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Building Businesses: The Priority of Courage Over Confidence · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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  Hello and welcome to the show. People often talk about having
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  confidence in business and a couple of days ago it got me
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  wondering, is it confidence that they're actually talking about
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  or is it courage? What does confidence mean?
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  What does courage mean? What is the difference between
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  the two? Is there any overlap?
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  And what do you need in business, especially those
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  people who are starting on business fresh?
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  So that's what we're going to tackle today.
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  Now let's define courage. And remember on this podcast,
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  whenever I'm defining anything, I'm just trying to use a simple
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  everyday definition that every common man, every common woman
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  can understand. So I'm not trying to be
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  technically precise. So do not be bothered if you
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  don't find whatever definitions I give in any dictionary or in
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  any business book. I'm just trying to make things
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  simple so that we can understand and so that we can apply.
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  Now courage. Courage is just the response to
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  the feeling that I am scared and we all face that in every single
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  aspect of our life. You know, whether you're getting
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  married, having children, starting a business, you lose a
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  loved 1, whatever it is, we all get to that point of I'm scared.
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  I don't know what to do next. But most people are going to
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  find courage because we're going to find a reason to go ahead.
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  Maybe because at the end of the Crucible that we're passing
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  through, we're going to achieve some worthy goals, we're going
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  to get some good returns, especially if this is a business
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  endeavour. Or maybe we're going to grow
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  throughout the whole process. So whenever people are in that
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  situation of, oh, I'm scared, but they still find a reason to
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  go ahead regardless, that is courage.
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  In fact, it's something I've had to teach my boys because they
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  don't quite get what courage means, because my older son in
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  particular, whenever he hears courage, what he thinks is
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  fearless. And so I have to explain to him
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  that no, being courage and being fearless are not the same thing.
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  In fact, for people who lack the emotion of fear, it actually is
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  a disease. And then my son asked me, how
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  come we don't know any of the people who are fearless?
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  And I say, OK, very good. This is the reason why it is a
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  disease, because people who are born without fear, they actually
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  die very young because they go and do a whole bunch of stupid
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  stuff. Because the reason why we have
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  fear is fear preserves us and it stops us from going ahead,
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  making a fool of ourselves, killing ourselves, doing
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  something dangerous. So fear serves a very useful, it
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  has a very useful value. So it's not a problem that you
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  have fear. In fact, it is healthy and it is
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  good that you have fear because if you have fear, it's going to
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  keep you alive and it's going to stop you from making mistakes.
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  So being courage, sorry, being courageous is not the same thing
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  as being fearless. So courage just acknowledges the
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  fact that yes, I am scared, but I have to go on anyway.
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  If you're running a business, you have to go on anyway even
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  though you're scared. So you're negotiating something.
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  Maybe you're used to dealing with 10s of thousands, hundreds
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  of thousands. This is the first time that
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  you're negotiating in the millions.
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  You have to get to that point eventually.
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  So I need to find reasons to go ahead.
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  That is what courage is. Now confidence, on the other
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  hand, confidence means I can do this.
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  Confidence comes from competence and confidence comes from doing.
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  Which is why on the podcast I keep on stressing the fact that
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  it's not just enough that you should tell somebody to go and
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  be confident and then fake it till you make it.
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  Like no, what you're asking is unrealistic.
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  If the person has not done anything, there is no reason for
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  the person to be confident. Because confidence means I trust
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  my abilities. If you're saying I trust my
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  abilities, it means you must have done the damn thing in the
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  1st place. So this whole fake it, you make
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  it Lamba. You guys just please forget that
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  thing. Don't fake confidence.
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  If you haven't done it, you have not done it.
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  What you need is courage now. OK, I'm feeling a little scared,
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  but shy. Let me go ahead.
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  This might be worthwhile. The returns might be worth it.
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  I might grow through the process.
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  What you need is courage. Stop trying to fake confidence.
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  If you're trying to fake confidence, you are lying.
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  Because confidence means I trust my abilities.
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  I trust my abilities means I can do this.
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  It means I have done this. So that is the reason why some
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  of us can show up confidently on a podcast, or show up
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  confidently live speaking, or show up confidently at a
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  coaching session or show up confidently to try and help a
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  client solve a problem. It's not because I'm faking
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  something till I make it. It is because I have done this.
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  That is confidence. I trust my abilities because I
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  have done this in the past. Confidence comes from competence
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  and confidence comes from doing the damn thing.
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  So start small. OK this is what I want to do.
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  Before I go and throw 500,000 in to do something.
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  Can I throw 20 K 1st and validate the idea and see that
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  this thing will work? Oh oh after all the thing
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  worked. OK, next time maybe I can do 40K
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  and then see what happens. Oh, it worked at 40K.
