Blog 2

Confidence and self-promotion from the eyes of an entrepreneur.

Self-promotion can be difficult. This article will cover questions about my experience with self-promotion and a few things I’ve learned about confidence as an entrepreneur.  

How comfortable have you been/would you be in preparing a self-assessment in a professional context? 

I’m an incredibly observant person. When I was 20, I worked at Aldo shoes at Masonville Mall as an Assistant Store Manager. 

One day in the fall, a woman walked in and I sold her boots. Seven months later, (I repeat, seven months later!) I was at a networking event and I met that women. Immediately, I knew we had met before but I couldn’t place where. She denied ever meeting me. However, after an awkward series of events, I asked her if she bought size 8, brown leather boots from Aldo in the fall. She said yes. I responded with “I sold you those shoes”. Was it kind of weird that I remembered her and her shoe size? Yes. Was I impressed with my incredibly observant and strong memory? Yes.  

When it comes to a professional context, I feel pretty comfortable with preparing a self-assessment because I’m able to observe my behaviours and the behaviours of people around me well. I’m able to easily gauge my strengths and weaknesses, and critically compare my performance with my peers.  

Do you believe that your ability to self-promote would be affected by your level of confidence or the strategic incentives available? Why or why not? 

As an entrepreneur, I have learned the amazing skill of being able to self-promote. I didn’t learn this skill because I wanted too I learned it because I HAD to. As an entrepreneur, you have to be able to self-promote. 

Early-stage investors don’t invest in the business they invest in people. You need to be able to promote yourself, your skills and your dream to move your business forward. You have to learn how to believe in yourself, convey that belief and then follow through. 

I remember one time, we had a big client ask us for a huge request to sign the deal with them. It would be our biggest deal and client. Everything hung on this request. The problem was, that we did not have what they were asking for. We didn’t have the money, staff or skills to make it happen. It was a big problem. In a moment of total-entrepreneur-confidence, we said we had what they were asking for. They said that they would like to see it in two months and we said that wouldn’t be a problem. It was a big problem. Yet at the same time, it wasn’t a problem at all because we believed in our ability to pull of the request. We knew that we would need to move fast, strategically. We knew that the next two months would be long days and nights. We also knew that the outcome could change our lives. So regardless of if we had it at the time of the request, we would have it at the time of the meeting. And we did. And we got the deal.

I do believe that a person’s ability to self-promote can be affected by their level of confidence. Confidence comes to some people naturally. Confidence comes when you’ve completed a task over and over. Confidence also comes when you learn to believe in yourself.  

Why do you believe there is a self-promotion gender gap? What are your proposed solutions to this challenge?

Women are raised under the expectations of countless double standards. In business, the expectation is that if women don’t self-promote they’re not ambitious but if they do they’re bossy. Women are expected to be confident but if they are they are seen as pushy. With this in mind, women have to weigh more variables when self-promoting than men do. 

This makes it more difficult for them to feel confident and makes it difficult for them to compare themselves to their peers. 

It is so important that young professional women in their careers seek advice from mentors within the same field as them. This person should be a sounding board for all things business including wages. In addition, it important for people to be open about their wages with each other. I’m not saying tell everyone what you earn, but share your compensation with another woman and man in a similar position to yours so you can all benefit from what you learn from each other.  

Self-promotion can be difficult. However, it can also lead to opportunities a person would not have been able to achieve had they not believed in themselves.  

These two pictures are of me and my business partner from a business trip we took to Silicon Valley.

All pictures are my own.