As an entrepreneur, you make decisions every day. Some are small, like choosing a meeting time. Others are huge, like launching a new product. But all of these decisions shape your business. One key factor in making good choices? Confidence.
Let’s break down how confidence affects decision-making and how to use it to your advantage.
The Basics of Decision-Making
When you make a decision, your brain considers several options. It weighs past experiences, personal biases, and even your mood. Confidence acts like a filter for all these factors. It changes how you see the risks and rewards of each choice.
Confidence and Bias: A Balancing Act
Sometimes, we’re too confident. This is called overconfidence bias. It’s when we think we know more than we do or that we’re better at predicting outcomes than we really are. As an entrepreneur, your passion can make you especially prone to this. Being aware of this bias can help you make more balanced decisions.
Confidence in Uncertain Times
When things are uncertain (which is often in business), confidence becomes even more important. It’s what allows you to make decisions without having all the answers. Being confident doesn’t mean you have no doubts. It means you trust yourself to handle whatever happens.
The Two Faces of Confidence
Confidence is crucial, but there’s a catch. There’s a big difference between real confidence and just acting tough. Real confidence comes from skills, experience, and knowing your limits. It keeps you open to new ideas. Fake confidence can lead to hasty decisions and missed chances to learn.
Building Your Decision-Making Confidence
Want to boost your confidence in making decisions? Try these tips:
Wrapping Up
Understanding how confidence affects your decisions can make you a better entrepreneur. Remember, it’s not about always being right. It’s about making decisions with confidence and learning from them. As you run your business, let confidence be your guide. Just remember to balance it with humility and self-awareness. That mix will help you navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
Be bold. Be confident.
Karen Vaile is a Confidence & Mindset Coach and Founder of Karen’s Coaching Korner. She helps businesswomen gain the confidence to take bold action and achieve their personal and professional goals.
Karen’s mission is centred on transforming uncertainty, self-doubt, and apprehension into assertiveness and decisive ambition. Through her 1:1 coaching program “Create Your Confidence,” she tailors her approach to each client’s unique needs, helping each one to reach her fullest potential, attain her goals, embrace boldness, and embody confidence and grace in every aspect of life. Karen can be reached via DM.
In the fast-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, standing out isn't just about what you do—it's about how effectively you share your knowledge and expertise with the world.
One powerful way to elevate your business and personal growth simultaneously is by creating an online course. Here’s how embarking on this journey can help you become a better version of yourself in business:
Creating a course requires you to distill your knowledge into a structured, actionable format. This process not only reinforces what you already know but also challenges you to fill gaps and stay updated with the latest trends in your field. As you research, plan, and teach, you deepen your expertise, becoming a go-to authority in your niche.
Effective communication is key to success in any business endeavor. Developing a course demands clarity in conveying complex ideas, engaging your audience, and fostering understanding. As you craft content, explain concepts, and interact with students, your communication skills naturally sharpen, enhancing your ability to influence and connect with others.
Launching a well-crafted course establishes you as a thought leader in your industry. It demonstrates your commitment to sharing valuable insights and solving real problems for your audience. This positions your brand as trustworthy and authoritative, attracting potential clients who seek your expertise and solutions.
Courses provide a platform to connect with like-minded individuals, potential collaborators, and clients. Engaging with your course community fosters relationships built on shared interests and mutual support. These connections can lead to new opportunities, partnerships, and invaluable feedback that propel both your business and personal growth.
Creating a course pushes you beyond your comfort zone. It requires innovation in content delivery, engagement strategies, and problem-solving. Embracing this challenge nurtures your creativity and resilience, equipping you with skills to adapt to changes and seize opportunities in an ever-changing market landscape.
Beyond immediate benefits, courses offer a sustainable revenue stream. Once created, they can be sold repeatedly without significant additional effort, allowing you to leverage your time and expertise effectively. This passive income stream not only supports your financial goals but also frees up time for further business development or personal pursuits.
Ultimately, creating a course is about making a meaningful impact. By sharing your knowledge and empowering others to succeed, you contribute to their growth journeys. Witnessing the transformation and success of your students brings a deep sense of fulfillment and reinforces your purpose-driven approach to business.
