You Can Be Shy and Still Lead Your Niche Audience
Shyness is the one thing that can keep you from becoming the successful entrepreneur that you know you can be.
Some would-be entrepreneurs worry about their looks, their lack of knowledge or they’re simply uncomfortable putting themselves out there.
It’s true that if you let shyness get the best of your desires and keep you from even trying, you’ll never make it as a niche leader. But what if you just did it – afraid?
You can hide behind a pen name rather than your own and use text, screen capture videos and audio rather than putting your face out there and never let others know who you really are.
New marketers usually have trouble with shyness when putting themselves in a position to be judged by a target audience.
They overthink things like, “I don’t look good enough to make a video,” or, “I don’t know enough as other experts and I’ll sound stupid.”
Negative thinking like that is driven by your ego and a fear that others will think badly of you.
No one wants to be laughed at, made fun of or be rejected, but these fears can be overcome through practice and developing a thick skin toward online trolls.
Some steps you can take to overcome shyness include gaining mastery of the subject you plan to present.
When you know you have something of value to offer others, it’s not quite as difficult to overcome insecurity and put yourself out there.
Realize that not everyone will like you – after all, there are some people you don’t like and aren’t drawn to. Some personalities just don’t click with other personalities.
It’s not complicated, but it is a fact of life. Learn to shrug it off and move on. Don’t take on a difficult subject in the beginning.
Tackle something you know a lot about and are comfortable with. Put a new spin on a topic or present something in a different way than your competition has.
Eventually, you’ll be able to tackle the tasks that intimidate you. Practice getting over your socialization fears every day in situations where you can interact with others.
We live in a digital age where it’s easy to have no contact with anyone for a long period of time.
You see it every day among young people who would rather text than talk.
If you’re shy, you can communicate everything you want to say without having others ever see your face.
Another way to get over your shyness for leading a niche is to “fake it ‘til you make it.”
When you pretend you’re a socially comfortable guru who is in control of everything, you’ll eventually become that person.
By acting as if you don’t have a shy bone in your body, you’ll eventually believe it yourself.
This is an especially good way to present yourself if you’re not usually a shy person around others, but have become shy in pursuing the role of an Internet entrepreneur.
Understand that shyness is normal and that your audience isn’t there to judge you, but are there for guidance.
It’s the one tip that can help you overcome your shyness more than any other – quit thinking about yourself – no one else is – they’re too focused on their own needs.
Never Again Refer to Yourself as a Stupid Marketer
Stupid is a word that abusers often use to put down their targets and make them feel inferior.
This is a word we often use to put ourselves down when we feel that we’re not doing something right or when we encounter an obstacle in our entrepreneurial efforts.
You don’t have to say the word out loud to make it degrading to yourself.
All you have to do is think it and you’re likely to believe it and give up on whatever you were striving for.
The word comes up so much in the minds of newbie marketers with so much left to learn.
You may call yourself stupid if you’re struggling to learn a specific area of internet marketing and it seems so complicated that you think you’ll never get it.
What you should be thinking is that you haven’t mastered it yet.
It’s difficult to keep those negative thoughts from throwing us a curve ball, but if you do it enough, it will begin to be the norm in your thought process.
Along with the word stupid that you call yourself, you’re likely to pair it with lots of complaints, justifications and excuses.
For example, I can’t learn this complicated computer stuff because I’m too old. Or, I’ll never be a successful marketer because I don’t have time to learn.
Excuses like those have kept many potentially successful marketers from even trying.
There’s always a certain amount of frustration when you’re attempting to learn something new.
And internet marketing can be daunting if you look at the entire picture of what you need to learn to become successful.
That’s why experienced marketers will tell you to begin slowly with something that can be easily learned and implemented.
Give yourself time to level up and advance your knowledge with this business.
Thinking of yourself as stupid is defeating.
Stupid is a label that gets in your way of success and it also prevents you from learning something that might be the catalyst to your success.
It makes you believe that you’re not capable of learning. Yes, there are stupid people in the world, but the difference is that they don’t know they’re stupid.
They don’t aspire to try anything new and they don’t ask questions about how they can succeed.
What you’re faced with is negative self-talk about why you can’t do something quick enough.
It’s an attitude about yourself and what you’re trying to achieve that needs to be obliterated from your mind so you can get on with the task of making your business a success.
The attitude that you should nurture is that you’re willing to try.
So you don’t know much about computers – instead of saying you’re too dumb, say you just haven’t mastered it yet.
