“I was really happy being a housewife,” says Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies. “I was proud to be there for my husband, but it did not necessarily make me feel great.” Longing for something more out of life than being just a mother and a wife, Fields turned her lifelong passion for baking into a multi-million dollar enterprise that has continued to attract a loyal following throughout the U.S. She did not have a business degree or the support from her family, but what Fields did have was belief in herself.

“[My husband] immediately said, ‘Oh, sweetie, that is such a stupid idea.’ And then my mom and dad pipe up and say, ‘You don’t have any business going into the cookie business. The only thing I had was this recipe, and with that recipe was a dream. And those were the only things that I had to build my business: a recipe and a dream. And there was no way, no way, I wasn’t going to see this dream through. And, so, my journey began. I made the decision, and I was going to see it through. The most important thing is for you to believe in what you are doing. Absolutely know there are people out there who want to say yes.”

As an entrepreneur you have to do something different to succeed. If you sell the same product in a competitive market as everyone and are doing the same marketing and have the same price it will be almost impossible to stand out. Being different goes hand in hand with being an entrepreneur so people are bound to criticize you for your ideas.

You may not have the support of your family or friends. You may not have anyone around you who believes in your ideas. The important thing is to believe in yourself. Here are 3 tips to help you believe in yourself:

1) Focus on the positives. It’s easy to see the negatives around you when starting a business. You will be faced with rejection on a daily basis and have people judging and questioning your decisions. Keep an eye towards the positives that are going on with your business. Try to remember what is going right and how you can expand it instead of bringing yourself down with the negatives.

2) Visualize your success. Here’s a cool tip to try. On a daily basis take 5 minutes to think about what your company will look like. Envision your success and see yourself getting there. If you do this every day for 5 minutes you will gradually see an increase in self-confidence and the belief that you are doing the right thing.

3) Find the market pain. Most businesses are successful because they are solving a big pain that their customers are facing. What is the biggest pain that your potential customers are facing? Many companies have to change their products or services around a couple of times before they hit it big with their business. Have you identified a real market pain or can you alter your offering so you can better serve your customers?

Every entrepreneur will face rejection and have close friends and family who don’t believe in their ideas. The successful ones, like Debbi Fields, are the ones who can overcome the negatives and believe in themselves enough to continue until they break through.

Evan Carmichael

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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