Creating an online course isn’t just about expanding your business—it’s a transformative journey that enhances your skills, expands your influence, and fosters personal growth. It’s an investment in yourself and your future, offering rewards that extend far beyond financial gains. Embrace the opportunity to share your expertise, inspire others, and become the best version of yourself in business and beyond. Start today, and unlock the potential that lies within you.
Ready to embark on your course creation journey? Let's turn your expertise into an impactful learning experience that transforms lives. Book your FREE 90 Days to Course Launch Breakthrough Call.
Tracy Sherriff is a Certified Course Creation Expert who helps coaches, service-based professionals, and other business owners successfully scale their business online with high-quality, high-impact courses and programs. You can connect with Tracy by visiting her website tracysherriff.com, or finding her on Instagram @tracy.sherriff. You can also connect with her in the Happy Healthy Women in Business Facebook Group.
Many of us with a creative idea, vision, or project often struggle with the same thing: the gap between having a brilliant idea and bringing it to life.
The common problems of perfectionism, procrastination, and overwhelm get in your way and prevent you from making any real, significant progress. You dither for months, years, and sometimes even decades, all without taking action on your creative dreams.
I know because I’ve been there. But over the last ten years, I’ve been able to overcome those problems and launch the passion projects of my heart — and I want the same for you.
I’m using everything I’ve learned to outline the 5 mistakes you’re making that prevent you from taking action — and the 5 solutions to fix them.
Mistake #1: Trying to “Figure it All Out”
You want to start a blog so you start researching the best web host, the best cross-posting tools, the best SEO strategies for headlines and metadata. But when do you get around to actually launching that blog?
You want to start a podcast so you start researching the best microphones, the best editing software, the best way to soundproof a room. But how long does it take before you get around to recording your first episode?
You want to start writing a novel so you start outlining every character backstory, every plot twist, and researching every setting for total accuracy. But at what point do you actually sit down and write your first page?
There’s a point when trying to “figure it all out” stops being about planning and starts being about perfectionism and procrastination.
The solution?
Limit your research and planning.
If you find yourself stuck in the research and planning phase without ever moving forward into execution, it’s time to STOP and just START. Set a limit for yourself — define the absolute most important pieces to know and figure out the rest later. Remember: as painful as it might feel, you don’t need to have everything figured out all the time.
Mistake #2: Waiting for “Inspiration to Strike”
When you wait for inspiration to strike, or when you wait until you “feel like it” you oftentimes never get around it.
The solution?
Well, here’s a secret successful creatives have discovered: Your muse doesn’t suddenly appear by itself. You can summon your muse — simply by showing up before it appears.
The great Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, says:
“When we sit down each day and do our work... The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned her favor.”
Sitting down, showing up, and getting ready to work is how you summon your muse so you can get things done.
Mistake #3: Setting Lofty Goals
How familiar does this sound?
“Okay, I’m going to sit down and outline my whole novel.”
“All right, I’m going to sit down and wireframe my entire website.”
“Great, I’m ready to sit down and finish mixing my latest music track.”
And then what happens? You start feeling overwhelmed by the huge task. Or you start getting bogged down in details and minutiae. Or you start thinking that it’s going to take forever to finish and begin to get discouraged.
The solution?
Use time bound limits. Give yourself a set amount of time to work, and then stop when the time runs out. It doesn’t matter if you complete the task in one sitting or not. All that matters is that you made progress. Setting a time limit hinders your overwhelm and procrastination, because you know you only need to start — you don’t need to finish. Which brings us to mistake #4.
Mistake #4: Trying to Make it “Look Right” or “Sound Right”
You start writing your novel and spend hours tweaking the first paragraph or first page. You spend so long trying to find the perfect words to convey what you’re trying to say that you never move past the first chapter.
Or you start working on a design and find yourself repeatedly adjusting the colour palette and font choices, going back and forth, but never actually getting around to the rest of it.
The solution?
I have a saying: “Make Bad Art”.
Now, this doesn’t mean producing poor quality work. It simply means that you don’t need to get it right the first time, or even the second, third, or tenth time. When you create with the intention of doing it badly — on purpose! — you get rid of that perfectionism and procrastination.
Remember, you can always fix it later. The key is to simply make progress, bit by bit, even if it doesn’t look or sound the way you want it to at first. Give yourself permission to be bad at something and I promise, you’ll see life-changing progress in your creative pursuits.
