Category: Business Coach

What Is A Life Coach? How 1:1 Coaching Can Help You Move Forward And Crush Your Goals

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Have you ever found yourself stuck in life? Whether you’re at a loss for what you want to do or you have an end-goal in mind but no clue how to get there, feeling stuck in life is all too common. And chances are, a life coach is someone you could benefit from greatly to provide that necessary nudge in the right direction. 

Life coaches are specialists who help their clients analyze where they are now, where they want to be in the future, and how to connect the two. They help people who aren’t sure how to move forward or what their next best step is by looking at what obstacles are getting in the way and helping an individual find solutions to overcome them. 

How Does it Work?

While the process of working with a Life Coach is similar to how therapy works, it differentiates itself by focusing more on the future rather than looking at your past and understanding your present. Life coaching is more direct in nature and gives individuals the encouragement they need to move past any resistance that’s keeping them from their goals. 

Typically, a coach will begin your relationship with a discovery call during which they’ll ask questions to get to know you a little better and to figure out how they can best help you.

You’ll discuss the frequency of your meetings and if there is any “homework” that they may want you to do before your time together. More than likely, they’ll send you some paperwork to fill out that will help them identify your current obstacles and background. 

Once your sessions start, your time together will be spent discussing what goals you have for your future and the things that are keeping you from achieving them. While your coach won’t tell you the exact roadmap or steps to take, they will help you define them for yourself. At the end of your time with a life coach, you’ll walk away with actionable steps to get you on the path to where you want to go. 

Work with Me

I’m a Life Coach based out of Atlanta and I have over 15 years of experience in the coaching industry. I like to call myself a “confidence coach,” because I feel like my mission is to empower driven, passionate entrepreneurs to launch, grow, and scale their businesses and achieve the success they deserve. 

I found my way into the coaching industry after serving in several leadership roles including my current position as Corporation Relations Manager for United Way of Greater Atlanta.

I earned my Masters of Arts in Human Resource Management and Development from Webster University and my Bachelors of Arts in Communication Theory and Rhetoric from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

In conjunction with my coaching business, I created a Business Clarity Mastermind that’s open to the public and teaches practical strategies and tools to take action and grow your business. 

If you’ve been spinning your wheels about where your life is headed and still haven’t found any traction, I would love to talk about how I can get you back on track and moving towards the future you envision. Your path to progress is just one click away. 

Video Strategy: Create Your Customer’s Path to Purchase

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What was the last item that you purchased? Have it in mind? Great, now think about the steps that you took before purchasing it. Chances are, much of the process was done subconsciously, unless it was a major purchase.

Even for insignificant items, your mind likely walked through three stages that are known as the buyer’s journey, which include awareness, consideration, and decision. 

Consumers go through these stages with nearly every purchase, and it’s the seller’s responsibility to help them get from the first step through to deciding to purchase.

Recent studies have shown that the use of video is becoming increasingly effective at helping a buyer make their mind up. We’re going to show you how video can be used in each stage to help close more sales for your business. 

Stage One: Awareness

In the awareness stage, a buyer has identified a problem or need and is trying to find a solution to it through research. During this stage, videos that address your customer’s “pain points” are most effective. 

Introduce yourself, what you can provide, and how it can fix their issue. Be specific about how you can help them and remind them where they can find you and how to connect. 

Stage Two: Consideration

Next up is the consideration stage. Your buyer is fully aware of their problem at this point, and they’re ready to find a solution. 

They should know about your business by now, but they’re not quite sold yet and are still considering other options. Now is the time for your “explainer video” where you give them the answers they need and offer valuable content about your products and services. 

Stage Three: Decision

Now it’s time for your buyer to make up their mind and decide what solution they’re going to commit to. They’ve done their research, and it’s up to you to drive it home. 

Close the sale by building trust with client reviews and show them your success measures and impact. Do you have a study showing how you helped a past customer or how your service improved their lives in some way? Show them the details. Remember, the proof is in the pudding!

Ongoing Videos Lead To Future Sales

Using videos in your marketing helps to attract and retain committed, loyal customers. Once they’ve purchased something from you, it’s up to you to keep your brand at the forefront of their mind. This way, the next time they need a similar solution, they’ll turn to you.

One way to do this is by sending ongoing video content reminding them that you’re there for them whenever they need you. Send videos of new customer testimonials or new products; anything to stay current in their memory.

