So, it’s true, I admit it, it’s a fair cop, I give. Last year, I didn’t really, truly, entirely keep to my own promise of regular blogging. I’m going to completely own my lack of shame here – I was busy!
Life took over last year, my part-time job grew, my freelance business grew, life stuff happened a.lot. To the point where blogging went to the back of my mind for a while.
But it’s a new year and that means sitting my butt down and making sure I update this blog at least once a month – no more excuses!
So do join me again and let me know what your plans are for this year.
I’m already putting my plans for this year into action. Building on some fantastic work with current clients and seeking out new clients for writing and editing projects as well as working on something very new. I’m pushing forward with an area that both fascinates and frustrates me in equal measure – us women in business and what is at the heart of a lot of our stumbling blocks, both with our businesses and how we communicate – our self-confidence and self-belief.
Let me ask you a question. How many times have you heard about a great conference coming up and talked yourself out of putting forward your paper or yourself as a speaker?
Here’s another one. How many times have you not approached that prospect/that pitch/that lead because you’ve thought to yourself “nah, that’ll be too big a project for me/I’m not experienced enough for it/someone else will get it”.
One more. Have you ever presented to an audience and either started off with something along the lines of “thank you so much for inviting me, I’m not really an expert in this but…” or ended a presentation with “thank you so much, I’m not sure I was very good but thank you..”?
Even if you’re sitting there shaking your head no to all these questions, have you seen other women making those presentation fumbles or female friends who’ve told you about that one big project they didn’t go for because they didn’t think they’d get it?
You’d be surprised by how many of us women have done one or all of the above and probably less surprised by how many men haven’t (disclaimer: completely non-empirical evidence for this, just what I’ve noticed and researched YMMV).
As a PSG (previously shy girl), I know there are lots of tips and tricks you can include in your business life that will help with your self-confidence and your belief in yourself and your business. None of these are particularly hippy-dippy (though I am a hippy at heart) and all of them are relatively easy to start practicing.
So, this year, I’m building on my own coaching skills so I can start to offer one to one coaching for women in business as well as group workshops. I’ll also be sharing some of those tips and tricks on this blog as well as keeping up with my ranty posts about writing and some useful tips on business communications. 2015 is shaping up to be a great year – how’s yours been so far? Comment below or catch me on Twitter or Google plus.
Photos CC by 2.0
Shrugging photo by Funk Dooby (no, that’s not me in the photo!)
Belief photo by Jennifer
