Become an Assertive Entrepreneur (3 Min 7 Sec Read)

It is crucial that as an entrepreneur you are able to say a polite but assertive no whenever necessary.

“If you don’t design your own life plan chances are you will fall into someone else’s life plan…and guess what they have planned for you…not much!’

Jim Rohn

Now I don’t want to get carried away here. There’s a lot to be said for collaborating, partnering and team work in business. However, it is my personal observation that business owners who find it difficult to say no….shall we call them people pleasers, are generally sniffed out by their business partners, employees and associates. These people are often in some way consciously or subconsciously, maliciously or just ‘by the by’ taken advantage of. Let me give you some examples.

People Pleaser No.1) Torn Apart

I once had a client once who wanted to branch out into a new area. On a whim he made a verbal contract with someone who was a few paces ahead of him in that field. Essentially the idea was that he would be an apprentice under the more advanced man.

After a few weeks however it was clear that he had not learnt anything new and was not being given the particulars to grow and develop. In effect the second man was taking full advantage of my client as free labour.

I implored my client to challenge the man and set some deadlines to the work and what was expected in terms of growth and learning. What greeted me in return was a barrage of rationale none of which once we drilled down through it actually made any sense.

What was fuelling all these reasons to keep working for free? Fear.

Fear of disappointing someone else, fear of anger and fear of confrontation. My client was a very gentle soul but was being torn apart by someone with practised teeth. After a couple more weeks we had my client trained to be assertive. He went ahead and confronted and exposed the advantage taker. This freed him to move on and develop his own business in a much more sensible manner, taking with him an increase in confidence.

Every time we face a fear we take some of the power of that fear for ourselves.

Where in your life do you need to step up to the plate and face off a fear that you have let hold you back?

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People Pleaser No.2) Hire, Resent, Fire

I supported another entrepreneur for many years.  He had the seemingly strange habit of hiring a powerful manager over his technicians, shyly letting the manager manipulate him and do what he wanted for months on end and then out of the blue firing the manager without any warning. Again, a fear of confrontation was causing poor decision making.

When we give up the challenge of confrontation in business we also give up the opportunity of leadership. With the correct levels of assertiveness one can lead people with certainty and clarity and set the boundaries in a clear, firm and charismatic way. This confidence doesn’t always come naturally but you can attain it using a variety of powerful transformational strategies within a few sessions.

After teaching this client these techniques we averted the pattern repeating itself and he brought the true talents, respect and confidence out of his latest manager which trickled down to the rest of the staff.

A Top Tip to Becoming Assertive Fast

There are hundreds of tips that work superbly but let’s get you started.

First practice direct communication with yourself in the mirror. Look yourself in the eyes and say what you need to say to the other person. If you don’t have anything specific that needs to be said then just practice speaking while maintaining eye contact. No flinching.

When you can look yourself in the eyes and talk, you can look anyone in the eyes and speak with conviction.

The reason for this is that your fears are NOTHING to do with the other person. You are in fact afraid of yourself or to be more specific the insecurities you secretly harbour about yourself.

Confront yourself today and unleash your charismatic leadership.

Recently another client of mine gained this clarity in session through this plus a variety of other powerful methods. His employees were so excited that they finally had direction and respect oozes from them ever since.

So we see, it’s not just you who needs this as an entrepreneur. The world around you needs you to take this step so it can unleash its greatness too.

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