In today’s media-driven world, there are countless ways to get your message to the public and in front of your target audience. While you can always tell your customers why you’re the best, videos give you the ability to show them. After all, actions speak louder than words—and nothing speaks louder than high-quality video marketing. 

Customer Journey Map – Part 2

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A few months ago, we talked about what it means to have a [customer journey map] and how to create a customer journey map.

Today, we’re going to unveil the five stages of the consumer decision process so you can include them in your customer journey map. Then, you can build your business, increase your conversion rate, and, ultimately, succeed as a brand owner. 

Quick Re-cap: What Is a Customer Journey Map?

As we defined in Part 1, a customer journey map is a diagram – or many diagrams – that show each of the stages your visitors go through when interacting with your brand. This can be from visiting your website for the first time to interacting with your brand’s business Instagram page, to even buying a product or service. 

What Does Any Good Customer Journey Map Need? 

The main contribution to any functioning customer journey map is research and data. Without data, these are simply drawings without any underpinning evidence. 

The customer journey maps need to reflect the customer’s search intent and sentiment, individual goals, and touchpoints. 

There should be multiple customer journey maps to cover all bases. That means having a single customer journey map for your website will not suffice. Instead, you need to consider the different directions and journeys each individual will take. Use a heat map to determine the patterns and trends of the activity on your site.

It also demands journey maps for your other platforms. Think about how someone may navigate through your social platforms or blogs. Customer journey maps are effective but only when they’re used properly. 

What Are The Five Stages Of The Consumer Decision Process?

Customer journey maps rely on understanding the lead. The first factor in determining is where the lead is within the five stages of the consumer decision process:

1. The Awareness Stage

At this point, the lead becomes aware of your brand. This could be through a search engine, word of mouth, or any other marketing platform you’ve been using to advertise and promote your business. 

2. The Consideration Stage

This stage includes careful consideration of your product or service and often demands intense research. The consideration stage lasts longer depending on the price of your offer. The higher the price, the longer this phase lasts. This is down to the price being more of a risk. Competitors will be considered at this stage, too. 

3. The Decision Stage

Your prospect makes their decision at this stage. They will either purchase from a competitor, move back a stage, or purchase from you. 

4. The Retention Stage

If a purchase has been made, this stage is where the magic happens in terms of ROI. Research proves that if someone has already made an initial process, they’re more likely to purchase again. Adobe has demonstrated that 8% of website visitors who are existing customers constitute 40% of overall revenue.  

5. The Loyalty/Advocacy Stage

This phase takes the retention stage to a whole new level. This phase includes writing reviews and spreading positive comments through word-of-mouth. This phase encourages new leads to enter through the first stage, and so the cycle repeats once again. 

Why Do I Need To Consider The Buyer’s Stage In My Customer Journey Map?

As mentioned, the most effective customer journey maps are deeply rooted in research and data. But it’s also fundamental to understand your audience in depth.

The buyer’s stage will help cater to your customer journey maps with their current stage in mind, allowing you to personalize strategies to help each lead climb up the ladder, phase by phase, until they reach stage 5. Once there, they can help bring in new leads for you, playing their own part in guiding new leads up the ladder. 

How To Use The Buyer’s Stage In My Customer Journey Map

Now you’re clear about why you need to include the buyer’s stage within your customer journey maps, let’s consider how you can do this in practice. 

As with many marketing strategies, the key lies in understanding your target audience well. Once you are able to track data and view the common patterns and trends, you’ll be able to sort and categorize this data into buyer’s journey sections. 

This will allow you to consider the best methods to help them move up a stage. 

You will need various methods for each individual stage, focusing on techniques and elements that will help them up a level. 

For example, consider the consideration phase. At this point, your leads are locked in an internal battle trying to make a choice whether to spend money on your product or service, take their business elsewhere, or simply not buy anything at all. Therefore, you need to consider techniques that will help bring them over to the right side: purchasing from you. 

Some strategies that could help with this are using social proof or offering a discount. 

Implement The Buyer’s Journey Into Your Customer Journey Maps Today

As you can see, the buyer’s journey is absolutely critical when mapping out the navigation journey of your lead. By incorporating it, you can tailor your strategies to help them reach the top of the tower. Without it, though, you’re shooting blind, and you’ll find it challenging to achieve stage 5 status. 

