A 40-something women reflects back on her early career days and what she knows now about confidence and about starting a business in her 30s.
On starting out / first job:
“At first, you will feel like you are behind and don’t know enough. I felt insecure that I didn’t always know the right thing to say or do. But really it’s just an unfair comparison. As a 20-something you are looking at years of experience and not recognizing the value of that. I’m sitting there thinking these older women had some naturally made talent when really it was a skill that had been honed over decades.”
On starting up:
I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing all the time. You don’t know a thing and you have to trust in yourself that you’ll learn it and that you’ll pick it up. Whatever you can’t pick up, you hire someone to do. It’s not that complicated any of this stuff. That’s the great news.
On confidence..
“Give yourself a little bit of patience. People don’t give themselves enough room. We are so self-demanding and self-critical and you just have to realize that it doesn’t all come at once but it can come if you focus your energies on any direction, you will move in that direction.”