I recently posted a blog about what it means to be confident and I want to follow it up with some support. Have you ever heard of the “Challenge and Support” theory? I wrote that blog because I wanted to challenge the belief that confidence is some innate ability to be fearless and courageous. Over the last 5 years I’ve been coaching, I have helped countless women build coaching confidence and I can tell you first hand that doesn’t mean they’re fearless. What it does mean is they trust that even though they’re challenged to push beyond their comfort zone, they also receive support that reassures them they’re safe and capable.
Confidence comes from a belief that you’re supported, you can rely on yourself, and you will find a solution to any problem you encounter. With that said, if my first blog was to challenge the idea of what confidence is, this blog is to support my readers in building their confidence.
I have 3 tips I use to help build my own coaching confidence and I want to share them with you. These are the same tips I use to deal with adversity and ensure success in my own coaching business.
I truly believe that if you take to heart what you’re about to read, you too can become confident and sure of yourself as you move forward in your coaching business.
The 3 Tips:
Plan Your Business For Success
If you want to feel confident then the first tip I have for you is to plan your business for success. Now I know that sounds vague… but let’s dig deeper!
If you decide that you want to go on an extravagant vacation to Italy, what is the first thing you will most likely do? Read a guidebook? Search out restaurants and attractions you want to visit? Maybe ask friends or family who have been what they would recommend doing there?
Most likely, you will begin looking into what options you have available and begin putting together a plan of what you’d like to accomplish while you’re there. Obviously there’s never enough time to do everything on vacation but that’s okay, if you plan out enough things then you can decide what is really calling out to you when you’re there.
Having this plan in place doesn’t mean that you had a bad trip if you don’t get to everything. In fact, you’re probably going to have a great trip because you knew all of your options and were able to decide what to do in the moment because you were prepared.
Do you do this in your business? Because I know I struggle with it. There’s endless options for every decision you have to make as a business owner. How can you possibly know what all your options are? Well, what if you didn’t worry about what options are available and instead focused on the things that will help guide decisions in the future?
When you’re in Italy you may not have looked up EVERY POSSIBLE pizza restaurant BUT you know you want pizza and you can easily look up the best pizza restaurants near you! Problem solved!
Having your values and desires listed out in detail helps you make authentic decisions through a rubric of how well it aligns with what you want. For a trip to Italy you just need to know what your interests and expectations are to have a good time. In your business, however, you do this by creating a strong niche.
Having a well thought out niche allows you to immediately see how decisions align with your business goals and easily decide what works for you and what doesn’t. Add in your interests and expectations and now you can prioritize the things you want to do and start to automate or outsource the things you don’t want to do. After all, just because it aligns with your business goals doesn’t mean you WANT to do it.
Coming up with daily/weekly/monthly task lists is a great way to keep focused on your goals. Additionally, this gives you a clear view of your workload and can help keep you from burning out and getting too overwhelmed. Ultimately, the better you plan out your business, the easier it will be to make decisions along the way. This will help you focus on things that need attention and build your confidence in choosing what is and isn’t right for your business.
Take Self Care Seriously
If you take anything away from this blog please let it be that your self care is the most important thing you could possibly do in your business. That isn’t to say you need to take care of yourself to be successful.. Unfortunately one glance at corporate America will quickly show you how wrong that idea is.
The trick here is that if you want long term, sustainable coaching confidence then you need to take care of your mind, your body, and your soul.
There are 3 key tips I have for you here that will help you build confidence in yourself. Come up with some sort of gratitude exercise that you can complete DAILY. Maybe even TWICE DAILY! As often as you can look around yourself and pinpoint the things you’re grateful for. Focusing on what makes your life feel meaningful helps prevent you from burning out. Every night before we go to sleep my husband and I do a simple little 5 minute exercise to help with this.
Each of us has to list 10 things we’re grateful for. Starting with 3 THINGS we’re grateful for, then 3 PEOPLE we’re grateful for, then 3 THINGS ABOUT OURSELVES that we’re grateful for, and finally 1 thing that happened that day that we’re grateful for
Another activity I recommend is mindfulness meditation. No doubt humans are busier today than ever before! It is critical to take time and focus on your breath and be mindful of your surroundings. Find some practice that works for you to help ground yourself throughout the day and be as present as possible. Focusing on your body and how it feels helps you build confidence in understanding yourself and being comfortable with who you are.
Finally, set your intentions clearly. This isn’t the same as goal setting because it isn’t outcome based. Don’t get confused, these aren’t goals that you’re measuring your success against! Simply speaking out your intentions gives the universe the opportunity to respond. Having clear intentions for your expectations also gives you confidence by being clear about how you want to grow and change as time goes on.
Ask For Support
This concept is often left out of confidence discussions but I believe it is just about the most important part. Knowing when you need to ask for help is a really difficult skill to develop. The hardest part is building a community in which you feel safe to ask.
Joining facebook groups or forums with like minded individuals helps put yourself in spaces where your ask can be met with support. Be careful going to people who aren’t also business owners. It may seem tempting to go to family and friends but remember that they aren’t taking the same risks as you and their advice likely won’t have the same expectations you do for your business.
This is where finding a mentor is critical. Finding a business owner who you can aspire to be helps clear up some confusion about what it may take to get there. Hiring a coach is the most practical step here and I am not just saying that because I’m a coach… I hire coaches to help me because they’re neutral and have some skin in the game. They’re goal is truly to help me solve my problems and they can leave their emotional struggles out of my decision making.
If you want to read more about asking for support check out this other blog I wrote.
Building Coaching Confidence
I recently started offering free business strategy sessions and I want you to know how much it can help you get the clarity and confidence you need. If you’d like 1-on-1 support to develop a coaching niche, align your business with your goals, build your confidence in your business, and get excited about your business again then click below to book a free call with me.
I’ve been helping women start their own coaching businesses for 5 years now and the number one most impactful part of every program I’ve run is building my clients confidence so they can make authentic decisions.
If you’re interested in talking with me about how you can build your coaching confidence, book a free call with me today.