What’s Your 4th Quarter Business Strategy?

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Here Are 4 Reasons You Need to Hire a Growth Strategist Today.

We’re heading into Quarter 4 of 2021, and the year has flown by. It seems that we were laying down our annual goals only yesterday, combining our business New Year’s Resolutions. Suddenly, we’re almost at the same stage once more. 

As we enter quarter 4 of 2021, strategies demand to be refined, as it’s the last hurdle before we look at the annual data and reset our goals. 

So, what’s your 4th quarter business strategy? And how does it tie into your goals? 

Perhaps you’ve yet to revisit your overall business strategy. And, perhaps, you’re considering hiring a growth strategist to help you push for that final quarter to achieve your goals.

If so, here are 4 reasons you should hire a growth strategist today. But first:

What Is A Growth Strategist In Business?

In business, a growth strategist is a person who focuses mainly on the growth and development of a brand. They have expert knowledge of business strategy and how to propel a business from the land of startup to the universe of global recognition. 

Reasons You Need To Hire A Growth Strategist 

Outsourcing can, at times, feel frightening. We fear an empty investment, or worse still, a negative return on investment. However, hiring a growth strategist is fundamental to your business’s development. And, if you hire a qualified growth strategist with excellent experience and past results, you can guarantee that the investment won’t be empty. 

1. Growth Strategists Focus On Strategy And Have A Unique Set Of Tools 

Working in your business rather than on your business has consequences. You’re unable to view your business strategically because you’re too close to it. Having an outsider assess your current strategy, aligning it with your future goals, will allow you to understand whether it’s realistic, ambitious, or whether you’re pitching far too low.

Growth strategists also have a specific set of tools that have been crafted for the sole purpose of business growth. You’ll want those on your side when up against the competition. 

2. Growth Strategists Take Bold Action 

Without growth strategists, brand owners are prone to overthinking, sitting nicely in their comfort zone. The truth is, though, as they sit there watching the world go by, they’re actually missing out on hundreds of thousands of growth opportunities. 

It can be difficult for a brand owner to take risks and step outside their comfort zone. However, with the assistance of a growth strategist, you’ll be encouraged to take the risks that will pay off. 

3. Growth Strategist Focus On Short, Mid, And Long Term Goals 

With many marketers, the main focus tends to be on long-term goals. There are benefits to this, of course, as it allows your business to grow throughout time. However, there need to be short and mid-term goals to fund your business growth in the meantime.

Growth strategists are experts in short-term strategies and how to feed them into your mid and long-term goals. 

4. Growth Strategists Know All The Current Digital Trends And How to Use Them For Brand Growth 

Keeping up with the latest digital trends can be almost impossible when you’re wearing every single hat for your brand. Hiring a growth strategist means you’ll be saving time, energy, and effort, allowing you to remain in your zone of genius for the wellbeing of your brand. 

Plus, you’ll be including proven routes to success within your strategy, guaranteeing growth. 

Hire A Growth Strategist Today. 

As quarter 4 takes us under its wing, we reassess and reevaluate our current strategy and how it’s worked for the past 3 quarters of 2021. With the 4 reasons listed in this post, hiring a growth strategist allows you to end the year with a bang, meeting your business goals, and placing you in a strong position for the beginning of the upcoming year. 

Contact us today and schedule an appointment with Coach Allison to see how a business strategist can help uplevel your business.

Does Business Confidence Affect Business Clarity? Why is it Important for Business Growth?

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The three business essentials are clarity, confidence, and conviction. But can you have one without the other? And does the level of one essential impact the others? 

Ultimately, does confidence impact clarity? Why? And what does that mean for your business and it’s growth? 

We’ll be exploring the direct link between business confidence and business clarity in this post and how you can leverage it to maximize brand growth. 

What Is Business Confidence? 

As you’ve probably guessed, business confidence involves being sure of one’s decisions when it comes to their business. 

Business confidence levels have a direct impact on the overall well being of a brand.

If, for example, a business owner isn’t sure about the decisions they’ve made, this will be communicated to the audience. A lack of confidence is difficult to disguise. 

What Is Business Clarity? 

Business clarity is how clear your business is. This ranges from being able to clearly articulate what your business does, how it does it, and why to having a clear vision of where you want your brand to go. 

