Category: xplode

Have you seen any successful entrepreneur who isn’t confident? The plain truth is that for people to believe in your brand, your product, or what you say, you have to first, believe in yourself.

Nobody is going to buy from you if you don’t believe in yourself or your brand. Why should they?

In business, it takes guts to charge higher fees, reach out to clients, manage employees, and be successful in general. If you’re not confident, you can learn how to be; but you have to do it quickly. So here are nine ways to improve your confidence in business.

Make Learning a Habit

There’s confidence in knowledge and preparation. You have to gather as much knowledge about different topics to be able to have meaningful conversations with clients. When you have a firm footing in different areas of your business, people would believe in you more and would want to do business with you.

There would be times when you can’t seem to figure out some concepts, but it shouldn’t stop you. You should play the long-game. You have to see that initial struggle as a phase that would pass. With this mindset, you would see that learning is not as hard as you thought.

Don’t be afraid of taking risks.

Entrepreneurs are famous for the number of risks they take. Dave Hitz, the CEO of Netapp, says, “A lot of times people look at risk and ask, ‘What are the odds that I will succeed?’ A different way to look at risk is to ask, ‘What’s the worst thing that would happen if I failed?”

Don’t be scared of making that investment. What’s the worst that can happen? When you have this risk-taking mindset, you’d not only have successful deals, but approaching clients would be a lot easier because what’s the worst that can happen?

Look the Part

When you look good, you do good. Confidence has ties with how we look. Dressing well communicates your quality as a person. And people notice when you look good. Your clients would trust and respect you more if you always look the part. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to wear the most expensive things, you just have to look sharp. Good, clean shoes, neat hair, and fitting clothes.

Try to do the work on your part before meeting up with a client. This would help you know their company’s culture so that you can dress accordingly.

Worry Less

One primary identifier of confidence is self-assurance. When you start to worry, you kill your composure, which affects how you see the world and your overall performance.

Are you struggling to convert prospects into paying clients after sending hundreds of emails? You have two options; either you let worries take away your peace and make you complain or find ways to improve your strategy.

Focus on doing your best and growth. This is how you build confidence in yourself.

Have a Positive Outlook on Life

There’s so much negativity in the world, but you shouldn’t let it affect your positivity. You don’t need to watch the news every day because the media is skilled at pushing out negative news. Instead, look for the little positive things in your life and show gratitude. A way to go is to write down five things you’re thankful for every day.

You might not be where you wanted to be, but maintaining optimism and a positive outlook on life makes life more enjoyable and brings you more reasons to be thankful.

Ask for Advice

Whenever you struggle to find answers to anything, you shouldn’t be scared of reaching out to your mentors, colleagues, and friends to get a third-party opinion on the issue.

This would help you see things from a different lens, and you will find the solution faster and efficiently.

Celebrate your small wins

If you keep waiting for something extraordinary to happen before you celebrate it, you’d be unhappy forever and have little confidence in your abilities.

Did you make a sale? You can treat yourself to some ice cream. Did you land your first client? Do something special. You don’t have to wait to make your first million before celebrating it. Include the small wins and watch how drastically your life will improve.

Have a vision of what you want to achieve

No matter what you do, an objective is vital to keep you focused. There would surely be times when you would feel like giving up, but the thought of where you’re going to would always put you back in the game.

Also, ensure that your goals are specific. Don’t say you want to be rich. Say how much you want and when you want to achieve it. As you monitor your progress and achieve them little by little, your confidence level will grow and push you to achieve more.

A practical step to take is to create a vision board. Write out your goals and where you want to be. Paste them in an area you can see it every day. For every goal you achieve, tick it, and celebrate.

Don’t Strive for Perfection.

Perfection is a myth. Nobody gets to be perfect as long as we’re in this human body. Everybody makes mistakes at some point. So, waiting for that product to become perfect before launch gets you no-where.

Launch what you have and reinvent it on the way. The iPhone has been around since 2007. And every year since then, they’ve been making adjustments. They won’t have been where they are today if they waited to release the perfect iPhone, would they?

Take Time Away for Yourself

Personal time is crucial. A life outside of work is critical to how well you perform and how confident you are about your skills. Free time helps you avoid burnout. Choose any activity of your choice to blow off steam with. It can be time with family and friends, travel, whatever. Just don’t focus entirely on work.

Becoming confident in business starts with you. Your growth and wellbeing are essential. If you take care of yourself properly, you will perform well. It’s that simple.

Your business needs the right employees to succeed. Your business is only as good as your employees, so you have to take hiring very seriously.

For every business owner, it is quite difficult to correctly time when to hire new staff and put them on payroll. It is a very critical time for business owners. They are often plagued with the “should I hire now” or “How do I hire the right candidate?” Either way, you still need employees, and good ones at that.