Mistake #5: Thinking Your Idea is Unoriginal
How many times have you thought something like this:
“Someone else is already doing my idea.”
“What do I have to say that a dozen other people already haven’t?”
“There’s nothing original under the sun.”
Many of you worry that your idea isn’t original. You see other people doing it and think that it’s not worth doing yourself. You get imposter syndrome. “Who am I to do this, when other people are doing it better?”
The solution?
Find your “twist.”
Because here’s the secret: Being unoriginal is actually a GOOD thing! It means there’s a market for what you’re creating. It means there’s an audience for it. People want what you’re making.
You just need to figure out what YOU bring that no one else can. What’s the differentiator that comes from your perspective, your personality, your background, your experiences? Find the “twist” that is unique to you and you’ll stand out — even if you think you’re unoriginal.
One of the toughest things when it comes to creativity is bridging the gap between having a brilliant idea and bringing it to life. By limiting your research, summoning your muse, setting time bound goals, embracing “bad art” and finding your unique twist, you can overcome the obstacles that hold you back. It's time to stop dithering and start doing.
Ready to take the next step? Visit candicelee.ca to see how we can work together to finally bring your creative vision to life.
Candice is a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur dedicated to writing, music, and mindset shifts. As a multi-six-figure bestselling novelist, wellness e-com founder, affirmation product designer, and amateur music producer, she brings a wealth of experience to her role as a Creativity Facilitator. Candice helps clients overcome indecision, refill their creative wells, get rid of blocks, and take action on their passion projects. With an enthusiastic and empowering approach, she offers 1:1 coaching and workshops to guide people toward their creative goals. Candice's mission is to inspire and support others in achieving their dreams so they can find fulfillment and joy.
Did you know that tracking your fertile window is crucial in increasing your chances to get pregnant? Your fertile window is the time period of your menstrual cycle that has the greatest chance of conception. This time period is known as 5 days before ovulation, as well as the day of ovulation. Understanding your ovulation not only gives you insight into your fertile window, but also helps you gain a deeper understanding of your reproductive health. You can track your
ovulation using a variety of methods, such as OPK kits, cervical mucus, and BBT monitoring.
1. Ovulation Predictor Kits (also known as OPK kits) detect the surge in luteinizing hormone (also known as LH). LH is secreted from the pituitary gland just before ovulation, and creates this surge about 24 hours before ovulation occurs. It is best to use OPK kits starting on Day 11 of your menstrual cycle until you get a positive and then a negative test. Generally, you should get a positive OPK test result the day before you ovulate. When taking this into account, the best time to have intercourse is the day you get a positive OPK result and the day after.
2. Cervical mucus is a gel-like fluid that gets released from the cervix. Due to the increase
in estrogen, this triggers the cervix to produce a fertile mucus. This ideal cervical mucus at ovulation should appear as a clear, egg-white, slippery, or stretchy mucus. It can appear between Day 10-15 of the menstrual cycle. When it does appear, it indicates that ovulation has occurred. It is best to track cervical mucus over the month consistently, to help you indicate when ovulation occurs. When taking this into account, the best time to have intercourse is on the day you notice this egg-white stretchy cervical discharge.
3. Basal Body Temperature (also known as BBT) involves measuring your resting body temperature. Progesterone is our reproductive hormone that increases in the second half of our menstrual cycle (our luteal phase), resulting from ovulation. When ovulation occurs, the corpus luteum produces progesterone and this increases our body temperature. Just before you notice the increase in your body temperature, you will note a small dip in body temperature. This brief body temperature decrease represents ovulation. When utilizing BBT tracking to confirm ovulation, you are looking for increases in your body temperature; this can be a 0.5 degree difference. Ideal timing to measure
your body temperature is in the morning, upon waking up and before getting out of bed. It is important to measure at a consistent time every day to yield accurate findings. It is ideal to use a thermometer that has 2 decimal points to help you note small changes to your body temperature. When taking this into account, this method doesn’t tell you when to have intercourse, but it will confirm that ovulation has occurred. The best time to have intercourse would be the day before you notice your body temperature rising.
