Do you know someone that started out in business with more confidence than money?
Let’s try a quick mini quiz. In your opinion, what resource is most helpful for launching a new business:
- A good reputation for keeping your word
- The ability to establish rapport
- The knack of inspiring in others to feel as confident as you about your plans
- A fortune in the bank
No matter what the odds or obstacles, when you act as if it were impossible to fail, you inspire others to believe that too. I recently read the book, How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People by Les Giblin. It’s an old, forgotten book, but has some timeless gems. One interesting story caught my attention. Giblin writes that the first really first-class hotel Conrad Hilton ever owned was begun with less than $50,000 of his own money. When his mother came upon him drawing plans and asked what he was doing, he told her he was planning a really big hotel. “Where will the money come from,” she asked.
“In here,” Said Hilton, tapping his head. By exhausting every possible source, he succeeded in raising about half-a-million dollars in capital. But when architects gave him an estimate for the hotel he wanted build, they said it would cost at least one million dollars. Without hesitation, he said, “Draw up the plans.”
“Connie can do it”
Hilton then actually began building the hotel, without having the slightest idea where the money was going to come from to finish it. But because h himself not only talked of building a million dollar hotel – but actually acted as if he meant to do it – other people became convinced that “Connie can do it” and invested their money.
Just as you can make others enthusiastic by being enthusiastic, you can make others have confidence in you and in your proposition – by acting confidently.
Confidence puts magnetism in your personality.
People don’t appreciate doubters, but instinctively like the person who knows what he wants and acts as if he expects to get it.
A confident style is one of the most important things you can do to being interesting and dynamic. This doesn’t mean that you have to become someone you’re not. Branding expert and author Sally Hogshead says, “To become more successful, you don’t have to change who you are. You have to become more of who you are.”
Many people worry about what other people will think of them. But few realize that the world forms its opinion of us, largely from the opinion we have of ourselves.
Confidence conveys credibility and professionalism. If you believe in yourself and act as if you believe in yourself, others will believe in you too.