How to Feel More Confident as a Creative Business Owner
(Even When You're Not Sure What You're Doing)
Does this sound familiar?
"I'm not sure who I'm speaking to, or who my audience is."
"My offers don't feel quite me."
"I'm scared of being more visible in my marketing."
"I never know what to say when someone ask me 'So what do you do?'"
These are the exact type of things that my clients say to me each week. Amazing illustrators, skilled photographers, sensitive and insightful coaches — people who are deeply connected to their work, but also feeling stuck when it comes to being confident in their business.
The thing is, your lack of confidence has nothing to do with your ability or potential to be successful. Which is great news! However, lack of confidence seriously gets in the way of growing your business and having the life that you want.
So let's see what we can do about it :)
Here's what I've noticed after working with loads of creative business owners: there are two things happening simultaneously that fit feet into each other — lack of clarity and lack of confidence.
When you're not clear on exactly what you're offering, who you're serving, or how to speak about your work… it's no wonder you don't feel confident.
We find it hard to believe in what we don't see clearly.
And the truth is, with creative businesses, there are often a lot of unknowns.
What is confidence and why does it matter so much?
At the heart of it, confidence is simply self-belief. It’s the conviction and inner knowing that you can handle things and figure them out as you go. It’s not about having all the answers right now, but having deep trust in your ability to create and discover them as you need to.
Self-trust is essential for creative business owners and creatives in general. Because when we work with the unknown, it’s a bit like walking through a forest with a torch at night. You won’t be able to see everything around you; you’ll have to work it out as you go. It feels scary at times, but we each have to trust we can keep going in relative darkness, and trust we have enough to move forward.
The good news is, just like you developed your current creative skills through regular intentional practice, you can develop confidence and self-trust in a similar way.
Here’s a small example:
Finding confidence in what you DO know
Let’s say you’re currently in a mini confidence crisis. When we’re in these states our brains love to catastrophise and generalise. They will tell us all sorts of things, like “I don’t know anything!” “Nothing is clear to me!” and “I don’t know what I’m doing!”
Notice how absolute that language is. Notice how it encompasses everything.
And the thing is, although it will feel true—because it’s easier for our brain to cover everything with a generalisation—it’s not really true.
It’s not true that you don’t know anything.
It’s not true that nothing is clear to you.
But it’s up to us in these moments to find the breakthroughs of clarity.
It’s up to us to find the places and stepping stones where we DO know.
Even if most of it feels unclear, there will be patches of ground you can stand on, where there is clarity.
For example:
You do know certain aspects of your work light you up. What are they?
You do know certain problems that you’re really good at solving. What are they?
You do know the type of feedback you’ve received in the past. What has been some feedback that made you feel really good?
You do know that certain ideas, philosophies, or values guide your work. What are they?
When we start with what we do know, the picture becomes less fuzzy, the ground becomes more stable, and we gain the confidence that comes when we know what we’re doing.
It’s okay to start there — and move gently out towards.
Some practical tips to build your confidence as a creative business owner.
1) Document your wins (no matter how small)
Keep a list of positive feedback, successful projects, and moments where you have learned something in your business. Our brains are wired to focus on and look out for the negative. (It’s how we keep ourselves safe.) So we need to develop a practice and habit of looking at the positives and recording evidence of how much you’ve already achieved.
On difficult days, when you doubt your ability to do anything, go back to this list.
2) Speak about what you genuinely know; not what you think you ‘should’ know
When we’re running a business, we are hyper-aware of how much we don’t know. We’re also incredibly aware of how we ‘should’ know. There is always going to be a gap between what we would like to know and what we currently do.
Don’t focus on that gap; keep your position and attention based on what you currently know and are currently learning. You will naturally be more confident and you will naturally want to share your work with others
3) Stop thinking that you need full confidence.
You really don’t need to be fully confident to do something.
There’s a difference between trying something completely outside your comfort zone that terrifies you, and trying something you’re simply not sure about. Try the thing you’re not sure about — and as you go into it, tell yourself it’s okay for this to be wrong.
“It’s okay if this doesn’t go exactly the way I want to.”
“I am going to learn something here. And that is worth it for me.”
4) Curate your environment
If you’re like a lot of creatives I work with, sometimes you will go through about of comparisonitis. If you are currently experiencing that type of self-doubt, you have full permission to unfollow, unsubscribe, and just simply not look at other peoples’ work.
It doesn’t mean it’s forever. You can always go back to the work and people that inspire you. But everyone goes through periods where we just don’t want to look at what other people are doing.
It’s perfectly fine to curate the type of content you are consuming. It is perfectly fine to be intentional with the work and influences you surround yourself with.
Still looking for permission?
Finally, every creative person I know has moments of deep doubt and uncertainty.
The difference between moving forward and not is not waiting to feel completely certain.
Sometimes the biggest gift we can give to ourselves is the permission to be who we are and where we are right now, including the feelings we’re experiencing — and then moving forward in whatever way feels accessible and possible. It’s not about comparing our path to anyone else’s; it’s about taking pride and your own steps forward.
Questions to reflect on
Where in your business do you currently feel confident? What do you think helps you feel this way?
Where might you be able to apply this confidence to other areas in your business?
Where are you seeking clarity? What would it do for your business if you were a little—let’s say 5%—more clear?
What’s one strategy or piece of advice that you’re currently butting up against? What would happen if you gave yourself permission to do it your own way?
Find clarity in 10 minutes
Choose one area of your business where you would like more clarity. Get as specific as you can. Let’s say you want to start a sketchbook practice, but there’s something currently in the way. Or maybe you know you want to develop some new offerings but aren’t clear about what they are.
Spend 10 to 15 minutes just writing about this. Approach it as the person who is good at problem-solving, but isn’t trying to force it. i.e. You want to feel confident, but you don’t want to ‘pre-suppose’ the solution.
Be open-minded, but also be confident you know more than you think. And then let the answers come.
To be clear, it might not be a really obvious ‘here is the answer’ bright neon sign.
It might be that certain ideas or sentences are attracting you or intriguing you — which is a clue for you to pay attention and start exploring.
At all stages of both this exercise and your entire business, remember that confidence isn’t a result of having it all figured out.
It’s about trusting in yourself to handle what’s coming your way and whatever you’re dealing with now.
And the best way to find and develop that trust is to focus on what makes you feel powerful and clear now.
What next?
If you found this post helpful, you might be interested in my Free Resources page — where you’ll find tools, techniques and gentle guides on how to gain clarity, perspective, and tap into your own wisdom as a creative business owner. Get them here >