I might seem confident in myself and my business… I’ve been learning that my confidence is based on something completely out of my control. I share my story to kick off The Candid Confidence Project!

“My inability to get my business to where I thought it would be by the end of the first year–or the second, or the third–had eroded my confidence and whatever bravado I had started with.

Long gone was the ‘Of course, I can do this.’ Replaced by, ‘Who am I kidding?'”

Jamie Varon made a big lifestyle change over the last few years and I wanted to know where she found the confidence to do life differently as a small business owner.

We talk about the year she spent living and working in France, how she’s redefined satisfaction for herself, and how she balances setting goals with finding peace in what already is. We also talk about the very real implications these changes have had on her business and professional success.

“Let me underscore this: Each segment of growth in my life and business has involved an element of being 100% sure that I’m going to break the thing that worked before. And, that I’m choosing to break it due to the audacity of striving.

As I’m writing this, we’re embarking on a brand expansion that I am absolutely certain will not only fail miserably but also take down my beloved empire.”

“For me, confidence is like energy. Its levels change but I have to be mindful of it not dropping too far. Awareness of the causes of and my reactions to a dip is key.

Too much chaos, not enough clarity is a big deal. If I can’t see the wood for the trees, my confidence gets frazzled. Add to that, I can spend a lot of time working alone with only my frazzled brain to help and it’s a downward spiral.”

“I also used to get so nervous before school that I’d need to lay down on the bathroom floor until I could get my breathing to normalize.

And a few times in my adult life, I’d passed out in the middle of relatively normal occurrences–once at the optometrist’s office, once during a site visit on a ranch, and once in a board meeting. Not life-threatening, but odd. And embarrassing.”

“I was so grateful for my followers, but I didn’t have the full financial support I needed, and it left me feeling very disappointed.

I knew that I missed the mark, because the momentum and enthusiasm of my business slowed down, and needed to start to take a look at my work from a different angle.”

Abby and Tara talk about how she ended up working for so little and what she needed to do to raise her prices. We dive into all the feelings that came up around raising her prices and discovering the real value of what she was offering.

“Confidence in vision does not always sustain the curveballs of leading and running a business. 8 years ago, I would not have understood the importance of this truth as much as I do today.

One of the biggest casualties as I look back at my falls and failures, was my self-confidence and self-trust. It also brought to light how my business vision was tied to validating my worthiness.”

Today my guest is Dr. Katie Linder and she’s the creator of the Radical Self-Trust Podcast Channel. Katie developed the Radical Self-Trust framework as a way of helping herself and her clients source a new level of trust and confidence in themselves so they can overcome any obstacle.

Katie and I talk about the self-doubt she struggled with initially while launching her business, how she balances the public persona of confidence with lingering self-doubt, and how showing up & sharing actually gives her confidence.

Victoria R. Clark is the founder and managing attorney of Clark Law in Washington, DC.

Victoria and I talk about why she decided to start her own law practice in the first place, how she became more confident talking about herself, and how she took a new approach to what she can control on a daily basis. We also chat about how aspects of the business have evolved as she’s gotten more confident in what she’s doing.

“If someone wants a McDonald’s-fast logo, they can find it. And they can find it for less than $100. In extreme cases, for less than $10.

You watch business owners left and right throwing their money away on ineffective strategies, brands, and websites. They hire people who follow simple formulas and churn out mediocre work to clients who don’t know any better. Brands and websites of entire industries start to look and sound the same.

This is where we’re at. And it opposes just about everything I know to be true about creating effective brands and websites.”

Jodi Brandon has more than 20 years’ experience in book publishing. Today, her passion is working as a book coach and editor for creative entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to serve their business with a book.

Jodi took 2 full years away from her business full-time to care for her mother. We talk about how she made the decision, the challenge of trying to keep up, how she felt when she started back in her business, and how she’s adjusted both her work and her mindset.

My problem wasn’t that my vision had changed. I wasn’t being specific enough in defining what I wanted.

When I dream of freedom, adventure, and self-determinism, it looks like taking a month off to hike Mount Blanc and tour the countryside.

My present-day reality looks a lot more like a stolen weekend in Asheville when I feel I can get away, or a few days tacked onto a business trip.