Building Amazing Cities
By JIM HUNT Author, Speaker, Consultant with the Harrison County News and Journal
Two people reached out to me recently for business advice, and both conversations landed in the same place faster than I expected. Not marketing tactics. Not pricing. Not “the perfect pitch.”
The obstacle was simpler and heavier, poor self-image and low self-esteem, the quiet kind that keeps good people from taking the next step.
The first call was with a very sharp young lady who wants to market her services to cities in West Virginia. She had done her homework. She asked smart questions. She was prepared. But the longer we talked, the more I could tell she was fighting something that had nothing to do with strategy and everything to do with confidence.
At one point, I said, “The woman I see on this Zoom screen has all the skills to be successful, but she just doesn’t seem to think she can.”
That comment landed, and I did not say it to flatter her. I said it because I have seen this a hundred times. A person can have the work ethic, the ability, the temperament, and the character to win, and still lose the battle before it begins because they do not believe they are allowed to succeed.
The second conversation was with a young man who has a business that is struggling. He was in a funk, and I could hear it in his voice. He had plenty of ideas, but they were all colliding at once. He was stuck in a mental loop, running the same worries over and over until they sounded like truth. I told him to be careful about cycling ideas in his own head. When you are right up against the bark, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Sometimes you need a second set of eyes, not because you are weak, but because you are human.
In both cases, I offered the same thing. “Keep in touch. If you need a critical eye, I can help you move forward.” Not because I have all the answers, but because I know what it means to feel alone inside your own business.
Their calls reminded me of a season in my own work when things slowed down. The business was still grossing a decent amount of revenue, but the overhead was harder to fund. The numbers started to feel like a threat instead of a scoreboard. In my head, the situation seemed doomed, even though the reality was more complicated.
Looking back, one of my biggest regrets is that I did not reach out for advice from a trusted person sooner. Pride has a funny way of disguising itself as independence. You tell yourself you will figure it out. You tell yourself you do not want to bother anyone. You tell yourself you are supposed to be the one with the answers.
But the truth is, successful people are not the ones who never doubt. They are the ones who do not let doubt do the driving.
Henry Ford supposedly said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” I have come to believe that is true in business and in life. Confidence does not guarantee success, but a lack of confidence makes success much harder to reach.
And here is another line I like, attributed to Marianne Williamson: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” Even if you do not agree with every word, you can recognize the idea. Many people are not afraid of failing. They are afraid of what it might require to actually win.
So here is my gentle advice, for the young lady on Zoom, for the young man in a funk, and for anyone reading this who is quietly wrestling with the same thing.
Believe in yourself enough to ask for help. Believe in yourself enough to take the next step, even if your confidence is not perfect. And believe in yourself enough to stop treating your doubts like they are facts. Sometimes the most important business decision you make is deciding that you are capable of building the life you say you want.