Many entrepreneurs would argue that clarity is the most important factor in any business. But, can you have clarity without confidence? 

How Business Confidence And Business Clarity Work Together

To build a meaningful business with purpose, you’ll need both business confidence and clarity. Without confidence and clarity, you’ll quickly spiral out of control, which can have devastating consequences for your brand. 

Imagine you’re hunting treasure. For this, you’ll need a map. If the map is muddy and stained with little clarity, it becomes tricky to read it. 

If you have little confidence in map reading, you may decide early on that the task of finding treasure is too difficult, making you throw in the towel without giving it a go.

Now, imagine these two challenges together.

First, you have no confidence in map reading.

Second, the map is almost impossible to read due to the physical state of it. 

With these two together, the chances of you finding the hidden treasure – in this case, building a successful business – are slim. 

However, if you were more confident in map reading and the route was clear, your determination levels would be higher, and you’d be a massive step closer to uncovering the treasure. 

Ultimately, business confidence and clarity work together. You gain confidence when you have clarity over your brand. And you gain clarity over your brand when you are confident in your skills and what you have to offer the world. 

How To Find Business Confidence and Clarity 

If you feel your path to success is muddled, you’ll need to revisit your foundations. That means documenting your strategy, your audience avatar, and understanding where you want your business to go. 

With clarity, you’ll gain confidence. And, as we both know, you need both to succeed.

Business confidence plays a massive role in business clarity, so ensure you factor in both of these elements to your business fundamentals. 

The Business Fear List: 7 Things Stopping You From Business Growth

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Running a business demands juggling many plates at once. Additionally, you’re forced to make investments – whether that’s an investment of your time, energy, or money. 

You’ve read hundreds of business books, listened to all the podcasts, and downloaded every freebie going. 

And while your love for your business is burning bright, you’re left confused about why your brand hasn’t quite hit stardom level. 

The Business Fear List

Here are 7 things that may be stunting your business’s growth.

1. Your ‘Why’ Isn’t Clear. 

If you were asked ‘why did you launch your business?’ and your response revolves around earning money, your values will communicate that you’re in this to make a fast buck. Your why should revolve around your brand’s core beliefs and how it impacts the world on a wider level. If you haven’t yet discovered your why, this is a fundamental you need to address before you can expect to see sales. 

2. You’ve Invested In Business Growth But Not Self-Growth. 

You cannot have business growth without self-growth. As you’re the owner of the business, you need to grow before the brand can. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake leaders make. They believe it’s all about strategies that will make their business boom, when that can’t happen until the leaders invest in themselves, first. 

3. Imposter Syndrome Is Prohibiting Your Growth 

Everyone – and I mean everyone – has felt like they’re ‘winging it’ at one stage. Imposter syndrome is a real crux to many business owners. It’s crucial to manage imposter syndrome productively and learn how to quiet the voice inside your mind telling you you aren’t worthy of success. 

4. Your Expectations Are Unrealistic 

There’s a difference between ambition and naivety. In our modern world, patience is a quality that’s running thin. You should aim to grow 1% every day. Smaller steps are sustainable, but massive leaps ahead make it tricky for growth to be consistent. 

5. You Haven’t Got A Clear Business Vision. 

Visions can adjust as you grow, but you must have a clear idea of where you want your business to go before it can evolve. There needs to be a documented plan of the direction you want your business to head in. Only then can you create a strategy to help you get there. 

6. You’re Trying To Do Everything Yourself 

It’s a well-known fact that to make money, you must first spend money. Determine your zone of genius, alongside elements you’re comfortable doing. Those that you feel are weaknesses to you should be outsourced to a professional. 

7. You Have A Dysfunctional Relationship With Money 

If you struggle to talk about money with others or even with yourself, it indicates that you have a toxic relationship with money. Sometimes, business owners fear success just as much as failure, though it’s not often spoken about. We can worry about what the consequences of success are. Nail down the route of your fear, specifically when it comes to business growth and success. Once identified, you can work on addressing and solving this issue for the well-being of your business. 

Business Growth Isn’t A Given 

Many startups make the mistake of buying into ‘if I build it, they’ll come.’ They also believe that if they invest in all the latest technology and gadgets, they will be able to build a thriving business that grows while they sleep.

But, this isn’t the case for the vast majority of business owners. First, you must nail your foundations, which includes self-work around mindset, visions, and goals. The strategies can then be built on top of this. 

