Running a business online is exciting, challenging and rewarding all at the same time!
It starts off as this really exciting idea that goes off in your head and then the next thing you know, you’ve made up your mind that you want to start this awesome business online working for yourself.
After making that decision, you then start educating yourself on exactly how you can make this grand idea come to life.
Then, it hits you…”I actually have to make sales for this idea to fully work”. This is the exact moment confidence starts to become an issue for most online business owners.
How do you fix this issue and become your most confident self yet so that you can start showing up online as the powerful force to be reckoned with that you know you are meant to be?!
You have to do the #1 thing most people are afraid to do…dig up and heal those emotional wounds within yourself.
(I know, it sounds simple right?) If it were truly simple, then we would have master sellers everywhere.
Emotional wounds are like computer viruses. A lot of times, we can’t control when they present themselves but we can 100% control what we decide to do afterwards.
If we never address our emotional wounds to heal them, they WILL show up in our business and just like a computer virus, it will affect our livelihood.
Emotional wounds breed low confidence and low confidence affects our ability to show up online and SELL and if we cannot sell then we don’t make money and if we don’t make money…it affects our ability to live!
By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly why confidence is important to make sales online, and exactly what it takes to show up confidently online to start hitting your income goals every month.
How confidence directly affects how much money you make in your online business:
When we decide that we want to start an online business, putting the systems in place, learning the strategies and purchasing the trainings is the easy part.
Showing up and putting yourself out there again…and again…and again to help others knowing that you will also be judged harshly by many is the hard part.
The first time I put myself out there and started offering my services, I got called a scammer. That hurt because I had worked so hard on my offer to be sure that it would truly help people. I could have easily let that one person define me but I didn’t and kept showing up!
That same week, I made my first ever $1K in business. Now, I never make any less than $10K a month. I’m full-time in my business and love every second of what I do.
It’s so easy to stay behind the scenes in the name of :
“I’m still working on my website. It’s not ready yet so I can’t make sales.”
Or “I just have to post 5 more blog post on this topic before I can create a course on it and sell it.”
Here’s the truth, you’ll never truly feel ready!
Being ready is not a feeling, it’s a decision. You and only you get to decide when you’re ready to put yourself out there and start making sales. No magic fairy is going to drop money in your lap the second your website goes live or the second you hit publish on one more blog post. (I know, bummer. I had to learn this the hard way but trust me it all paid off.)
However, believing that money will appear out of nowhere because we’re working harder behind the scenes makes us feel better because we can use the excuse:
“I’m not making money because I’m still working on my thing…and when I’m done working on my thing…then I can start making money.”
This is the detrimental cycle that most online business owners will find themselves in and the most dangerous part about this cycle is that it’s almost impossible to be self aware that you’re stuck in it.
Somebody from the outside looking in has to call you out on it.
Like “Hey there friend, do you know you’ll never make money if you don’t actually show up in your business???”
It’s me! I’m that person that’s calling you out on it today!
Start treating your business like a real business
Legally, the second you start making money online what you’re doing is considered a business. This means the moment you decide you want to start making money online, it’s crucial to start thinking about and treating your business as a REAL business.
If we’re using words like “hobby, cute or little” to describe our business then how are we ever going to feel confident about what we’re doing and the way we’re showing up online. How we feel about our business naturally comes off in the way we’re describing our business to others.
Example: “Oh, it’s just a little hobby I do on the side to make a little money.”
VS.
Example: “I run an online management investment firm.”
The way you describe what you do to others will help them decide within a split second if you’re someone who can help them or not. It will also show them within a split second if you’re “playing around on the internet” or running an actual business.
Create a routine
A lot of people start their business for the “freedom” which is amazing! However, I think it’s important for someone in this online space to give a realistic idea of what that looks like and how you can actually and realistically create the freedom you desire for yourself.
You can 100% create the life of freedom you desire for yourself but it’s definitely something that would have to be worked towards instead of just falling in your lap.
First, know that it’s 100% possible! Second, create a routine to help you get there!
In business, every day is likely to be different but by following a pretty consistent outline to your day you’ll be able to get into what I like to call a “flow” of productivity.
Knowing from the beginning that this life of freedom you desire is something that’s possible but also has to be worked towards instead of just falling in your lap, will automatically set the expectation that you may run into a couple of challenges.
Understanding this releases the pressure to be perfect all of the time. When there’s no pressure to be perfect, then all discouragement goes out the window. You can try and fail a million times and because you already expected a challenge, it’s no pressure to be perfect and you’ll get back up again.
