Building a successful creative business requires you to be confident in sharing your expertise.

One of the ways in which we sabotage ourselves is by not having confidence in what we know or do. It’s the number one reason that we don’t put ourselves out there and promote our own products and services as easily as we promote for others. If this sounds like you (and I know for sure it sounds like me), there are ways you can build your confidence while you’re building up your expertise in your niche.

Here are 3 ways you can become more confident in your expertise:

Keep a Journal of Your Accomplishments

Take the time to write down your business accomplishments over the past year, five years, and even ten years so that you can remind yourself of how far you’ve come. Making this a daily habit can do wonders for your confidence and give you ideas that you can share with your audience.

Never Stop Learning

One thing is for certain when you’re running a creative business… things are always changing! Just look at the explosion of AI Tools in 2023 to see how much creativity on the internet has been changed because of them. Whether you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing isn’t really relevant here. The point is that if you’re not taking time to at least learn about these types of tools and other changes to your chosen niche, then you’re not going to have the confidence to keep teaching and sharing because your methods will not necessarily be relevant to what your audience is wanting to learn next.

You don’t have to be miles ahead of your audience, but you do have to at least stay one step ahead of them. And continuously learning about new things for your niche will help you preserve your status as an expert.

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

Sometimes sharing your expertise requires stepping outside your comfort zone. Especially when you’re not always comfortable putting yourself and your products out there. This is one of those times when small steps matter. And keeping track of them (see above) is a huge exercise in building your confidence to keep putting yourself out there, and going just one step bigger each time.

So what happens if you’re not confident in your own expertise and you don’t put yourself out there? I can tell you from experience that every time you let fear stop you from promoting yourself and your products, that fear grows.  And eventually you’ll be left behind by your competitors because they’re willing to do the things it takes to promote their own products and services while you’re not.

Working a little every day to become more confident in your expertise and being willing to share it with others will go a long way to building up your success, whether you’re after a bigger email list or more sales, and it will start to come naturally after awhile.

Do I still get scared when I have to talk to someone new? You bet! But it’s become a lot easier over the years, and most of the time I don’t hesitate to share knowledge and promote my own stuff. I want that for you too.