Controlling your self-doubt as a business owner.

I don’t believe you can completely overcome self -doubt. Controversial I know but wait there’s more. When kept in check I think it can even be a good thing.

Studies show that 85% of people have reported struggling with self-doubt at some point. So it’s hardly a surprise that it’s a frequent topic of conversation amongst business owners. Running a business is tough. When you spend a lot of time working alone it’s understandable that mindset monkeys creep in from time to time. Whilst I think an amount of self doubt is good because it means you care and will prevent you getting complacent, you don’t want to let those doubts grow too strong otherwise they could halt your progress.

That’s why surrounding yourself with like-minded people who get what you’re doing is really important. Finding a community where you can talk things through be it good or bad can help you banish the doubts by showing you, you’re not alone and others have been there. When they share success it will boost you and show you what’s possible.

There was a time I couldn’t find a group that fitted what I needed so I decided to create one, so I set up West Country Rural Business Women on Facebook. It’s a supportive corner of the internet for those inside, do come and join us.

Once you have found your community the next thing to watch out for is comparisonitis. Looking at what others are achieving and judging yourself against them can really affect your mindset. The thing to remember is no two people’s situations are the same so you could be comparing apples and oranges.

By all means, be inspired by someone but don’t feel you can only be successful if you have what they do or that you won’t succeed unless you do it the same way. Don’t fall into the trap of doing things because it’s the next big thing. If it doesn’t work for you don’t do it, it will drain your energy and it won’t get you the results you hoped because your hearts not in it. Creating Reels is a brilliant example of this, some people love them and find it easy. That’s great and the content is great but if you find them hard to do and it takes you ages you’ll run out of energy for your content. It’s OK not to follow every trend.

Remember this is your business, the idea is to do the things you enjoy the most. Whatever that means to you is just fine. Unfortunately running any business comes with chores that can’t be avoided and it can be easy to get bogged down by the “admin.” If these jobs are something you find really hard, time consuming or demoralising then this can allow that self-doubt to creep in. With thoughts of “ I don’t even want to run a business anymore.” Or “ I should be able to do my own marketing/bookkeeping/website otherwise I’m no good as a business owner.”

Firstly let me remind you those thoughts are not the truth.

Secondly, no one is good at everything, that person you looking at thinking “ well they manage it I should too.” ( Hello comparisonitis.)

Don’t let the chores of running a business bog you down.

The fact is they probably aren’t doing it all themselves. They just haven’t told you that. So ask for help with those tricky things that are slowing your progress sooner rather than later. I know outsourcing for the first time is daunting but think of the bigger picture that spending on those expert skills will gain you. If outsourcing really isn’t viable yet don’t panic, do you have friends or family who could help? Maybe you could learn a DIY simplified method to achieve progress and improve on it later. Usually where there’s a will there’s a way.

Lack of progress can be frustrating and cause doubt over your abilities. Especially when your juggling many aspects of life and time is tight. Writing down a plan of what you want, broken down into small chunks is really useful. Keeping this somewhere visible helps keep you focussed. Each time a chunk is achieved mark it off.

Seeing your progress is hard to doubt. Similarly keeping something like a victory book of anything positive such as testimonials, thank you card or just notes you write of tings your proud of. These become a powerful tool to help you reduce self doubts. When you are in the midst of doubt and progress feels slow pause to look back at how far you’ve come. When your busy day to day it’s easy to forget.

My victory book is on brand obviously, any excuse for a pretty notebook.

I hope you found this blog helpful, please share it with your business friends and if you ever need to talk something through I’m always here, either email me or contact me on Instagram.