5 Steps To Building Confidence As An Entrepreneur

Struggling with confidence as an aspiring entrepreneur? The 5 things you need to know!

Prepare for action as I share the five essential steps to be the most confident version of yourself. Confidence is not a gift but a skill honed through bold and intentional action. In this episode, I'll take you through the contextual nature of confidence, revealing how to navigate the dynamic landscapes of business and personal growth.

But it's not all about the hustle; it's also about pausing to honor our triumphs. Let's discuss why it's vital to maintain a steadfast belief in one's journey. I want you to walk away with renewed sense of purpose and the tools to build lasting confidence in your ventures. Whether you are an existing businesswoman or an aspiring professional one seeking next steps, this is for you!

Step into the shoes of an entrepreneur and discover the transformative power of confidence with me, Dr. Griselda Martinez.


📣 Get in touch with me:
💻 Web: drgriselda.com
🌐 Instagram: @drgriselda
📚 Facebook: @Dr. Griselda Martinez, unExpectedly Successful The Show
📺 YouTube:  @drgriseldamartinez  
💼 LinkedIn: griseldatmartinez

Dr. Griselda's published book, "The Transformative Power of a Name," https://www.drgriselda.com/shop

📚 RECOMMENDED readings and programs:
🧠 On Mindset - Soundtracks: the surprising solution to overthinking, https://amzn.to/40W2zHv
💬 On Communication - The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication: Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message, https://amzn.to/3N1c56g
📈 On Scaling Your Business through Synergies - Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork, https://amzn.to/4a7USlQ

🎧 Listen to the show:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/66x3kimKtCA4dSHE51IOEj?si=486ebbd41f284f3d
🍏 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/un-expectedly-successful-the-podcast/id1691434992

💌 MORE PLACES TO FIND ME 
🎓 Learn about my Online Academy, Her Path to Purpose and Profit, at drgriselda.com   
💼 Economic Development Consulting: ascendostrategies.com

Who I AM:  
I am Dr. Griselda Martinez, your transformational business coach, speaker, and consultant dedicated to empowering seasoned professionals like you to step confidently into entrepreneurship. After reaching the peak of my career, I realized my true calling was not in the corner office but in guiding women to unlock their purpose through business ownership. 

Join me and a community of passionate, purpose-driven entrepreneurs making a real difference. Subscribe to become part of the un-Expectedly Successful tribe, and let's elevate your business journey together. Share your aspirations in the comments and discuss how we can achieve them. Ready to redefine success on your terms? 

Let’s go!

Disclaimer: Some linked items are affiliate-supported, meaning a commission may be earned with no added cost for you.

Join me and a community of passionate, purpose-driven entrepreneurs making a real difference. Subscribe to become part of the un-Expectedly Successful tribe, and let's elevate your business journey together. Share your aspirations in the comments and discuss how we can achieve them. Ready to redefine success on your terms? 

Let’s go!

Disclaimer: Some linked items are affiliate-supported, meaning a commission may be earned with no added cost for you.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

It is always having the position of a student in certain area that will translate into you becoming an expert in that area that you want to be an expert on. That will get you into the direction of that vision. Welcome back to another episode of Unexpectedly Successful here, dr Gesellina Martinez, your host and business coach for aspiring women entrepreneurs, helping them launch their business, and I am super excited for another episode to bring you knowledge, inspiration and getting us ready to take action. It is the most important part from all the things that we can do execute on what we want to do so we can get there faster. So, as you know, last episode I started this series number four, season number four of Unexpectedly Successful and, as you remember, I was solo in that episode, sharing business lessons learned, and one of the things that I love about how I'm wired, how I am a professional, how I do things in my business, is I love consistency and, as I was reflecting on the rest of season four, my commitment to myself is to be consistent, and so for the rest of season four, I will continue to come to you with business lessons learned that will help you as you continue to take next steps as aspiring business women and also as existing business owners, just looking for new knowledge, as we all do, because we know that our businesses grow as to the level that we, as leaders in this vision, grow. So that is number one, and number two is my commitment to continue to grow as a business owner, as a podcaster, as a role model to you all, and to continue to serve each one of you not just with the words that I deliver to you, but also with the doing that I come to you and being committed to bringing episodes every week, because I know commitment to consistency is at my core. So welcome to episode 32 with unlocking the five steps to building confidence as an entrepreneur.