Make an action plan and give the process time while you make the effort to learn one step at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed with taking on too much all at once.
There’s a lot to absorb, and it will take awhile to become an expert.
Understand That Fear Is a Normal Part of Being a Successful Entrepreneur
It’s normal to be nervous and uneasy when you try anything new – a new relationship, job, residence, hair style and more.
It may be especially difficult to picture yourself as a successful Internet entrepreneur if you’re a newbie at the process.
The competition alone is enough to make you fearful.
Branching out – gathering affiliates and customers, making videos and hosting podcasts can all be scary before you actually do it.
All of these fears are unsettling, but if you know how, you can use them to your benefit and excel from the beginning.
One fear that all successful entrepreneurs have faced at one point is fear of failure. This fear can damage your plans for the future and destroy your vision of success.
But these same successful entrepreneurs learned how to use failure to their benefit. There’s so much you can learn from failures to help you reach your goals.
Many studies have been conducted comparing successful people to those who aren’t.
One finding indicated that those who became successful and those who gave up on their dreams had about the same amount of setbacks while trying to reach their goals.
The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that those who did realize success didn’t let any failures convince them that they couldn’t eventually succeed.
They learned from their mistakes and applied those lessons to reach their future goals.
When you begin to recognize failures as learning experiences, you’ll see them as gifts rather than a sign of weakness or stupidity.
You may learn from a failure that you should change your approach – how you do things.
Positive changes don’t mean that you failed and had to change – but that you learned how to do something better.
Every career path presents new things to learn and for some, it can be overwhelming. Take it step-by-step and don’t move on until you’re prepared and ready.
Rather than looking too far up the ladder and becoming overwhelmed, look at each rung on the ladder and enjoy each step of the way as you master a new aspect of your business.
Analyze your fear of failure and understand why you’re afraid.
There may be an issue at stake – such as making enough money to have financial security or thinking if you don’t succeed, you’ll be the laughing stock of your friends and family.
When you know and understand your fears, you’ll be better able to work through them. You may find that these fears are closely linked to self-esteem or self-image.
One of the best and most helpful things you can do when you feel self-doubt creeping into your thought process is to take action.
Focusing on the task at hand will redirect your thoughts to a more positive and productive path.
You’ll be surprised at all you’ve learned and accomplished when you learn to control your thought process and use fear to your advantage – and see it as an exhilarating and motivational catalyst to help you succeed.
Excessive Worry Drains Your Success
When people worry, it’s mostly about unfounded future events.
Worrying about the failure of your business, not being able to meet challenges and worries about things you can’t control can negatively impact your business success.
You can become so consumed with worry that you can’t think past it to do the job you need do to do in order to achieve success.
When you find yourself worrying excessively about your finances or something else, you have to find a way to shift your focus and get the worry out of your mind.
Focusing on something more productive – like work – is a good way to ease your anxiety.
Helping others is another way to forget about yourself and gather more self-confidence, too.
When you’re a marketer, helping others with their niche needs should be a top priority when building your business.
Customers will turn to your competitors if they see that you’re only in it for yourself and offer nothing that will truly help with their problems.
Another way that worry can have a huge negative impact on your life is by interrupting your sleep.
If you’re sleepy during the day, it’s almost impossible to create anything worthwhile.
Your mind needs to be fresh and active if you’re going to cope with the challenges that marketing brings. Worry can also feed your fear of failure.
The possibility of failure often consumes people so much that they can’t focus on work. If it isn’t controlled, the possibility will become a reality in time.
Of course, all of us are going to fail at times.
Whether it’s failing to meet a challenge at work or failing at some part of your personal life, failure in some form is inevitable.
Those who conquer failure are those who look at each one as a lesson learned.
Learning from failures and mistakes can help you push worry to the side and get on with your dreams of success.
Wallowing in self-pity because you’re worried you will fail or aren’t good enough can only keep you down – maybe for good.
One way to turn your focus from negative to positive thinking and get rid of the worry that keeps you stagnate is to meditate.
Yoga and deep breathing exercises are great methods to eliminate anxiety.
Or, take a brisk walk or play with your dog – something enjoyable that will turn your focus to something else.
Another method to calm your nerves is to keep a journal. When you feel anxious or worried about something, write down what you’re feeling and how it’s affecting you.
No need for perfect punctuation or grammar. Just get it on paper and out of your head.