Here are ten ways to hire the right candidate for your business

1. Look for someone who has shown a commitment to their career.

This is an excellent indicator of someone you can trust. If you see from their resume that they switch jobs too frequently, then that’s a bad sign. It shows a lack of loyalty, and that they are just after getting the highest pay.

These people will not be dedicated to your mission; rather, they are just focused on the pay. It’s likely that once they get a higher paying Gig, they will leave you and move on. So avoid candidates like these.

2. Check for Compatibility

Every company has a culture — remote or not. And finding out if a client can easily fit into your company’s culture is crucial. Social skills are as critical as the technical skills the job offers.

Peter Schutz said: “Hire character. Train skill.” You won’t want to hire someone whom you cannot easily relate to. Find out from their past employees their social skills. Of course, if they had a bad relationship with them, you should know by now that it’s a red flag.

3. Test their Learning and Analytical Skills

Resumes lie, plain and simple. You have to do an assessment test on your candidate to be adequately sure of their skills and compatibility.

According to Talentlyft, an assessment test helps you know:

• If they’re a good fit
• To test the candidate’s claim.
• To determine a culture fit.
• To handle high volume hire.
• To avoid hiring bad clients.

Here’s an example of one

4. Hire Interns

Many people frown at the idea of hiring interns because of their little experience, but it is one of the best ways to hire staff for your company.

They are ready to learn, and you can train them in any areas you want because of their eagerness. The mistake you would make is leaving your interns in charge of buying coffee and other menial jobs. A productive employee is an excellent addition to your team and can assist your full-time employees.

You don’t have to pay them so much. So, you can use that initial period to groom them.

5. Properly Outline the Job Requirements Before Hiring

Many employees want to hire someone, but they have not outlined the role properly. Do a proper job analysis before trying to hire someone.

A job analysis includes

• The responsibilities of the role
• The job description

6. Check the Candidate’s Social Media

Social media is another excellent way to know what a candidate is like. Interviews are great, but you cannot tell what a person is like by talking to them in a formal situation and even checking their resume.

Social media goes a step deeper into that; most people are more comfortable sharing parts of who they are. This would give you a basic example of what you’re getting into with a particular candidate. Check out their Twitter, Instagram, etc.

People might call it stalking, but there’s nothing wrong with getting to know somebody before you hire them.

These days, 90% of companies recruit candidates from their social media platforms, so there’s nothing wrong there.

7. Be actively involved in the Hiring Process.

You shouldn’t leave hiring to Human Resources. As the CEO, you have many roles — and being part of the hiring process should be one of your duties.

It’s your company in the end, so you should be part of the interview process and know who you’re hiring. They say two heads are better than one, so you should partner up in this area, because of its importance.

This way, you can communicate clearly, your company culture and the direction you want to take your company too. Human Resources can do this, but being there would drive home the point better.

8. Do a Background Check

This is to ensure that you verify that all the information the candidate left is accurate. The background checks should have their educational, criminal, and career records checked.

You’re hiring this person so you should know everything about this person. But during the interview, try to focus more on their future. Try to see what their plans for the future are. This would determine their future in the company.

9. Ask them about their weaknesses.

To catch your candidates off guard, you should ask them about what they’re not good at. It is a norm for candidates to prepare a list of their strengths, but a thought that doesn’t cross anyone’s mind is their weaknesses.

No candidate can tick all the boxes; you only have people who come close. Asking them for their weaknesses would help you know if they’re mindful about improving themselves and also get a glimpse of how honest they are.

Not everyone would admit they have a weakness — and whoever doesn’t assume they have weaknesses is lying, and that’s a red flag.

10. Trust your Instincts

Sometimes, you don’t need anyone to tell you that a particular candidate is right or wrong. At times, you’d just know. And that’s enough.

A candidate might be perfect on paper — ace the assessment tests, be outstanding in the interview and just be a joy to watch, but your gut won’t trust the person. It’s normal, and you shouldn’t doubt your gut feeling because there’s a reason why it’s telling you that.

Always listen to your gut feeling. It is risky to dismiss your gut feelings.

Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you

• Warren Buffet

What does everyone try to do during a crisis, survival, right?. That’s the typical life for an entrepreneur.

The COVID-19 has brought lots of uncertainties, and the people who can survive this and come out better are the people who created new opportunities for themselves — this is why Entrepreneurs would always win during a crisis.

In the past months, we’ve seen several business owners changing their business strategies to adapt to the changing times. They come up with new approaches to survive and keep providing solutions to their customers.

What does everyone try to do during a crisis, survival, right?. That’s the typical life for an entrepreneur.

The COVID-19 has brought lots of uncertainties, and the people who can survive this and come out better are the people who created new opportunities for themselves — this is why Entrepreneurs would always win during a crisis.

