Confidence is earned

Confidence is not the knowledge that things will work out every time.

Confidence is the knowledge that when things don’t work out, it’s still going to be ok.

Confidence cannot be faked. The look of confidence can be acted, maybe for a few moments, and maybe for an unsuspecting audience. But true confidence cannot be faked.

Confidence is earned, through many dust ups and the dust-offs thereafter.

When I started my career, I tried to fake confidence. But I didn’t really have it. Because I wasn’t sure that if things didn’t work out, that it would be ok. I assured my clients my plans would work, and held my poker face. Some saw through it, some didn’t. Over the years, I succeeded a few times. I failed a few more times. Some clients dropped me, others kept me.

The biggest difference between the early days of my career, and now, is that I have confidence. It’s not that I know more, or that I’m cooler, or way better to work with. It’s that I have more confidence. Because clients want to work with someone who is relaxed. The stress in my voice may have been imperceptible to the ear as I held my poker face–but the vibe I gave off wasn’t something many my clients wanted to keep around.

Now I can look my clients dead in the eye with a smile and say, “I don’t know if this will work, but I think it will. And if it doesn’t, we’ll try something else.”