Another tracking method is phone apps, such as Flo Health, Ovia, and Glow Fertility Tracker. Inputting information on these apps for at least 3 months, can provide insight on your cycle length and ovulation window. However, these apps may not be 100% accurate, and should not be used solely to predict ovulation. It is best to combine all the information gathered on multiple tracking methods to provide you an accurate picture on your fertile window.
Tracking your ovulation provides you information on optimal timing for intercourse, information on your overall reproductive health, helps you assess for any hormonal imbalances, and gives you a clearer picture of your fertile window. When optimizing your fertility, knowledge is power!
Let’s share this knowledge to support your fertility and overall reproductive health.
Dr. Ishani Patel is a board certified Naturopathic Doctor who has a clinical focus in women’s health, hormones, digestive health, and autoimmunity. She is dedicated to helping her patients determine the root cause of their health concerns, help them find balance in their life, prevent disease or a worsening of their health conditions, and help them live their optimal state of health.
You can connect with Dr. Patel through her website drishanipatelnd.com, by email at ishanipatelnd@gmail.com, or reaching out to her on Instagram @drishanipatel.nd.
Breathwork is a powerful practice that when integrated, can transform your life. When I was first learning about Breathwork there were a few guiding principles that led to my internal awakening and continues to guide my practice and my life.
Some of the principles sound easy in theory but allowing yourself to fully surrender and trust yourself in the process can be difficult but is essential. In Breathwork the concept of surrender does not signify defeat or weakness, rather an opportunity for personal insight. When you surrender to the process, you allow new experiences and opportunities to present themselves. Our thinking mind can act like a vessel, defaulting to stories or scenarios that reinforce limiting beliefs. With Breathwork we step away from this thinking mind and remove the distractions that impact our ability to live in the moment.
The next principle is what you resist persists and the way past is through. In a Breathwork session life material arises when you are subconsciously ready and equipped to face it. In this safe container, you have the opportunity to explore, heal, and resolve items that may be holding you back from wellness.
Other Breathwork jargon you might hear is, everything is grist for the mill. So what does this mean? Basically, it’s acceptance that what will be will be and whatever happens, happens. Whether there are glitches in the music or you are interrupted by family, or distractions in the room. Your frustration, anger, joy, and laughter: they are all a part of the Breathwork session. Breathe into the emotion, breathe into any movement you experience, breathe to deepen and maximize the experience. It is all energy ready to be released.
After a Breathwork session, it is important to take time to reintegrate into regular daily activity. Here are some of the transitional activities to help integrate:
There is no limit to what you can do to integrate, do what feels right for you. As Breathwork becomes one of your self care activities, you will notice how impactful it can be in your everyday life.
Christie enjoyed a long career in nursing and is now pursuing her passion in self development. Wellness Haven and Health offers Life Skills Coaching, Happiness Coaching, and Neurodynamic Breathwork. Encouraging self empowerment for all clients with a focus on the seven principles of wellness.
Recently at a Happy Healthy Women Branch Director’s Meeting, Natalie Colalillo, our amazing leader, highlighted the benefits of strategic partnerships within the community. She reminded us that strategic partnerships can be the key to unlocking new opportunities, expanding your reach, and achieving your business goals.
This got me thinking about how creating a course offers a unique avenue to forge meaningful connections and collaborations with like-minded individuals and businesses.
Here’s the big takeaway! Course creation is not just about sharing knowledge; it's also a powerful strategy for building strategic partnerships with others. By leveraging your course as a platform for collaboration, networking, and community building, you can amplify your impact, reach new audiences, and create lasting relationships that benefit both you and your partners. So, if you embark on your course creation journey, keep an eye out for opportunities to connect and collaborate with others, and watch your network and influence grow.
Tracy Sherriff is a Certified Course Creation Expert who helps coaches, service-based professionals, and other business owners successfully scale their businesses online with high-quality, high-impact courses and programs. You can connect with Tracy by visiting her website tracysherriff.com, or finding her on Instagram @tracy.sherriff
Let’s admit it: starting a new creative project can be scary.
Maybe you’ve gone months without writing a single word.
Maybe it’s been years since you last picked up a pencil to draw.
Maybe it’s even been a decade since you played a single note on your piano or guitar.
But there’s something inside you that wants to take action on your creative work.
There’s an itch in the back of your mind, or an urge in your heart. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore it.