Speaker 1: 2:39

So, if you have suffered with lack of confidence, please raise your hand and say hello to me, because I have been there, and I want to start this conversation by reminding you that the difference between confidence and courage, courage, as I have said before, is the decision of taking that next step, despite being uncomfortable, despite being fearful, despite not knowing what will come from that next step, but being bold enough and courageous to just do it. And so confidence is the result of us taking steps. And also, I want us to remember that confidence is contextual. So what does that mean? It means that we may be confident in some parts of our journey, but that does not reflect that we are confident in every area of our business or in every area of our lives. And I believe that's super important because we need to give grace to ourselves.

Speaker 1: 3:54

And what I remember when I was starting my own journey as a business owner, I used to say you know, I don't know why I'm like so nervous about putting a proposal together. And I was in this learning process. Right, it was the first time. There were many first times as I launched my own business until I realized that confidence was contextual. And so I had to remember that, even though I had put proposals together in my past employment, in my past career, career experiences, this was the very first time that I was doing it as my own business, as a person representing this company, as a person fully responsible for everything that came out of it, versus an employee that, even though things may not work as expected, there's still some safety net, right, so we're still aim for excellence as employees, but there is some level of comfort if things don't go as planned, versus a small business, a business owner that everything reflects on the success of your business. So I wanna also remind us that this may also apply to our personal life versus our professional life, we may be super confident in our professional life and there may be areas in our personal life that we may not feel as confident. So let's remember that as we continue to walk this process of building confidence. So, as we know, every successful business is founded upon the confidence of that business owner, and our businesses will grow to the level that we as people grow, because we are those visionaries right, we are those people that have this crazy idea that maybe people around us are not really supporting or believing, but it is our job to make it, to turn those dreams and visions into realities.

Speaker 1: 6:11

So step number one is embrace your expertise, and I have talked to you about the power of knowing our strengths. But today, in addition to being strong and knowing our strengths, I wanna talk about our expertise. What is the knowledge and experience that we have already in our toolboxes that we may take for granted? And I wanna invite you to do a few things. The first one is write all the areas of expertise that you may have. It may be maybe you are great at organizing files on your computer, maybe you are great at being the masters of ceremony of events You're the one that goes and plans the family events, you're the one that takes care of all the little details. Or maybe somebody always looks up to you to take the lead on making arrangements to travel or any other expertise that you may have that may be part of your toolbox as a small business owner. So the first thing is write those areas of expertise down and then say those to you out loud.

Speaker 1: 7:37

I am a great organizer. I became aware of my organization skills as a business owner and now I totally enjoy making my folders in my information management systems or just helping people organize their thoughts and achieve in clarity, because, as aspiring women entrepreneurs, clarity is so key. So part of my organizational skills are linked to when I coach my clients into clarity. So we don't know how those expertise areas will link into our business owners. So first write them down and then own them and remember them. Remember them often and when confidence may be low, just go to that list and say I am a great writer, I am a great creative, I draw amazingly, and this is so key for us to continue to build confidence. Your department is responsible for your projects.

Speaker 1: 8:43

Daily, remind ourselves our strengths, our expertise. Another exercise that I would ask you to consider doing is reminding ourselves that we are experts in that field and we bring real value to our clients, and that, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, that you will bring value to your future clients. And we must remember that affirmations can be powerful tools for us to stay on course. And as we build that confidence and we remember that expertise, another action item that I would invite you to do is to establish your thought leadership. Do people know that you are great at X and Y? And if they don't, which? If you are early in your aspiring entrepreneurship journey, people may not know that you are an expert in project management or in writing, or in drawing or in organizing events. So can you confidently share your insights into a public platform it could be your LinkedIn or your Facebook group and just letting people hey, you know, I took the leadership in organizing this family event. It was amazing. These are the lessons learned that I had from that experience and as you share those, there's also an opportunity for you to reflect upon those lessons learned, and it ties to one of the steps in a little bit that I will share with you, that I will bring back to this moment.

