Amanda McVicker (00:00)
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the OBM Educator. Today we are going to be talking all about confidence. So this topic is coming from a conversation that I had yesterday. In fact, with some of the women who are in my six OBM course. So a lot of the times what I hear from them, I know so many other people are experiencing.
And so I like to bring those topics onto the podcast to share because I know that there are going to be so many other people out there who could really benefit from hearing about this. So the way this came up is someone had mentioned that they just don't feel confidence in the skills, in the actual showing up as an OBM.
So there's a lot of times you don't feel confident showing up, you know, in raising the rates in your higher rates you don't feel confident in leading a team or leading a client, but there's also lot of times that you don't necessarily feel confident in the work that you're doing because going from a VA to an OBM, there is a high level of work difference in what you're doing. As a VA, yes, you're more of an implementer, but you're also doing easier things. It's more admin-focused things that you probably did learn from a nine to five or just kind of, you know, live in life. As an OBM, there are skills that are going to have to be learned and that can be intimidating.
And when you're first starting out, there can definitely be a lack of confidence. And something that I have noticed so often is that when there is a lack of confidence in one thing, it leads to lack of confidence elsewhere.
And so maybe you have lack of confidence in your skills. And that's kind of the main thing. That is gonna probably start bleeding into other things. It's gonna show up as a lack of confidence in how you talk to your client. It's gonna show up in a lack of confidence in asking for more money. It's gonna show up in a lack of confidence of when you make mistakes, which always happen, right? It's natural for our brain to kind of bring that back to, well, I'm not good enough, I don't know enough, right?
So today we are going to be talking about what happens when we realize that, when we realize that a lack of confidence is really holding us back.
So I have an exercise that we're gonna do to start it off, but then I'm also of course going to be giving some tips on how to go beyond this lack of confidence so you can show up more confidently for your clients, but also for yourself. So let's get into it.
So when we talk about a lack of confidence in our abilities, in our business, it really does start with limiting beliefs.
So a limiting belief is a negative thought or opinion that you have of yourself or of your abilities that prevent you from growing and achieving your goals And so what that might look like in your OBM business is a limiting belief of, don't know enough. That one is super common, right? as OBMs, we think that we need to know all of the things. And while that isn't true, when we come across something that we don't know, that maybe a client is expecting us to know, or you see other people,knowing easily, it shakes our confidence. We think, well, I just don't know enough.
And so the limiting belief makes you fall into more of a self -fulfilling prophecy, right? Because you think, I don't know enough. And so you don't learn because you think what's the point. And then that affects your confidence in being able to show up as the expert.So in order to combat the limiting beliefs, we have to reframe them. And that's going to be the exercise that we do right now. So I want you to go get a sheet of paper and a pencil. It's best if you write this out. you're going to take a piece of paper and you're going to fold it in half. And on the first side, you are going to write, let's start with five, five limiting beliefs that you have. Set a timer for know, 10 minutes or something like that if you have trouble. You don't want to be spending all day on this, but write some limiting beliefs that you have in your mind.
So some examples of limiting beliefs might be, I need to know everything before helping my clients.or I'm not experienced enough to offer strategy advice.or I've never led a team before, therefore I'm not qualified.
So if you're doing this now, pause the podcast before we move on to the next part. If you're gonna do this later, write a note to remind yourself to do this later. So after you write the five limiting beliefs that you have, on the other side of the paper, I want you to draw an arrow and write a reframe of those limiting beliefs.
So a reframe of a limiting belief is going to encourage a growth mindset. And I talk about mindset a lot, especially the OVM mindset, but having a growth mindset is really going to encourage the confidence that we're wanting to build.
So the reframes are going to give you a positive outlook versus a negative outlook on your thoughts.
Look over those reframes, turn them into affirmations. Your brain is going to start believing it.
So a reframe for I need to know everything before I can help my clients would be I am resourceful and proactive in solving my clients' challenges reframe for I have to be perfect before I start offering OBM services would be every step that I take leads to more progress.
And a reframe for, I'm not experienced enough to offer strategy could be.
Everyone starts somewhere and I have unique insights to bring to the table.
So either pause the podcast to write those five reframes or again, make a note and do it later. But you want to reframe those limiting beliefs to be something that does encourage growth and does build your confidence.