But you’re scared. You start thinking, what if I’m not good at it anymore? What if I try and I fail? What if I share my creative work with the world and get crickets?
I’m here to tell you, it’s okay if you’re afraid. We’ve all been there. It’s understandable to feel
that way if it’s been a while.
But there’s a way to move past that fear, to curate your own personal inspiration, and to dive into the creative work that excites you. Here’s how.
Step #1:
Get something to write on.
Take a piece of paper and a pen. Open a notes app on your phone. Open a blank Word doc on your computer. Whatever is easiest for you.
Step #2:
Think of one thing that inspired you to make and create.
Maybe it was a video/book/blog/album/painting/animation/movie that made you think, “Wow,
I’d love to do that, too!”
Maybe it was a specific person who encouraged you.
Maybe something important or significant happened in your life.
Dig deep and find that one special moment that sparked your creative urges.
Step #3:
Note down how it made you feel, and why it inspired you. Why and how did it make you want to create?
What was it about that album that made you want to play music? What did your 8th grade
teacher say that made you want to write? What about that animation made you want to draw?
Really sink into those emotions and note it down in as much detail as possible.
And finally, Step #4:
Every time you feel afraid to pick up that pencil, every time you feel that fear of putting fingers
to keys, I want you to pull out that note you just made and remember. Remember how it feels to be inspired. Remember why you wanted to create in the first place.
Channel those memories, those moments of inspiration, and I guarantee, you’ll be able to power through that fear and bring your creative vision to life.
Candice is a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur dedicated to writing, music, and mindset shifts. As a multi-six-figure bestselling novelist, wellness e-com founder, affirmation product designer, and amateur music producer, she brings a wealth of experience to her role as a Creativity Facilitator. Candice helps clients overcome indecision, refill their creative wells, get rid of blocks, and take action on their passion projects. With an enthusiastic and empowering approach, she offers 1:1 coaching and workshops to guide people toward their creative goals. Candice's mission is to inspire and support others in achieving their dreams so they can find fulfillment and joy.
This is the work that changed everything for me.
As I look back, I see how my self image was a direct reflection of how I experienced life in my physical reality. I spent so many years trying to find myself. Now I know we get to create ourselves by using our minds. There is a vast difference between the two.
See I was searching outside myself for the answers. Who am I? What am I capable of? What am I worth? I thought confidence was something you had or didn’t have. I allowed my outside circumstances and results in my life to dictate my worth. My worth was dependent on achieving and being the best. I was only worthy if I was winning or coming in first place. I’m sure some of you can relate to this.
What I have come to know is that the image we hold of ourselves dictates our reality. This is referred to as our self image. We have an image we project to the outside world, what we wear, how we do our hair, how we carry ourselves AND we also have our inner image, the one we believe about ourselves. It’s that inner voice that plays over and over in our minds. The one that guides us, the one that determines our outside world. The one that the universe responds to. Our minds will always try to prove us right. If I have the thought that I'm not good enough or unworthy of money, then I will have experiences to show me I'm right. Alternatively, if I have a strong and healthy image of myself and my abilities, then I will have experiences that show me I’m right. Our belief in ourselves will dictate our results.
Our belief in ourselves is crucial because we will never outperform our self image!
Learn more about Kelly and her business:
Bloating. This is a symptom that you probably have experienced at least once in your life and are familiar with. The discomfort when we experience bloating is real, and this can affect our ability to take part in social gatherings or even go to work. The question that comes up is, how do we beat the bloat? Remember that bloating is just a symptom, and is usually a small part of a bigger issue. So if we want to beat the bloat, we have to determine where the bloating is coming from.
Now what causes bloating?
Now what can you do about it?
As a gut-focused naturopathic doctor, when I am addressing bloating I initially complete a thorough assessment, order relevant laboratory blood work, and collaboratively work with my patient to create a personalized treatment plan specific to their root cause of bloating. Addressing bloating is not a one size fits all approach. So if you experience bloating let’s create a sustainable plan to beat your bloating for good!
Dr. Ishani Patel is a board certified Naturopathic Doctor who has a clinical focus in women’s health, hormones, digestive health, and autoimmunity. She is dedicated to helping her patients determine the root cause of their health concerns, help them find balance in their lives, prevent disease or a worsening of their health conditions, and help them live their optimal state of health.
