Entrepreneurs need to be confident. The challenges and obstacles that an entrepreneur must face on a day to day basis is not for the faint of heart. 

Without confidence, an entrepreneur will not be able to present his ideas to the world. Try thinking about a millionaire or billionaire who is not confident. It’s hard to think of someone like that.

If you are confident in your business and ideas, and are able to convey your message effectively, other people will also start believing in your vision.

Here are ten signs that show that you’re lacking confidence:

1. You Give Up on Your Ideas too Quickly

Entrepreneurs need to believe in their ideas before they can expect anyone else to believe in them.

Having doubts about your idea early on without giving it the time to mature, is a sign that you are lacking confidence.

Giving up on your ideas because they seem to carry a little too much risk is a sign that maybe entrepreneurship isn’t the right path for you. 

Entrepreneurs need to believe in their ideas. They should firmly believe that their ideas and business have the potential to change the world. Without this belief, an entrepreneur might give up after an initial set back.

If you’ve started to work on an idea, give it all of your focus and attention. In the course of your career, you’re bound to have several ideas, and all of them might seem to be the “one”. But keep your composure and do things in a sequence.

2. You’ll Lower your Standards

Never lower your standards. Not in your personal life and certainly not in business.

As an entrepreneur, you should always find ways of improving your business and bringing it to the next level.

People that lower their standards once, can always lower them again. A continual lowering of standards will cause the quality of your offering to significantly decrease. Your loyal audience will only stick around for so long before moving on to a business that provides them with a better choice.

3. You Underprice your Work

Underpricing your work is something that even a lot of talented people end up doing. 

By underpricing your products without a good enough reason, you are communicating that your offering isn’t good enough.

If you’ve made sure that your products or services are of the highest quality, then you have no real reason of lowering your worth. 

By lowering your price once, your customers will expect that you’ll lower the prices once again. A notion like this can be deadly for your business. Your business will ultimately be pushed to a point where you cannot possibly lower your prices anymore, that’s when your customers will start to leave.

If you are still uncomfortable about raising your prices, try increasing them in increments. But remember to provide more value to your customers. If you are charging more for your products or services, your customers will expect to get something in return.

4. You set goals that aren’t right for your business

If you are setting goals that your business can easily achieve, you’re not doing it right.

You need to set goals that challenge your business. Not setting challenging goals makes your employees feel that they are stuck in the same place. With no growth potential, retaining employees will become a headache for you.

If you under set your goals, you won’t be able to see what your team is capable as a unit. If everyone on your team achieves their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) within two weeks, something is wrong.

You need to be confident in yourself, in your team, and in your business, and that you’ll be able to overcome the obstacles that come your way.

5. You are defensive when you get feedback

Feedback is a great thing for your business. You’re getting advice on how you can make your offerings better and raise your business to the next level.

Of course, you’ll need to be able to differentiate between honest feedback and feedback that is negative and has no value. Establish communication channels through social media, chatbots, live chat app, etc. To get feedback in bulk quantities.

There is no reason to be defensive when you are getting feedback. Coming up with excuses for your lackings or failures will prove to be a weight attached to your growth.

6. You are afraid of the future

The future is scary. Not knowing what’s going to happen in a few months from now is enough for some people to lose their composure.

A veteran entrepreneur will be able to have some insights on what the future would be like. Over time, entrepreneurs are able to develop skills that would help them limit the risks and uncertainty associated with their businesses.

You need to realize that entrepreneurship is a risky business. You’ll never be able to eliminate risk; you can only try to minimize risk.

A lack of confidence will only serve to increase the fear of the future and unknown. Entrepreneurs that don’t have mental fortitude are almost certain to fail. 

7. You miss out on once in a lifetime opportunity

Entrepreneurs that aren’t confident in themselves and their abilities often miss out on golden opportunities.

Having low self-esteem levels can put you in situations where you don’t think you’ll be able to make the most of a given opportunity.

Every moment is crucial for a business’s survival. Not being able to capitalize on each and every opportunity that presents itself to your business can seriously hinder your growth as an entrepreneur and as a business.

8. You are unable to control your emotions

Entrepreneurs go through a rollercoaster of emotions during their journey. No two days are the same and the challenges that each day presents are different. 

Entrepreneurs need to be mentally and emotionally stable, otherwise they won’t be able to deal with the obstacles that come their way. 

A lack of emotional stability is a sign that you lack confidence. Being confident in turbulent times is essential for your business’s survival.

Being in control of your emotions will allow you to think rationally in times of peril. You’ll be able to think of a logical solution to the problem at hand.

Entrepreneurs need to be proactive, and not reactive. If you are keeping up with everyone else, you’re already losing. By keeping your emotions in check, you’ll be able to take a more proactive approach to business and identify overlooked opportunities that you can capitalize on.

9. You look for outside attention

As an entrepreneur, you’re going to be rejected by several people. Ordinary people don’t have the same DNA as entrepreneurs. They usually don’t have the drive and ambition to make them into successful businesspersons.

If you’re someone that looks for outside attention, you’re going to have a difficult time as an entrepreneur. Your idea is either going to be a hit initially or a complete flop.

Entrepreneurs need to be confident that their idea is going to become a success. Not believing in your idea and listening to what other people have to say will only propel you to failure.

10. You are scared of pivoting

If your business is not giving the results it once used to, it might be time to pivot.

Pivoting means that you are changing your business models, even the fundamental parts of it.

Deciding if your business needs to pivot can be intimidating, but if you spend too long without making a decision, the only ones that would be at a loss would be your business.

Identifying if there is an issue with the industry you’re in or your business, is necessary if you want to pivot. You don’t pivot without a reason. You need facts and figures, as well as a solid reason to pivot.

Twitter, PayPal, Groupon, Starbucks, are a few examples of businesses that became successful after they pivoted.

Leaders need to be courageous and take decisions. If you lack confidence, you won’t be able to make a decision that could increase your bottom line significantly. 

Conclusion

A lack of confidence can reduce your chances of becoming successful as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs need to exhibit charisma and confidence. If you want to get clients and make conversions, you’ll need to believe in your idea first and make other people believe in your vision as well.

Confidence is something that can be learned over time. Practice being confident. 

Before going to a crucial meeting, try a practice run of the meeting with your team. If you are better prepared for an event, you’ll most likely outperform your own expectations.

There is a slim chance that you’ll be successful as an entrepreneur. You’ll need to be on top of your game and have serious amount of luck if you expect to be successful. Being confident in yourself and your business will make things easier for you on your journey of entrepreneurship.