Tips to Feel More Confident as a Small Business Owner

Expert Advice: 10 Ways to Be a Confident Business Owner

1. Provide the Best Quality Service.

   When you offer your best, you’ll naturally feel your best. Knowing you offer a high-quality product or service is going to make you feel more confident about the business you’re running.

   If you’re just starting out in your business and can’t afford to source high-quality materials, re-evaluate your business plan and look into ways you can improve quality. If you want people to come back for more, they’ll need to be pleased with the quality of your business and what they received.

   So even if you’re nervous about investing a little more money, think about the results you will get.

2. Fake it ‘Til You Make It.

   Confidence is less of an emotion and more of a state of mind. You may think that someone is confident, but that doesn’t mean they actually feel that way … they’re just giving off that persona.

   The truth is, being an entrepreneur comes with a lot of freedom as well as a lot of risks. You have to know that before going into business, or else you won’t be able to handle the emotional roller coaster and obstacles that come your way.

   Using positive affirmations can help shift your mindset — by stating “I am confident” repeatedly a few times a day, you’ll start to reprogram your subconscious to feel more confident over time, even if you don’t feel it right away.

3. Dress for Success.

   When you look good, you naturally feel good. Even if, say, you’re a fitness instructor and not “dressed up” when working with clients, finding the best work-out clothes that make you look and feel good can help improve your daily confidence level.

   Plus, when you feel dressed for the role you want to be (a confident small business owner), you’ll attract high-quality customers and clients that want to work with you because your energy and look reflect that you’re a professional and are confident in your business.

4. Follow Other Successful Businesses for Motivation.

   The path of being an entrepreneur can be daunting, but it helps to see other people (doing the same thing as you) who have succeeded. Follow those successful businesses on social media and notice what they do really well. This can help you formulate or adjust your business plan so that you feel more confident in your success.

   Which leads to the next point …

5. Don’t Be Psyched Out by Competitors.

   While you may follow successful businesses for motivation, don’t worry about how many people you are competing with. It’s easy to worry about the other entrepreneur in town who is already doing what you’re trying to do, but competition doesn’t mean there’s only one winner. More than one or two people can win in the same game, and if it’s your passion, there’s no other person or business that can knock you out of it.

6. Research Your Market.

   This is more applicable to the early stages of starting a business, but it’s still good to know: You will feel more confident about your business if you know there’s a market and demand for what you’re offering.

   It’s a higher risk to start a “unique” business that doesn’t have a market and demand for it. Though you may not see immediate results, as most businesses start slowly, knowing that your customer base will grow (based on your market research) can help you feel more confident when starting your business.

7. Get a Business Mentor.

   You don’t have all the answers to start your own business, and that’s OK. However, you do have a bias — when you start a business, it’s your “baby,” and you have a clear vision of how that should look. Getting expert advice and external views of your business can help you feel more confident knowing that you have the support and perspective of someone else. The less emotional attachment to your business, the more a person can offer objective feedback.

   Plus, if you run into an obstacle or feel your success is stagnant, a mentor may have a stronger perspective on what’s working or not with your current business plan. They may already know what it’s like to experience failures when starting a small business, and they’ll likely be able to help you avoid those mistakes.

8. Take Care of Your Body.

   When you eat well and exercise, and also schedule annual check-ups with your doctor, you will feel more confident about life in general. Plus, being a small business owner means you have to show up for work more than any employees you may have. So feeling great physically is important to boost your confidence.

   You’ll also feel more productive and energized if you are taking extra care of yourself, which will result in doing better work.

9. Be Your Biggest Believer.

   Other people are focused on themselves, much like you are. So this means you need to believe in yourself and your business to feel more confident about it. While you may get some degree of support from other people, if don’t have self-confidence, it’s going to be hard to obtain it.

   Even when others are singing your praises and claiming to see your strong potential, unless you are doing that for yourself, confidence will be difficult to achieve. No one can give you confidence on your behalf. If you feel strongly about your trade and business ideas, that will be the main driving force behind your confidence and success as an entrepreneur.

10. Go the Extra Mile for Customers.

    Having a strong and loyal customer base will provide you a lot of assurance that you’re doing a good job with your business. This means that aside from providing a high-quality product or service, your customer service needs to be at its best. If you want to have repeat customers and t boost your reputation, you need to show up more for those customers.