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  OK, no problem. Maybe I can try 120 K.
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  Confidence comes from competence.
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  It comes from doing. You're getting bored because you
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  trust yourself and your abilities.
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  You see that? I did it at stage A and I did it
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  at stage B. I'm confident it's going to work
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  at stage C. So courage, confidence, not the
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  same thing. Sometimes there's some overlap,
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  but a lot of times when people are talking about this whole
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  fake it to your make it or go ahead and be confident, you are
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  asking someone to go out and exercise the wrong thing.
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  Let's be clear about our terms now, which do we need?
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  Do we need courage or do we need confidence, especially when
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  we're starting out in business. The answer is we need both
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  because we're dealing with unknown and we're dealing with
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  unforeseens and we're going to have fears.
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  So whether he's trying to figure out the ideal customer profile,
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  who should we be chasing after, who are the best customers we
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  should be running after? What is the most profitable
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  market segment? What selling framework should we
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  use? What marketing strategy should
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  we use? What advertising channels and
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  sales channels should we try out?
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  Lots of decisions need to be made.
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  We're dealing with unknowns. We're dealing with off, unseen,
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  unforeseen. So there will be fear.
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  However, even though we need both, confidence comes first.
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  Because in the early days, I'm scared.
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  I've not done this before. I don't know what will work.
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  I don't know which ways up from down or left, from right.
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  But let me find reason to go ahead because we might achieve a
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  worthwhile goal, the returns might be good, or I might grow
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  as a person throughout all of this.
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  So we need both, but courage comes first.
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  So many times when people say, because I see this thing on
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  LinkedIn, especially when women are talking business things back
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  and forth, Sorry, I'm not trying to pick on women.
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  I'm just being honest here. Somebody will say I need more
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  confidence. No, you do not need more
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  confidence. If you have not done the damn
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  thing, you have not done the thing.
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  Don't go on manufacture confidence.
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  What I actually mean is I need more courage because this is new
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  territory. This is uncharted territory for
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  me. I don't know what lies around
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  the corner. So let me find courage.
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  It might be a worthy goal. The returns might be good.
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  I might grow through all this. So let me take small steps, OK?
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  I don't know what's at the end, but I can see this step and I
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  can see the next step. You take another step, all these
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  small victories that you get from exercising courage is what
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  will lead to confidence. So they eventually can present
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  yourself and you can be a boss guy or be a bad ass boss chick
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  because you found courage and took a small step.
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  When you took the small step and things worked out, you validated
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  the opportunity. You validated your belief in
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  yourself and then the confidence came.
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  So need no need to fake anything till you make it.
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  Faking it till you make it is telling lies.
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  Be of courage and be bold. Try and figure out the next step
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  and then take the small step. As you begin to walk 1234, the
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  confidence will come. Stop trying to manufacture
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  confidence. So in summary, what I'm trying
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  to say is don't worry if you don't feel confident.
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  It's OK. We all go through it.
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  In fact, I'm going through some of those issues right now.
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  Don't worry if you don't feel confident, just muster courage
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  and you'll be fine. If you muster small courage, you
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  can figure out the next step and you move forward.
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  Everything works good. You're on the path to building
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  confidence because as it works, you will trust your ability.
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  You will know that you are confident.
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  You'll be bold. But The thing is, when it
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  doesn't work, it is not a loss. At least now you will know from
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  experience that this thing that I tried, no BM is not pure.
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  The thing did not work. Or you know that, OK, I need to
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  go and figure out a way to make this thing work.
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  So summary, that's just all I wanted to tackle today.
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  What is courage? What is confidence?
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  Courage just means I'm scared. But I'm going to find a reason
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  to go ahead. It's absolutely necessary.
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  Courage doesn't mean fearlessness.
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  If you're fearless, you will lose plenty of money and you
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  will lose your lives, which is one of the reasons why people
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  who are born with that genetic defect where they have No Fear,
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  they all die young. Then confidence just means I can
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  do this. I trust my abilities.
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  I trust my abilities means I did it in the past.
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  So I have reason to believe that I will do it again.
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  So start small, get some easy wins, have the right
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  expectations. You will start building the
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  confidence. You need both of it because
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  we're dealing with unforeseens and unknowns.
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  However, courage comes first. As you do, the confidence will
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  follow later. Stop faking it till you make it.
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  Find courage and start making it small, small, small.
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  The courage will come eventually.
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  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
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  If you'd like to connect with me for a strategy session, a
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  business audit, or you have some questions you'd like me to
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  answer, the phone number is 08064662140.
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  The country code is +234. For those of you who are not
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  Nigerian, then also connect with me on LinkedIn.
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  The name to look for is Tava Shima IED.
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  I have a YouTube channel of the same name.
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  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
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  I'll catch you guys with the next episode.