I’m here to help you create the foundations you need for building your dream business. Ready to make a true change and clear the path to progress? Contact me today and let’s GROW!

How to Start Your Business Funnel With Clubhouse

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In April 2020, Clubhouse launched, and many business owners have capitalized on the evolution and drastic growth it has endured. Clubhouse offers a variety of benefits to business owners, and it’s down to these benefits that the app has become a starter point for many entrepreneurial sales funnels. 

In this post, you’ll learn about the app and how to use it as an entrance to your business funnel. 

What Is Clubhouse? 

Clubhouse is an app which can be used on your smartphone. Until May 21st, 2021, it was only available to iPhone users. Now, though, it can be used by iPhone and Android fanatics all around the globe. 

Clubhouse is classed as a social media application, but unlike Instagram or Facebook, it functions and thrives through audio only. 

Users can host rooms, listen in to other people chatting and educating, and conduct or take part in live interviews. 

When you first join, you’ll be asked to input your interests. These include technology, literature, entrepreneurship, and health. 

You’ll then be able to create a biography. Unlike Instagram which has a strict character count, you have more freedom to capture what your brand does. You also then link your Clubhouse account to Instagram. 

What Are The Benefits of Using Clubhouse For A Business Owner?

There’s a reason why from launch day to February 2021, there were 10 million downloads globally. For a business owner, Clubhouse can:

Allow you to connect and network with other business owners. This is particularly useful if you run a service-based business, as you’re able to swap services or collaborate together. 

Position you as a thought leader through your verbal contributions. 

Encourage you to build a loyal fan-base.

Learn from others about areas you feel you lack confidence in. 

Capture more leads.

Push your other social media channels – particularly Instagram – and gain more engagement. 

Extend your brand’s reputation.

How to Start Your Business Funnel With Clubhouse

It’s not as simple to create a business funnel on Clubhouse than other social media apps, because Clubhouse doesn’t include paid advertising, nor are you able to send and receive direct messages. On top of this, the links added to Clubhouse aren’t clickable, so it all requires more effort from both business owner and consumer. 

However, the rewards far outweigh the struggles. And there are ways around these complications. Here are 4 steps to build a solid business funnel with Clubhouse. 

Step 1: Build A Loyal Following 

As with any social media marketing strategy, it revolves around the engagement and commitment levels of your audience. Therefore, you’ll need to be consistent with your Clubhouse efforts. Host Clubhouse rooms and join rooms that your audience spends most of their time in. Raise your hand to speak and share your expertise. 

Step 2: Optimize Your Bio For Success 

Your biography on Clubhouse is fundamental for success. Therefore, consider your brand’s voice and infuse it into each and every word in your bio. Show the key benefits to your product or service, and make sure the bio is talking directly to your demographic. Consider your bio your own personal website on Clubhouse. 

Step 3: Use Engagement Pods 

An engagement pod is simply creating rooms on topics you’re knowledgeable and passionate about. 

Find other users who you can collaborate with and create content that genuinely serves your audience. You can then create an engagement pod as a team, which will fast track the results. 

Step 4: Make Sure Your Instagram Channel Is Linked

As mentioned before, Clubhouse doesn’t support direct messaging. Therefore, after dropping serious value bombs and gaining interest from listeners, they are unable to message you directly in the app.

It’s for this reason that you must ensure your Instagram account is linked. This is where users will approach you, and you can use this as a way of measuring Clubhouse success. 

Clubhouse Is A Winning Asset To Any Business Owner

Whether you run a service-based or product-based business, Clubhouse offers a wide variety of benefits that can help your business grow. 

It’s important – as with any form of social media marketing – to stay consistent and center your content around your audience. 

Then, ensure your bio is optimized for success with clear calls to actions, and ensure your Instagram account is linked for when your inbox fills up with leads from Clubhouse! 

Relationships Are Currency—Especially In Business

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Relationships are currency—and in business, they’re worth more than money 

The days of one-sided transactions and cold, impersonal interactions are long gone. Nowadays, people want to do business with those they like and feel comfortable around. 

We’re all busy, but it’s worth taking the time to build relationships because those connections can lead to great opportunities for your brand—opportunities you might not have otherwise had access to. Read on to learn more about the importance of relationships and how to start building them!