In the past months, we’ve seen several business owners changing their business strategies to adapt to the changing times. They come up with new approaches to survive and keep providing solutions to their customers.

Entrepreneurship is about Survival.

Entrepreneurs think differently. Not only are we focused on generating income, but we also seek continuous growth and are ready to risk it all to achieve these set goals, especially during a crisis.

During normal times, these principles are fundamentals are beneficial, but are even more so during extraordinary times like these. It’s only through entrepreneurship that we can come out of this crisis as winners. Entrepreneurship is all about dealing with them.

Business owners are used to the unexpected risks that come from running a business. An entrepreneur has to solve problems related to cash flow, client acquisition, staff employment, delegating tasks, marketing strategy, raising capital, budgeting, business growth, and a host of them. As an entrepreneur, nothing is sure; you have to keep solving problems — the known ones and the ones that arise out of the blood.

This can be terrifying for some, but it’s a norm for entrepreneurs. So, one skill we can offer the non-entrepreneurs during this pandemic is the survivor spirit. With this, you’re rest assured that you can live through anything.

This pandemic is a test on everyone’s survival skills, and whoever can scale through this can scale through whatever obstacle we face in the future.

Entrepreneurship is about adaptation.

During a pandemic, the average person looks to the government and their companies to help. They hope for them to provide health facilities and food, but as we can see, they can only do so much.

What differentiates these establishments from entrepreneurship is their bureaucratic nature, which means they take a lot of time before they make and implement decisions. The government may have good intentions, but they just can’t respond to issues swiftly because of their nature.

Entrepreneurs have the upper hand during a crisis because of their ability to respond quickly to whatever issue that they are faced with

Entrepreneurship is about taking various routes to ensure that you find answers where other people might have failed. That’s a distinctive skill of entrepreneurs.

We can create new businesses, products, and services in days or weeks, but this would take the government or the large corporation months or years to complete. Entrepreneurship offers flexibility, while the government is the opposite.

Entrepreneurship is rapidly solving many problems we face in society today. What’s more is that as entrepreneurs, we are open to collaboration. All over the world, we have business owners achieving amazing feats with people spread across different parts of the world.

We have an abundance mindset that doesn’t allow room for unhealthy competition. You don’t see this among governments; rather, you see wars and bad spirit among countries.

Entrepreneurship is about creating Solutions.

You would notice that many business owners are actively looking for ways to provide solutions to their existing customers and leads during this time.

Many people are out of jobs, cannot feed, and this has brought lots of anxiety and depression. But entrepreneurs are like the heroes here, doing all the can to help their employees, and whoever they can through this pandemic.

And for the fact that we’re highly experienced in our niche, we know how to be of assistance. It’s crucial to find a need for our customers and put it together to get the highest value from it.

We’ve seen entrepreneurs do it a lot of times, including:

• Hosting educational webinars
• Offering free products or services as a way of helping
• Using their resources to provide aid for the frontline workers and health staff
• Forming communities that act as a support system during the crisis
• Offering help to a broader community due to their influence
• Collaborating with other organizations to offer value
• Holding events that can no longer hold in-person to virtual

In one way or the other, we are equipped to battle crises like these; we have our networks, influence. Everywhere you look, entrepreneurs are using what they have to offer solutions.

How Entrepreneurs navigate through these uncertain times

Business owners during periods of crisis need to keep their employees, customers, and themselves satisfied — so they’d have to do everything in their power to keep their business afloat.

In all these, we still need to ensure that we’re taking care of ourselves and our loved ones. Just like how in an airplane, we put on our mask first before we help others with theirs.

Examples of how entrepreneurs have been able to adapt to the pandemic

• Fitness instructors holding their training sessions online, so their clients can keep fit.
• Restaurants switching to “takeout-only” orders to keep sales going
• A company that specializes in wall covering moving their production to face shields, large screens, and masks to cater to the needs of hospitals and frontline workers.
• Many companies in the fashion industry have also joined the fight to create personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and frontline staff.
• Vacation companies reducing their service days, switching their restaurants to a take-out only system, doing extra cleaning, and adopting a touchless room entry as safety measures to combat COVID-19 and remain in business.

There are several other companies across different industries, adjusting their service to survive and combat the pandemic. The pandemic has shown everyone the strength of entrepreneurs. No matter the situation your business is in, you can still reroute your service offerings and adapt to whatever comes your way.

What’s more, is that you can still do all this while helping your community and creating more income for your business — You simply have to be creative.

You shouldn’t wait for the government or any large corporation you’re working to take care of you and define your terms. Start something for yourself, and become your own boss.

We can write several articles about the good things Entrepreneurs are doing in this pandemic. It’s just to tell you how valuable entrepreneurs are during crisis situations. Imagine if everyone could be an entrepreneur. Imagine how easily some problems would go away!