which you are familiar.
    • One way to arrange for confidence during your marketing talks is to invite a business supporter or colleague to attend these sessions with you. Your colleague can help break the ice either by responding to your questions during any prolonged silences or by asking you for clarification of specific points. And you'll always have their supportive, friendly face to look on if you get a bit nervous during your talk.
    • If you're feeling a lack of confidence in your marketing planning, strategic business planning, or ot
      Pressure Washing Business Case Study, Tractor Cleaning
      So often small service businesses fail to exploit niches, which have little if any competition. I know as I built my companies we always tried to identify all the market niches and go after them. We were not always able to succeed at everything, occasionally we would fail; it happened more than I would care to admit, but those are lessons learned. The best way to get to success is to learn from the challenges of the past and so in my office I have a huge trashcan, bigger than any executive you will ever meet. And it is always full. That’s okay. Let me tell
      at you're ready to handle any direction in which the call might go. Then immediately make your cold call.
    • Or, identify the important points you want to communicate during the call and create a checklist for yourself. Remember, the person on the other side of the phone call can't see that you're using a checklist. But don't let the checklist be a distraction ­ use it only as a guide. Be open enough to let the conversation flow in a different order than what you might have put down on your checklist.
    • If you'll be giving an important presentation, make arrangements to walk through the facilities a day or two in advance. If you usually jot notes on a whiteboard during your presentations and you find that the conference room in which you'll be presenting doesn't have a whiteboard, you can arrange to bring a portable whiteboard with you on the day of your presentation. And you'll be more confident in your presentation working with the tools that are familiar to you in a setting with which you are familiar.
    • One way to arrange for confidence during your marketing talks is to invite a business supporter or colleague to attend these sessions with you. Your colleague can help break the ice either by responding to your questions during any prolonged silences or by asking you for clarification of specific points. And you'll always have their supportive, friendly face to look on if you get a bit nervous during your talk.
    • If you're feeling a lack of confidence in your marketing planning, strategic business planning, or ot
      Save More with a Best Buy Promotional Code
      Are you a smart shopper? If you are, then you probably take advantage of every sale, deal or special that you come across. In my case, I have to admit that I don’t this too well because I usually stick to the promotional codes that are offered by the local pizza delivery service.Companies offer a variety of discounts in order to attract more customers and gain more profit. It would be a good idea to keep an eye out for them. For example, you should take advantage of the latest Best Buy promotional code. You can make use of the Best Buy promotional c
      t have a whiteboard, you can arrange to bring a portable whiteboard with you on the day of your presentation. And you'll be more confident in your presentation working with the tools that are familiar to you in a setting with which you are familiar.
    • One way to arrange for confidence during your marketing talks is to invite a business supporter or colleague to attend these sessions with you. Your colleague can help break the ice either by responding to your questions during any prolonged silences or by asking you for clarification of specific points. And you'll always have their supportive, friendly face to look on if you get a bit nervous during your talk.
    • If you're feeling a lack of confidence in your marketing planning, strategic business planning, or other such internal business issues, join a success team of individuals who are working the same issues in similar businesses. You don't need to reinvent the wheel all the time. And ten though you are a soloprenuer, you don't need to do it all alone and all by yourself. Let the synergy and power of the group work for you.

    Those are just some ideas to get you jumpstarted in thinking about how you can arrange to generate self-confidence. Have fun with it!

    Copyright 2004, Rose Hill, Inc