Having only been around running my own business for less than a year, I still wonder if I have made the right decision to start a company at my stage in life. After all, I have worked for someone else for the last 40 years.
Should I just go and get a real job. Am I rushing into things too quickly, are the risks too great, what happens if I fail, will the sun still rise tomorrow. I have friends who have gone through the same thing as I have and they always encourage me to keep going. Self-doubt is normal I know, but who wants to be a failure.
At every presentation I have given, at every workshop I have run, at every meeting I have been to, I am told that I am different and almost everyone agrees that they want to see more of what I do. There will always be a few that I can't engage with, that think I'm not very good, that don't want to hear what I have to say. As difficult as it is, I ignore their comments.
The other day I had to present in front of a group of lawyers, doctors, and social workers. Wow, what a tough gig. How do you engage with this crowd? Nothing different was my answer. Have faith that people want to know what you have to say. Sure, some aren't going to enjoy your presentation. You can't please everyone right. But the majority will like what you do because you are different.
We all suffer from a bit of navel gazing at times, lots of pondering as to whether we are doing the right thing or not. The important thing is to keep going. Why? Because you are different. We all are, and that is what makes us unique.
I have a few more gigs on the radar that I will be wondering the same thing. I have been engaged to talk to academics at a university. The very people who taught me things during my studies. I now know that not all in the room will enjoy my presentation but the majority will.
How do I know this, because I will find why I am different and use that to engage the audience. "Hands up who has talked to a murderer while he held a knife to another prisoners throat" I will say for my opening line. I doubt that a hand will be raised. Got you, my point of difference.
You may have similar roles to others, similar traits, similar looks, but you are unique. That is what you need to hang on to, to promote more of. You.