How Relationships Can Help Your Brand

You know that saying “it’s all about who you know?” Well, it’s true.

Never underestimate the power of a good relationship with your peers, contractors, clients, and even former co-workers. Having strong connections can lead to increased referrals and job opportunities, introductions to people who can help you reach your goals, and much more. 

In fact, in the same way that networking is an important step in advancing your career, relationships are just as vital when growing a brand. The more people you have on your side supporting, promoting, and recommending you, the more successful you’re likely to be.

While solid connections can absolutely hype you up, they can also provide you with feedback on your website, or advice on getting more clients. They can act as mentors who provide invaluable guidance as you grow your business —especially if the connection is someone who has been in your shoes before.

Not to mention the opportunity to meet a future business partner or podcast co-host!

Building strong business relationships requires time, effort, and consistency. Sometimes it’s hard work, but it’s worth it if you want your brand to succeed.

Best Practices For Forming Strong Business Relationships

Nobody reaches massive levels of success on their own. They almost always had help and support from other people to get there.

So now that you’re aware of the importance of business relationships, it’s time to go over some of the best practices to start forming and maintaining yours.

Be Kind & Generous

Look—everyone is busier than ever nowadays. And no one is going to be interested in connecting with you if you come off as unfriendly or pushy.

The most important thing to remember is that you should always be kind and generous with everyone, even if they’re not in a position to connect at that moment. Show grace in all of your introductions and meetings, and be open to connecting in the future.

Be Valuable

The best way to attract people who are willing to give you value is by giving out value yourself first. More than anything else, people will pay attention if you tell them what you can do for them. Offer one of your services for free or a discounted price, suggest a collaboration, or provide a connection that could help them with a problem.

Don’t Expect Something In Return

Even if you do give them something, don’t expect anything in return. This mindset will attract very different people than if you approach it with the assumption that everyone in your network is there to benefit you. Express genuine gratitude and appreciation for any kind of help, even if it’s just a simple answer to a question or quick introduction.

If you’re inconsiderate or disrespectful of their time, they won’t trust your intentions.

Build Your Brand By Building Relationships

Relationships can open up a ton of opportunities for everyone involved. If you want to learn more about building relationships that can help your brand, click here to discover about working with Alison Todd.

15 Tips For Building The Confidence To Be The Brand

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So, you’ve taken that leap and built a business. First, congratulations. Not many people have the mental and emotional fortitude to pull off what you did. 

But…

Being an entrepreneur comes with a unique set of stressors.

While you’re steadily growing, it’s common to worry that you’re not getting the traction you need to really take off. 

As brilliant as many business owners may be, many lack the confidence to fully show up as the face of their brand. But confidence is a key component of success in business. The more confident you are, the more people will be attracted to your brand and want to learn more about you.

15 Tips For Building The Confidence

These 15 tips will help you build the confidence to become the brand so you can attract more prospects and scale to the next level. 

1. Know Your Brand 

You can’t begin to show up in a way that inspires others to follow if you aren’t clear on who you are and where your brand is going. Start by defining your purpose. What are you here to do? Who are you here to serve? How do you want to make people feel? 

When you know that, you can begin to embody the real essence of your brand. 

2. Do What You Say You’re Going To Do 

Nobody likes flakiness—especially in business. Whether it’s working 1:1 with a client or something you push out on social media, hold yourself accountable for the things you say. People will begin to associate that respect they have for you with your overall brand. 

3. Get Clear On Your Values & Beliefs 

This is a crucial step. Values and beliefs are so important to the foundation of who you are and what your brand stands for. They need to be deeply ingrained in your messaging and interaction with others. 

4. Share Your Story

In uncovering your values, belief and mission, start to weave a story about your experience in relation to those—and then share it! Especially if it’s messy, real, and shows your audience that you know first-hand what they’re going through. 

5. Use Your Voice 

Social media makes it easier than ever for brands to have a distinct voice. Make it a priority to be active on your favorite platforms and speak up about the things that matter to you. Don’t be afraid to show multiple facets of your personality, even if they don’t relate directly to your brand. 

6. Show Enthusiasm

There’s nothing as contagious as enthusiasm. If you’re excited about something, show it. Chances are, you’ll attract some people who are just as excited about it as you. 

7. Share Your Passions 

Don’t keep your interests to yourself — share them with the world. Be open and honest about what you’re into so your audience can get to know you better. 

