Feel #LIKEABOSS (+ Playlist!)
Contributed by Emily Jordan, Boss-Feeling Creator for Women in Business
Maybe I’m Not Good Enough
You’re doing everything you’re “supposed” to be doing for your business.
You’re posting.
You’re pitching.
You’re marketing.
You’re manifesting.
You’re balancing the books and hitting up all the local networking groups. You’re attending sales seminars, watching “How To Book High Ticket Clients” webinars, and reading all the self-help-entrepreneurial books… and still— things are slow.
Something feels off.
You’re not where you want to be nor where you think you could be.
Maybe your business just doesn’t sell. Maybe it’s not as great of an idea as it seemed to be at 3 a.m. 3 years ago when you were fantasizing about quitting your job to take the reins of your life, your happiness, your income, and your impact. Maybe you’re not good enough for this whole “entrepreneur thing.” Maybe you should go back and get a “real” job, one that has a “real” boss.
Or…
maybe…
Maybe you just need to start seeing your business as a “real” job and seeing yourself as a real boss. Maybe you just need the same audacity you had at 3 a.m. 3 years ago when you dared to believe in yourself. (Even if it was mostly fear and doubt with just a sprinkle of “I think I can do this.”) Maybe all you are missing is that tiny bit of self-belief you had back then that allowed you to start this whole venture in the first place.
Maybe you are totally good enough for this “entrepreneur thing,” you just have to feel like you are.
“Logic makes people think. Emotions make people act.” — Zig Ziglar
One of the biggest, most critical parts of being a female business owner that we overlook: our self-perception. The way we perceive ourselves couldn’t be more important to the success of our business. How we feel about who we are and what we have to offer is quite literally the reason we do or do not have paying customers and clients.
People don’t buy our product or service. They buy the belief that our product or service can help them. In efforts to get people to choose us— our product, our team, our service— we hide behind things like certifications, numbers, awards, statistics, and trophy clients’ raving reviews. These things are great, but they are not what pulls the purse strings. They are logistics, and people—especially women— are not moved to act based on logic. This is why all our marketing and networking is merely the surface layer of what getting new customers is about. Those things are the logistics. We must also focus on the feelings.
It seems so silly and benign, but illustrating the impact our feelings about ourselves have on the success of our business is easy.
Who are you more likely to buy from, the person who softly pitches an offer that maybe, might, kinda, possibly be something you might be interested in? Or the one who excitedly tells you about this awesome new thing she’s offering that has been so incredible for others who’ve been a part of it?
This is not to confuse certainty in your product with a positive self-perception and healthy self-confidence. It is entirely possible (and wise) to hold doubt in your mind right next to confidence. We need not be “sure” our service or product is for everyone. We just need to be sure in the way we talk about it. We don’t need to be confident about our ability to sell or crunch numbers or present to investors. We just need to be confident in ourselves and the rest will follow.
Woo-Woo or The Real Thing?
“Okay… isn’t this a bit woo-woo-y? Don’t I need to work on selling and advertising… things like that?”
No, and yes.
Having a strong and healthy self-perception is not a replacement for a good offer and strong pitch, *but* feeling good about who you are and what you sell can alleviate some of the pressure we tend to feel when it’s time to pitch. When we feel good about ourselves, when we feel confident in not only what we’re selling but also in our resilience in the face of “No,” “not yet,” and “try again,”— the way in which we deliver our message is palpably different than when we aren’t so sure about who we are.
One of our greatest strengths as women that we are often told to boil out of our business persona is our ability to feel. Our intuition, quick access to emotions, and “sixth sense”-like the capacity to pick up on other people’s feelings can be one of our greatest assets. When ignored, it can also be one of the heaviest anchors. Despite the “woo” factor and potential discomfort that can accompany sitting down with yourself and examining your self-perception, taking time to rekindle that flame of self-confidence is not only crucial but it’s one of the most immediate and accessible things you can do to enhance your business right now, from exactly where you are. No money or special skills required.
Feel Like A Boss
So where to begin? Right where you are. How confident in you do you feel right now? Irrespective of your business, your income, your client load, or your social media reach— how do you feel about yourself?
For many women, assessing our self-confidence is already low on the “How To Grow My Business” list, if it even makes the list at all! But figuring out where you’re starting is the first step in figuring out how to truly feel like a boss.
Next up: where do those feelings come from? What do you do (or not do) that contributes to your confidence? Unfortunately, along with the gift of being able to easily tune-in to what others may be feeling, is the challenge of silencing the thoughts and opinions of others long enough to allow our truest, rawest selves to come out. As women, we can be a little too aware of what others might be thinking and feeling about us, which leaves us cruising around with 1 hand on the E brake.
One way to super-surge your self-confidence is to practice releasing that grip on the brakes and letting loose. Dance! Sing! Run as fast as you can! Try something new! Prove to yourself that you can let all of you out and She will not be harmed. Doing seemingly little things full-throttle— like a bathroom-mirror karaoke sesh— is an easy way to instantly feel good about yourself, and in turn, feel like a boss.
Perhaps the most important (and consequently most challenging) way to help yourself feel like a boss is to consistently and effectively take care of yourself. When viewed through the lens of “Enhancing My Business,” things like adequate rest, an exercise regimen, nutritious foods, mindful screen time, and regular leisure activities shift from luxurious “self-care” acts we just don’t have time for, to non-negotiable “boss-care” priorities we make time for. Sleeping well, moving often, and eating wisely can seem unrelated to the success of your business, but when it comes down to it, what quicker way to impact your mind than to impact your body? The effects work in both directions.
Feel And Do
For some, it is a relief to hear something as accessible as our self-perception can be such an influential factor in our business. “Hooray! The part I need for this repair is in stock!” For others, an anxious uncomfortableness has arisen in our Type A minds as we search for something to do, some task we can check off a list that will help us believe we’re getting closer to our goals.
The good news is, feeling like a boss is not an “either-or” concept. It’s a “both-and.” It’s not: “Either you feel confident in yourself, or your business suffers.”
It’s: “When you feel confident in yourself, the other necessary tools of being a business owner are easier to wield.” We need both the feeling and the doing. We need to remember the doing flows from the feeling.
Understand the power of your feelings…
Take care of yourself…
Run your business…
And, Feel like a boss.
Grab Emily’s Feel Like a Boss Playlist:
MEET EMILY JORDAN, CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER & LIFE COACH
As a certified personal trainer and life coach who works exclusively with women, Emily fuses the physical aspects of health with the non-physical, to help women understand the impact their bodies have on their lives as a whole. She helps women see health and fitness differently, drawing on personal experience as well as science-backed research that shows how the way we feel about our bodies directly impacts the way we show up in not just our personal lives, but professional lives as well. Want to meet with Emily to learn more? Contact her > to share your thoughts, questions, or curiosities during your no-strings-attached FREE consultation!
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