And so in those reframes, you're probably realizing this, Confidence is going to grow with knowledge and experience. When I first started as an OBM, I did not know everything that I know now, but what I did know was that I could Google it. And I did a lot of Googling, and I still do, honestly.
But the cool thing about having to Google your way through something is that for the next time, you know.
For example, one of the things we talked through yesterday in 6 -week OBM was someone was having trouble doing domain configuring, which is very much not an OBM skill.
Now some OBMs might be more technically inclined and be able to figure it out easier than others, but for this particular OBM, domain configuration is not in her listed skills. So she was doing a favor, essentially, for her client to set this up.
But because she did not know, the step-by-step way to set it up, she was losing confidence in her ability.So I gave her some tips, because unfortunately I've had to deal with this on my own as well. But also, we Googled it. We looked it up, we learned. And what I told her afterwards was, and now the next time, you will know. And that is how it is when you learn as an OVM. The next time, you will know.
The other thing that I want to say is that preparation is key. So there are going to be times that you're not going to be able to prepare. know, maybe you're on a call with a client and they ask you something offhand that you weren't prepared for, but there are times like a strategy call or a discovery call or something like that, that you have plenty of information ahead of time. And so in your preparation for that call, use your time to research.
Write things out. What questions are you going to ask? What questions do you think they might ask? How would you respond to questions like that? And I will say in the beginning, it might seem overwhelming to list all of that out, but that preparation is going to help you show up with so much more confidence because you have the knowledge.
And as you get more and more experience and more and more knowledge, you don't have to be as prepared to show up. But when you're first starting out, it is so helpful. I remember for strategy calls, you know, the first year or two that I was in OVM, I would spend a good hour or two reviewing that strategy questionnaire, really diving deep, doing research if I needed to, Googling things, so that I could have basically a plan before we started talking and then I knew what I was gonna ask I had a feeling I knew what they were going to ask and how I would respond to that and it really helped my confidence.
And now, 40 years into it, a strategy session with my client really could be an ad hoc meeting that I don't really even prepare for can get the information from them and I have enough experience that I can just kind of rattle off strategy, but it took learning and getting experience to get to that point.
And so if you're starting out, take the time to prepare for everything because it is going to help your confidence and help you show up as the expert.
It's a little bit of fake it till you make it, but you do have the research and the knowledge to back it up.
Making the transition to OPM, becoming an OPM right out of a nine to five, it is a really big step and there is a lot to learn.
That is why I have my podcast, the OVM Educator, so that I can be sharing this knowledge with people who want to become OVMs. It's why I have my course, the six week OVM, to help give more of the knowledge and like the tangible, this is what we do as an OVM, right? It's why I do mentoring for VAs who want to go become OVMs, because sometimes you do need that personalized support, that person to say, nope, this is normal, and this is how we're going to get through it, right?
So all of this is normal. It's normal to feel a lack of confidence.
But if you are wanting to show up as the expert, as an OBM, it's something that you do have to overcome.
So I hope this episode was helpful. Again, if you did not try the reset exercise actually during the podcast while you were listening to it, take some time now to get a piece of paper and write down those limiting beliefs. If you were doing it during the podcast and you're like, I have so many more, keep writing them down, keep writing them down and reframing them so that you can get into a growth mindset that is going to help you build your confidence.
And of course there are programs out there that can help you learn more about being an OBM. There's certification, which I think if you're coming straight from a nine to five and don't really know much about the online space, I think that's a great direction for you to go to.
I also have my program, the six-week OBMÂ which really takes you through the transition from VA to OBMÂ giving you insights on how to set up your packages and pricing, how to find clients, what tech you need to know, examples of tech, tutorials of tech, and then client management. If you're interested in joining the next round of the 6 -Week OBM, as a side note, we will be opening up again in November. So I'll put the link in the show notes if you want to sign up for the wait list.
But if confidence is something that you are really struggling with, seek assistance, seek a mentor, someone who can guide you through this, so that you can show up confidently as the expert OBM that you are.
I'll talk with you all next week. Bye.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of the OBM Educator. I hope what you heard today is helpful for you on your OBM journey. If you loved today's episode, I would so appreciate you sharing it and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Want to be a guest on the OBM Educator? Fill out the form in the show notes and I'll be in touch. Join us next time on The OBM Educator.