3 Pieces Of Advice For Startup Founders

How to Get Your Swagger Back

Confidence is everything in a start-up. Here’s how to give yours a boost when it feels as if nothing is going your way.

A week ago, I opened my Sprouter Weekly email (always full of great articles and advice for start-ups), and the following advice from founder Sarah Prevette stared me in the face:

Confidence is everything in a startup.

Founders need to believe they can move mountains, take on their competition and defy the odds.

Unfortunately, over time, stress can take its toll and many entrepreneurs lose their backbone…

Remember who you are and reclaim your swagger.

It was exactly what I needed to read. Many years of trying to figure out a start-up idea can definitely tweak these monkey brains of ours into overthinking everything and losing faith in our vision.

Confidence is everything in a start-up. People invest in confident leaders–whether they are VCs, business partners, employees, or customers. But it’s a vicious cycle that we live in. Confidence leads to success, but success also leads to confidence. So when things are rocky, so is your confidence, and from there, it’s a downward spiral.

You must stop the spiral and get back on track. I’ve found several ways to get my swagger back after the biggest blows to my confidence, and none of them involve standing in front of a mirror repeating self-affirmations. Here are a few:

Get Out of the Office

This technique works for me every time. There is an inertia that comes with staring at the numbers daily, working on the same problems and bugs over and over, and revisiting arguments and conversations with your co-workers (who are staring at the numbers and working on the same bugs). But it’s not easy to leave the office, because it feels frivolous and uncertain.

Get over those feelings. It needs to be done, especially when you are the front person to an organization. I find the longer I’m away, the stronger I feel. It’s not a vacation, either. I get in front of peers and potential stakeholders and show them what I’m working on and get their feedback and ideas. There are all sorts of fringe benefits to getting away from the day to day.

Focus on What Works and Stop Tinkering With What Doesn’t

Think back to when you last felt your mojo rise and try to pinpoint what did it. For me, it has always been about presenting Buyosphere to audiences and groups of people. Even the negative feedback was full of positivity and hope. When I’m staring at a screen, I can’t get reactions. At some point, I agreed to cut back on presenting so I could focus more time in the office. That was a big mistake. I’m working on rectifying this now, and I’m definitely getting my mojo back.

Continue reading this article at INC.com after the break!