Speaker 1: 10:25

Step number two set small and achievable goals. Remember, rome was not built in one day. So when we say we are slow in building that vision, we are really being unfair to ourselves, because every step is building that empire, that vision that we see. However, that is not an overnight achievement. If we transfer that experience to us as employees, as successful people in our careers, we must remember that first we had to go through training, whether you went to school or you went to work and then you started learning by seeing other people doing it. And it has been years five, 10, 15, 20 years of you building that expertise and you growing into more career opportunities and you making progress and growing in that corporate ladder. But it hasn't happened overnight. So when we think about our businesses, our entrepreneur journeys, it would be really unjust and unfair to ourselves to say you know, I want this business to be successful and profitable and for me to achieve that vision overnight. So we need to remember that little steps build up to that big vision.

Speaker 1: 12:00

As a business owner, in my own story, that little step was for me to start my business in what I was doing as an employee. So I started consulting in the same area that I was doing in my last employment and then, after that, door started to open and the puzzle started coming together. The first is certification in coaching, and that opened up networks of people and experiences and connections to experts in the field. And then I started offering the coaching outside the people that were that I was coaching during my training and in my immediate network. And I remember that first client that I got to serve through my own business I had, I had the opportunity to be a business coach through my previous employments, but being my own business and doing it through my own responsibility, as I said early, it was on me to deliver those results. And then I finished that first process with my first client and it was an incredible experience.

Speaker 1: 13:12

And then Uh, the podcast idea came about, and I remember that when the podcast started, I did not know how to create thumbnails for YouTube. I did not even know what a thumbnail was, and so, but just really making sure that I set small steps, I was like, okay, I'm going to do the certification first and then I'm going to expand my business to my first client for coaching, and then I said you know, now I'm going to start learning about podcasts and I started the recording. And so it was a step after a step, and now I'm standing here with a bigger vision that even when I started my business. But I need to remind myself that I need to be patient and I need to give myself grace and continue to set small steps that will build to that bigger vision. And so when we are unrealistic in setting expectations for ourselves, that not only diminishes our confidence in ourselves but also we doubt about ourselves because we are missing our own set milestones. And so let's break those milestones and goals into achievable and small steps, knowing that we are in the right direction. And remember, remember to set goals that are exciting to you, because that excitement is going to represent that motor just continuing to push you towards that goal.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Step number three build a support network. I'm going to tell you, my first 12 months of business ownership were really lonely. I was doing something I had never done before. I was doing it remotely and it was the first time doing remote work without being part of a bigger organization, and it took me about 12 months to realize that I needed a community that was doing something similar to me, that I needed people like minded, that would support me, that would cheer for me, that were there to answer questions that I did not have answers for. And so I, when I do something, I do it full immersion. And so I started finding communities and I found my community of coaches and that was an incredible experience. I found people who, up to this date, were still connected regularly.

Speaker 1: 15:55

And then a smaller community of us three started a podcast and we would share our experiences, we would share resources, we would be there for one another to answer questions. If one was further along the way, the other one was there available to say you know, how do you do this? How do you do that? What platform are you using? There are so many things that once you're executing our unknowns that not having a community is so crucial.

Speaker 1: 16:27

Then I joined another community and even though it was a beautiful community of women business owners, it was not necessarily the best fit for me, but I also was proud that I was willing to put myself out there to try and find those communities, and if we don't try something, we may not know whether we like that community or we like that type of community. I would encourage you to try different communities and then find the one that is best suited for you the best vibe, the best type of conversations, the best type of delivery. I mean, the content may be good, but it may not be how you like to learn, how you take the best out of it. So, just being really honest of how you work and what you're expecting from those communities, and really up to this point, I have amazing communities and I have groups of people that are doing something similar to what I'm doing in each one of the areas that I am growing currently, for my podcast for business coaching, I wrote a co-author, a book, so we are now a community of co-authors and we share wins and we share moments of challenges, and that has been a transformative power that is with me and I invite you to also experience it and the power of the community. And also one of the things that I've experienced is, in the communities that I am part of, there are people who are doing what I want to do, and so they are there to share their experiences, to share their knowledge and also to embrace you as one of them and not just being a lonely entrepreneur trying to do something that nobody knows or understands. And so that is tip number.