If excessive worry is keeping you from the success you want, try various methods of relieving your stress so that you can get back to focusing on work that leads to financial stability and a better life overall!
It’s Okay to Be Confused If You Learn How to Seek the Right Answers
Feeling confused is something many newbie entrepreneurs go through when trying to launch their online business. Some simply give up and walk away.
Others may spin their wheels trying to find ways around the issue and avoid it altogether.
You have to find people or documentation that you can learn from that won’t make you even more confused.
Some teachers in this industry don’t know how to teach properly. You ask them what time it is and they tell you how to build a watch.
Maybe that’s a good thing to know, but you’re not ready for that yet.
It’s like asking someone how to build a blog and they’re jumping ahead to paid traffic techniques, assuming you already know about blog building.
People have different ways of learning – it’s certainly not a one size fits all approach.
But some newbies simply download a product from a random stranger quickly and find themselves frustrated and confused by the lessons.
That’s because they didn’t take time to find the right fit for their learning needs.
You’ll find lessons that appeal to you for a variety of reasons – such as you enjoy the presenter’s personality, or you prefer the media format they’re teaching in.
In marketing, that could be choosing text, audio or video – whichever suits your learning style. Your teacher also has to have the right attitude for you to learn from.
You want someone responsive to your questions. You may learn lessons better if the instructions are short and sweet rather than wordy and deep.
Everyone experiences confusion, but you have to learn how to seek the answers you’re looking for so that you understand and feel more comfortable.
Courage and curiosity are the best ingredients for your online success.
During the first phase of your efforts, you’ll likely connect with many inspiring people in forums and on social networks and they can help answer many questions to clear up your confusion.
As you continue building your own business, it will become clear to you which leaders you might choose to learn more in-depth lessons from through paid courses and coaching.
Some entrepreneurs can succeed without the help of anyone offering answers, but that could slow your progress and cause you to make wrong decisions you may regret on down the road.
Before you shell out money for a paid product, spend some time carefully absorbing their free lessons and communications to see if you find them trustworthy and ethical.
Consider their teaching style and whether or not it is in line with how you like to learn.
Seeking the correct answers to confusion about certain phases of your business means that you’re making progress.
Every marketer you admire began just like you – from square one.
On Days That You’re Unfocused, Prioritize Effectively
It happens to the best of us – some days you just can’t focus on work no matter how hard you try.
It’s frustrating when you flounder all day trying to pick up the pieces of a project you’ve started but your mind just won’t cooperate.
These unplanned times can be very useful and productive if you know how to prioritize.
When you know that you’re not going to be able to stick to the plan you had for the day, be enthused about trying something different.
Today may be a good time to leave creative endeavors such as sales copy or content creation and focus on the nuts and bolts of your business.
Brainstorming sessions are not only great for business, but can redirect your focus on something new and innovative.
You can revisit the brainstorming ideas you come up with in more depth later when your thoughts are clear.
Another way to get through the day when your mind is working against you is to spend some time learning about things pertaining to your business or reading motivational material that will encourage you and help you restart your creativity.
When you have trouble focusing, it may be that clutter is the culprit. Just as you can have a cluttered room – you can also have a cluttered mind.
Clearing your mind completely is a way to be able to return and focus on the task at hand.
Meditation is one way to clear your mind – or use whatever method works for you.
Exercise is also a great way to completely empty your mind of all the stuff floating around and interrupting your focusing power.
When you have tasks floating around in your head or the phone rings or you hear the ping of a new email, it’s difficult to get into the creative process you need at the time.
You may find yourself unable to remember things, filter important information or go between tasks easily.
The digital world we now live in has made it almost impossible to think as we used to.
Prioritizing your tasks can give you the freedom you need to concentrate on one thing at a time.
Gather everything around you that you need to complete a certain task and get rid of the extraneous stuff. If you have a cluttered brain, it’s possible you have a cluttered work space.
Cluttered items in your surroundings can cause a negative impact on the way you receive and process information and the power you have to focus on one thing at a time.
This clutter can cause your attention to falter and you then begin to have anxiety and stress about being able to focus on what you need to.
Your performance wains and you end up being very unproductive. Everyone has a different tolerance level when it comes to clutter around them.
Many successful entrepreneurs are able to focus when they barely have room for another sheet of paper on their desks.
Others may freak out if they see a pencil out of order.
Cleaning off your desk may also be a way of getting the clutter out of your mind so you can prioritize your tasks, return to work and refocus on your business success.
