Are you confident in what you’re doing? Don’t apologize.

Last week I wrote about singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Cat Ridgeway seizing the opportunity at the After Party for Podfest Multimedia Expo.  Without question, she certainly had every confidence in herself to get on-stage – unexpectedly – and perform for the packed crowd at Howl at the Moon.

While I was at the three-day event in Orlando, I heard (yawn) the “face for radio” expression used more than I care to remember.  It’s not original and it’s no longer funny.  In fact, it calls into question whether someone is trying to be funny and/or if maybe, unlike Cat Ridgeway, they lack confidence in themselves.

At that same event I heard someone presenting and an audience member asked how much they charge for their service.  It was noticeable how much the speaker had to explain first before finally getting around to stating the price.  It felt very much like an apologetic justification.  Again, it made it seem as though there wasn’t enough confidence in the service, so, ‘I’m sorry when I tell you that this is how much we charge.’

In the room for that same presentation were Rick and Nancy Monsipapa from Nail The Sale, my guests from “Now Hear This Entertainment” Episode 237.  They are sales trainers who talked on that episode about pursuing sales (sponsors) as an indie performer.  I wasn’t able to get to them quickly enough in Orlando to do a post-mortem on the talk that was just given.  Otherwise I know they too would’ve said, “I didn’t sense the confidence in the service when the question was asked about price.”

Two weeks before that I had been at an event in Sarasota where one of the speakers billed himself as “America’s top confidence coach.”  That’s how important confidence can be.

You can make the argument that confidence has a lot to do with whether you are an introvert or extrovert.  However, that only holds water up to a point.  You can’t use it as a crutch to excuse yourself from going after opportunities because (whether you say it out loud or not) you lack confidence.

If you’re a songwriter and lack confidence, submit your songs for review and get some feedback rather than being disappointed at where they’re going (or not going).  If you’re a singer but aren’t confident every time you are on stage and open your mouth, get connected with a vocal coach.  If you don’t feel strongly about your website or your promotional handouts, schedule an online session with me and let’s up your game so that you can be confident anytime someone looks at your presence on the Web or is on the receiving end of something you hand them.

Do a self-audit.  Have there been situations where you’ve said No because you can trace it back to lacking confidence?  Do you see a pattern where you routinely redirect situations because it ultimately is a result of not being confident in some aspect of your presentation?

If you’re not getting the results you want and think you should be getting, perhaps this is where the problem lies.  I’m confident in telling you that.

Where do you need help in feeling more strongly about something?  Get in touch to set up a time for us to talk.  Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable.  You can also talk about it with others – ask for referrals – in our Facebook group.