Speaker 1: 18:37

Step number three. Number four is, if you heard episode number 30, as is a very dear and near to my heart learn continuously. Learning has been so crucial in my entire life, but, as a business owner, I want to share with you something that came from one of my mentors, brenda Bruchard, the author of High Performance Habits, and he's a high performance coach, and he was talking about how he has seen over and over this pattern that the top performance of the world when you're talking about billionaires and CEOs of top performing organizations, olympic athletes all of them dedicate time in their schedules to learning, and it is always having the position of a student in certain area that will translate into you becoming an expert in that area that you want to be an expert on. That will get you into the direction of that vision, and you, as the CEO of your life and as the CEO of your future company, you need to allocate a time in your day, a time in your week, to learn something. Learn something about personal development for yourself or business development for your business. As I mentioned before, your business will grow up to where you are as a person.

Speaker 1: 20:19

As that visionary, and one of my mentor strategies is to set one desire outcome I want to launch my podcast. What are the top five skills that I need to learn to reach that outcome? One was to be comfortable talking in front of a camera. Number two was to understand the recording platform that I am using currently. Number three was to reach out to people and coordinate for interviews, which I did many interviews before I actually launched the podcast, and so there were a lot of things that are being done behind the scenes. Then I had to learn how to utilize YouTube, how to create a thumbnail, how to upload a video, how to create a description, when to schedule it or how to schedule it as a premiere, and there were so many things attached to that.

Speaker 1: 21:21

But if we set an desire outcome and the five things that you need to learn to get there, we are breaking it down to something that is easy to digest and is actionable, but it's learning that will lead into you achieving that goal, which is so important, and I love this statement. When we say I don't know how to do this, this is an unfinished sentence, because successful people don't live it in that way. Successful people say I don't know this, it is my responsibility to learn it, or to find an expert who will help me achieve this. And if we flip it from, I don't know this, too, it is my responsibility to learn it or find an expert. We are empowering ourselves to find the solutions rather than disempowering us in saying I don't know this and this is the end of the story. And remember confidence comes from competence being good at something and actually being able to implement it. And competence comes from learning. So attend workshops, read books, listen to podcasts like this, but learn something new that will help you in becoming excellent at that mission that you have in mind.

Speaker 1: 22:51

And step number five celebrate each victory. Were you bold enough to go live on social media? Were you bold enough to join a virtual community looking for like minded people? Or did you get to your first sale? I mean, that's a huge, exciting moment for any aspiring entrepreneur. Or perhaps you just completed a course in an area that you know that is important and crucial for the success of your business.

Speaker 1: 23:24

Celebrate, celebrate each milestone, because, let me tell you, there are two things that are important to this topic. One thing is. We need to remember that Success is not built overnight, and each step, if we don't celebrate it, we will forget that we have accomplished something that we didn't know how to do not too long ago, and so that deters our confidence. And number two, when things get rough which they will get rough at some point we don't have anything to look back and say I've been there, I've been in a place in which I did not know how to do something, I was afraid of doing something, and I did it and I was successful. And so when we celebrate, it's like we're marking our brains with this accomplishment and we can remember when things get rough to say I've been there, I can continue moving forward. This is not the stopping point for me. For me, I started celebrating by purchasing earrings. I love earrings and they remind me of my accomplishments. Now these earrings remind me when I submitted my final manuscript of the chapter that was part of the co-authoring of the book, the Transformative Power of Name.

Speaker 1: 24:55

And so you find your way to celebrate, but celebrate each step of the way. Remember confidence is not once and done for all. We must be intentional in cultivating it and keeping it going. So, as you hit low spots. Keep these five actionable steps at hand to remind you that actions behind dreams grow your confidence and cultivate success. Keep believing in your entrepreneurial progress and keep taking steps in that direction, because I believe in you and I know that you will be successful if you keep taking steps. And remember, as you listen to these conversations, please subscribe to our channel and share it with someone, because we never know when someone is in need of this message. This is Dr Griselda Martinez, your business coach with Unexpectedly Successful, as I love to say more to come see you in the next episode.