You can connect with Dr. Patel through her website drishanipatelnd.com, by email at ishanipatelnd@gmail.com, or by reaching out to her on Instagram @drishanipatel.nd.
We come into the world with a big breath often followed by a cry and we come to the end of life when our breath ceases. This is an automatic function that does not require us to think about it for it to happen but it is something that we can control.
When we are in pain we hold our breath, when we are anxious or excited our breathing becomes rapid. When we are at peace we have slow even paced breath. There is no disputing that breathing is essential to life and how we take care of our breath is important. The connection with our mental, emotional, and physical body is vital. There are many ways to utilize our breath to bring stability to this connection and Neurodynamic breathwork as a practice certainly can help.
Neurodynamic breathwork as a practice can:
Breathwork, in combination with other practices, helps you explore life in new dynamic ways. As integration takes place you will discover deeper aspects of life you never knew existed. Next month we will explore key principles of Breathwork and integration.
Christie enjoyed a long career in nursing and is now pursuing her passion in self development. Wellness Haven and Health offers Life Skills Coaching, Happiness Coaching, and Neurodynamic Breathwork. Encouraging self empowerment for all clients with a focus on the seven principles of wellness.
Our lives are busy, we have so many important roles at home and in our workplace that at times we can become imbalanced. These imbalances can be a result of:
1: Family needs
2: Work pressures and demands
3: Challenges with time management
4: Social life events
This list could go on and certainly could be more individualized. If we take inventory of our life, we can come to know where those imbalances are and find solutions to create harmony.
There are many ways that we can aim to create balance in our life and Breathwork is a powerful way to achieve it. All of us have the power within to become our own Inner healer. Making this a regular practice by tapping into your inner self and exploring can bring balance, clarity, and calm into your everyday life. The more we work on ourselves the more authentic our empowerment is.
There are stories we tell ourselves (some aren’t even our own), self fulfilled prophecies, habits/self limiting beliefs, the surface living, this is where we become reactors to life rather than the creators of our life. Where did our truths come from? We can be so bound to our truth that there is no room for any other information to be received. Our interpretation of reality is just that! Our interpretation. We recreate scenarios over and over again until we learn the lesson. We could spend our entire earthly existence with a changeup of characters but rehashing the same experience. When we live in our head too much, we waste a lot of time and simple tasks can become more challenging.
When we are living in the present- in the now, we are proactively creating the life we choose to live. Choosing the life you want to live is possible when we create space for it. The depth that can be achieved by committing to doing our inner work is incredibly powerful. Life truly becomes more balanced when we take time for ourselves to ground, awaken, and become clear on what matters the most.
The Power Within written by Tav Sparks discusses a concept called Yoga of the cross or Awareness Positioning System. This concept describes the horizontal line as our life material. The vertical line demonstrates what is grounding us at the bottom but also includes our belief systems, and the top of it connects us to our source, our universal intelligence. Keeping a natural, fluid flow where we experience life material and move it up and through the vertical enables us to stay present and in the moment. Regularly practicing Breathwork can bring the balance we are often seeking in life.
Christie enjoyed a long career in nursing and is now pursuing her passion in self development. Wellness Haven and Health offers Life Skills Coaching, Happiness Coaching, and Neurodynamic Breathwork. Encouraging self empowerment for all clients with a focus on the seven principles of wellness.
Have you been experiencing digestive symptoms that are affecting your quality of life? A naturopathic doctor can help support your gut health using the 4 R’s. The 4 R’s are the key steps that can optimize your gut health; Remove, Replace, Re-inoculate, and Repair.
The 4 R’s are a protocol to help promote digestive healing and improve digestive health. If you want to consider trying this protocol, initially speak with your health care practionner to create the most appropriate plan for you.
Our gut health plays a huge role in our overall health, so let’s go show our guts some love!
Dr. Ishani Patel is a board certified Naturopathic Doctor who has a clinical focus in women’s health, hormones, digestive health, and autoimmunity. She is dedicated to helping her patients determine the root cause of their health concerns, help them find balance in their life, prevent disease or a worsening of their health conditions, and help them live their optimal state of health.
You can connect with Dr. Patel through her website drishanipatelnd.com, by email at ishanipatelnd@gmail.com, or reaching out to her on Instagram @drishanipatel.nd.