Creating a routine will allow you to get into your daily “flow” of productivity so that you’re showing up for your business every – single – day!
It’s hard to show up confidently in your online business if you’re going weeks without touching your online business. (I know, ironic right?)
Create a list of generic activities that needs to happen every single day and make these activities an absolute non-negotiable for you!
Take action on revenue generating activities
Knowing the exact actions it takes to make an income in your business is a confidence booster within itself. Executing on those actions will blow your confidence through the roof because you 100% without a doubt know you’re doing what it takes to make sales, all you have to do is wait for the income to start rolling in.
Incorporating revenue generating activities into your daily routine will not only boost your confidence but it will 100% guarantee you’re hitting your income goals every month. It’s hard not to be confident in your ability to sell when you know you’re doing what it takes to actually make sales…from this point, it’s not a matter of “if” you’ll make sales…it’s a matter of “when” you’ll make sales.
Learning Sales & Marketing is a non-negotiable
I’ve been in business since 2017 and what I’ve learned is that it’s super easy to say we don’t like something when in reality, we’re saying we don’t like it because we’re not good at it.
That was my story for years around sales and marketing. Because I let it define me, I was only making a couple of hundred dollars here and there.
I told myself that I hated sales and marketing, and I’d rather work on things that felt fun.
What I didn’t know was that the only reason I didn’t like sales and marketing was because I sucked at it. Nobody likes doing things they’re not good at, it reminds us of our weak spots.
We try something once, realize we’re not so great at it…then decide that we don’t like it and never try it again.
Our ability to be really great at something directly affects how confident we are doing that thing. So, if you’re not so great at sales and marketing…then you also wont be confident doing it and if you’re not confident doing it, then you wont likely do it at all.
The cycle stops by realizing you can only become great at something by doing it over…and over…and over again!
If you’re horrible at sales and marketing, keeping practicing it again…and again…and again…and again till you’re so darn amazing at it that no one can ignore you!
At that point, your confidence around selling yourself will become second nature.
You will fail and it’s normal
Confidence is a huge issue in the online business space because nobody tells you that failure is inevitable.
There’s not a business manual everyone gets when they decide they want to start an online business that say’s “Hey, you will fail 100 times but keep going I promise there’s a huge reward on the other side.”
From the outside looking in, you’ll only see Instagram influencers and mega Facebook marketers on the beach with their laptops sipping mimosa’s when truly, they failed so many times before getting to that point in their business.
Just because you’ll never see their failures, doesn’t mean they didn’t fail.
It’s important you know this because the second you start showing up more confidently online and don’t see the results you hoped for, it’s easy to think “Karen was just on the beach with a margarita the other day while effortlessly making $1million.”
Understand that failure is so normal to the point where you should expect it.
From the great words of Will Smith “fail early, fail often, fail forward.”
If you can’t escape failure, wouldn’t you want to fail early so that you can learn the lesson and move past it?
If you knew extreme growth comes from learning from all the failures you’ve ever experienced, would you want to experience failure more often so that you could grow more often?
If you knew that failing taught you valuable lessons to push you forward, wouldn’t you look for failure so that you could continue moving forward?
Block out all negativity
This is a very sensitive area because often times, it involves blocking out family members.
Starting an online business takes a lot of mental work and in light of this, it’s important to protect your mental state and energy at all times. This is 100% possible by surrounding yourself with positive influences and supporters.
Our confidence surrounding our business and our abilities is directly affected by how we feel about it and how we feel about our business can change depending the kind of support system we have.
This is to in no way say that your love ones aren’t supportive. However, their version of support may not be what’s best for you.
Example: “I think you should spend your time doing something that’s actually going to help you make money.”
In their mind, they may truly feel as though they’re helping you by suggesting for you to do something more productive but they’re also expressing how they truly feel about your business…that it’s non-productive and wont provide for you.
Because your loved ones are so close to you, it’s easy to take what they say as fact but nobody knows your business better than you do, remember this!
The best way to block out all negativity is to understand that your friends and family are trying to support you in their own way, stop listening to negative music, tv shows or movies and find a true support system in person or online.
Fear & Low Confidence Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
It’s a very thin line between not being aligned with something and it being completely out outside of your morals vs. being absolutely terrified of putting yourself out there so you just stay within your comfort zone.
Only you have the power to decide when you’re going to stop playing small.
If you’re reading this article, I know you’re meant for more! In light of that, I want to invite you to join our free facebook group where there’s weekly LIVE trainings on how you can create a powerful online presence and start hitting your monthly income goals!
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