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Building Self Assurance

Written by: James Chan

Article Overview: How Ellen Thompson built self assurance and maintained confident when it mattered.

Building Self Assurance

By now, you have read enough of these lessons to know that entrepreneurs tend to love their autonomy, but are often dogged by insecurity.

Even so, I wasn~{!/~}t expecting when I went to visit Ellen Thompson, founder and CEO of a company called Know It All Inc., that we~{!/~}d be talking about how difficult, and important, it is to maintain your confidence.

Ellen has plenty to be confident about. Her product~{!*~}a software system that allows people to take tests of their computer and office skills anywhere in the world, over the internet, and be graded instantly~{!*~}is a winner. She has more than 2000 customers, including some of the world~{!/~}s largest and best-known companies.
She was only 22 when she started the company with a mere $7000 in savings. Six years later, she has turned down millions of dollars to sell it. She is the person countless startup entrepreneurs would like to become, and fast.

Ellen didn~{!/~}t set up her company to sell this product. Rather, while trying to develop a business to tutor users of popular software programs, she realized how useful such a product would be. She hired people to develop the program and make it work. Her education, which combined business and engineering, gave her an edge, she believes, in turning her good idea into a reality.

However, what she wanted to talk about, it turned out, was not her success, but rather the discipline required to maintain her confidence. Confidence is an asset that doesn~{!/~}t appear on the balance sheet, although Ellen is convinced that it is reflected in the bottom line.

Recently, she says, she sat in on another entrepreneur~{!/~}s presentation to a venture capital firm. The numbers on the charts he presented were much less impressive than those Ellen could present. But she found herself being drawn in, like the venture capitalists themselves, by the self-assurance with which the man made the presentation. The way he stood, the expression on his face, the sound of his voice all contributed to making his business plan seem less risky and more valuable.

~{!0~}I think that women are more prone to feeling insecure than men,~{!1~} she says. ~{!0~}Society gives us clues which make us feel that we are second-class citizens. Men look perfectly fine with gray hair, but a woman with gray hair is considered a washout. I don~{!/~}t look like a Barbie doll. I don~{!/~}t look like I~{!/~}ve jumped out of a page from Vogue or Mademoiselle.~{!1~}

Ellen admits that this is a familiar complaint, but she believes that for a female business owner, the anxieties produced by this double standard can have serious economic consequences.

~{!0~}When you have self-doubts, you can be walking into a loss,~{!1~} she says. ~{!0~}If you know your business is worth $10 million, but if you~{!/~}re worrying that you won~{!/~}t get that figure and ask for $5 million, then $5 million is what you~{!/~}ll get.~{!1~}

Ellen~{!/~}s ability to throw millions around like this, even in conversation, betrays a degree of confidence many entrepreneurs never achieve. She says that~{!/~}s because she works on her confidence continually.

~{!0~}Successful entrepreneurs have to have a well-developed sense of self,~{!1~} she says. And, she argues, it is not nearly enough to be intelligent. ~{!0~}It~{!/~}s like martial arts,~{!1~} she says. ~{!0~}There~{!/~}s no guarantee that because you~{!/~}re athletic, you~{!/~}ll make a good marital arts fighter. You have to practice every day to get good at it.~{!1~}

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Article Tags: autonomy, balance sheet, bottom line, ceo, confidence, discipline, education, entrepreneur, expression, insecurity, popular software, self assurance, six years, software programs, software system, thompson, tutor users, venture capital firm, venture capitalists



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