8. Get Visible and STAY Visible 

So many founders and CEOs love to hide behind their businesses. But if you want people to trust you enough to buy from you, you have to be willing to come out and show your face every now and again. 

9. While We’re Talking About Visibility…Keep A Visible List Of Accomplishments 

Sometimes, we forget how awesome we are. Displaying a list of all the things you’re proud of will come in handy when you’re feeling down and insecure. 

10. Practice Positive Affirmations 

Positive affirmations are the new “fake it till you make it.” Write down a few things you hope to be and repeat them to yourself every day as reminders of where you want your brand to go. 

11. Be Consistent  

While you’re an ever-evolving human, it’s important to keep your brand consistent. Some change every now and then is great, but try to stick to some consistent themes so people know what to expect from you. 

12. Get Vulnerable

One of the best ways to connect with your audience is to show them that you’re human. Businesses need not be totally above board and professional all the time. Get real every once in a while so you can connect with your audience on a deeper level. 

13. Stop Falling For The Comparison Trap

It’s so easy to get caught up in where you are now and compare yourself to other people. But when you start going down that Instagram rabbit hole, remember that no one can do it like you—because there’s no one like you. 

14. Be Kind To Yourself

Putting yourself out there is hard, and it’s not always going to feel good. When you’re feeling insecure, practice self-compassion and give yourself a little break. 

15. Stay Authentic & Transparent

And finally, build your brand based on the person you authentically are—and don’t let anyone tell you that’s not enough.

— 

​​If you want help increasing your confidence so you can elevate your brand, click here to learn more about working with Alison Todd. 

The Art of Confidence

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Let’s face it: it takes confidence to run a business. You can’t sell your products and services only half-heartedly believing in yourself. Garnering a client list and succeeding in your market takes self-assurance in order to fully develop into the complete professional you know you can be. 

But confidence isn’t always easy to grasp. It can be incredibly difficult, regardless if you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, beginner businessperson, or failed executive. With that in mind, I’ve gathered some easy tricks to bolster your confidence so that you can be the best business owner you can be–and then some. 

Fake it ‘Til You Make It

This may seem facetious to suggest but…it’s actually true. You’ve probably heard the rhetoric, “think it and it’ll be true” time and time again, well the same goes for confidence. If you work hard enough to project a confident mentality, you will eventually become the confidence you’re putting out there. And everyone you meet who seems completely self-confident? They’re doing the same thing!

With a positive mindset, daily affirmations, and a confident persona, you can become exactly the person you want to be by reprogramming your own brain.

Dress for Success

A big part of “fake it ‘til you make it” includes the way you present yourself. Have you ever dressed to the nines and walked into somewhere knowing how powerful you looked and people treated you exactly like that? 

There’s a reason: when you know you look good, you just end up feeling good, which results in natural feelings of confidence. 

Follow Other Successful Businesses for Motivation–But Avoid Comparisons

Follow other businesses in your market or industry and be inspired! It’s good business sense to know what your competition is up to, and knowing that you’re helping level the playing field for your business can lead to further confidence in yourself as a business owner.

However an easy pitfall to fall into is comparing your progress to that of others–stop it! Other businesses can have drastically different resources, budgets, and goals than you, even if you’re looking to them for inspiration–trust in your own journey and avoid any negative self-talk. You’ll get where you need to be.

Take Care of Your Body.

Mental and physical health is directly related to your sense of confidence. If you’re tired, stressed, anxious, or sick, you can’t work to your greatest ability–you know it and your clients will know it. By honoring your limits and respecting your body with good fuel, daily exercise, hydration, and sleep you can maintain your daily schedule and meet your own expectations for success. 

Believe in Yourself

When you start your business, you may face a ton of people telling you that you can’t do it–that you can’t succeed. Well, I’m here to tell you that the quickest way to failing is by believing these people: only you get to decide whether you fail or not. By believing in yourself, your brand, and your products, you can be self-confident enough to achieve all of your goals and more.

Confidence May Start With a C, But it Begins With You

Self-confidence isn’t something that can be bought or given to you by someone else–you alone control your own sense of confidence. But I believe in you, and I know that you can too. The art of confidence isn’t some mysterious gift passed down amongst those deemed worthy–it’s a skill that can be honed day in and day out. 

I know you can do it, and with my help we can get you there even faster.