Self-doubt never looked good one anyone and the same goes for the direct selling industry. Confidence is a vital building block for a successful sales career and only if you embrace it in its entirety will you go places in your career. All you need is proper guidance, hard work and the right team.

Having said that, we all know that starting a new venture or even staying on in a career for long can be a terrifying and scary experience. There are many statistics out there about how hard entrepreneurs crash and burn, but the key is to not focus on these and instead work on building up your confidence. It is not uncommon to find a successful entrepreneur who doesn't experience feelings of self-doubt or low confidence but what makes them tick is that they don’t let these feelings take over and instead keep going ahead.

Here are four steps that can get you closer to a confidence boost at your workplace:

1. Find a mentor: Start off by finding the right mentor who pushes you to do better. It is true that nothing builds confidence better than an experienced person who shows you the game and encourages you to move farther along. The perfect mentor is one who can act as a mirror and gets you to believe in yourself. As they say, knowledge breeds confidence, so knowing where you stand will ensure you focus your energy more effectively and on things that matter. In addition, the mentor can always help educate you on the industry and give you tips and tricks on surviving it. Many don’t realise the importance of having a mentor in their career and it is vital you do so as it will take you far ahead in the game. 

2. Celebrate the small wins and the big victories: A classic trademark of a confident person is that he/she will constantly challenge themselves and compete even when their efforts yield small victories or results that aren’t very significant. But focussing on these wins is extremely important when considering reward and motivation. They not only give you a much-needed confidence boost, but also encourage you to strive for bigger victories. So, do this not only for yourself but make it a habit that you help inculcate in all your team members. For example, a new member in your team comes up with a great idea to market a product. Ensure you praise him in person and acknowledge his achievements in front of the rest of the team as well.

3. Step out of your comfort zone: For those who might be starting off afresh, you need to know that a lot of what you will be doing as an entrepreneur in direct selling might be new ground for you. Thus, decision making and follow-through will only strengthen and expand your confidence. What you need to do is get a jumpstart on that by trying something new as often as you can and not shying away from new opportunities. Start with small projects and build on them. And if you have been in the industry, it is all the more important to constantly strive to get out of your comfort zone to get bigger and better results.

4. Learn, learn, learn: This needs to be a continuous process. And remember, not just blindly learning but learning what is relevant for you and your line of work. As Abdo Riani suggests, you need to start off by identifying the areas you need to learn more about and then focus on reading or watching videos from two to three of the top experts in your industry. He writes on bplans.com: ‘It is true that most business decisions cannot wait weeks or even days, however, investing as little as a couple of minutes to read a book chapter, articles or even attend an online course or lecture, can tremendously improve decision making, boost confidence and most importantly, make sense of the acquired knowledge’. Ultimately, entrepreneurial confidence in direct selling is all about making calculated choices and being proactive about reducing risk. Remember that taking small steps — finding a mentor, reading a book on innovation in your industry, onboarding a new client, etc. can all have a big impact over time.

Give these four ways to boost your entrepreneurial confidence a try and we can assure you that you won’t be disappointed.