How to Build Confidence and Resiliency as a Solopreneur

If you have owned your own business for very long, you have discovered that being a solopreneur challenges you to develop your confidence along with your business savvy.  I often work with a solopreneur who is a total expert at what she does, but still is not busy or profitable.  Why?  Usually, it’s one of these issues:

• She has marketed her expertise more than telling people about the problem she solves.
• She has failed to market much at all, lacking the confidence and the know-how to talk about what problem she solves.

It’s critical, imperative, and a key to survival for solopreneurs to become confident in marketing.  The good news is that there is a wonderful side benefit to your confidence.  The side benefit is resiliency.  Let’s say that something you try doesn’t work too well, isn’t profitable at all.  If you are confident, you will not use the failure as a reason to hunker down or make excuses.  Instead, you will have this wonderful thing called resiliency.  What will having both confidence and resiliency do for you?

• You will pat yourself on the back for trying what you tried.
• You will be able to sit down with your favorite cup of tea and ask yourself why what you tried might not have worked.
• You will be anxious to discuss your failure with a friend or teacher who can give you their perspective, and you will feel supported and helped rather than defensive and dinged.
• After a day or two, you’ll be ready to try Plan B and go at it again.

Confidence and resiliency are the two best things I can think of to have in a solopreneur’s back pocket.  You build them by careful planning, stepping out, and honest feedback from yourself and a few others.  Each time you try, whether a success or a failure, you gain both just from the act of trying.  Building confidence and resiliency is like building your biceps.  You flex them like a muscle and pretty soon, just like your bicep, confidence and its sidekick, resiliency are there at your command.

Practice building confidence consistently, and before you know it building your business will become easier and easier for you.  You’ll happily be doing what you want to do, and making money while you do it.  What could be a better deal?

(c)  Sue Painter