How does someone who is painfully shy and hates to network end up running a network marketing company?
“I had been a stay-at-home mom and I got even more shy than I was before,” Lori Smith said. “I didn’t even want people to talk to me because I didn’t think I had something to contribute.”
Smith is now an independent distributor for SendOut Cards, which lets people send personalized cards and gifts with the click of a mouse, in Salt Lake City. She says running a business, earning commissions and training other entrepreneurs built her confidence.
“It’s not so scary after all to get out in the world and share something I think is just fabulous and change people’s lives one card at a time or one paycheck at a time,” Smith said. “People that knew me back then and know me now are amazed. I love people now, where before I used to hide from them.”
Women’s Leadership LIVE works to help entrepreneurs build their confidence. Armed with the right skills, we believe there’s nothing that can’t be achieved. But even top business leaders – those so successful they have become celebrities in their own right – can struggle with confidence. Check out what we heard from the acclaimed fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg: “No one is confident all the time. Last Saturday, I felt like a loser. Today, I feel great.”
Diane von Furstenberg has been a fashion superstar since creating the iconic wrap dress – a style that revolutionized how women dress and landed her on the cover of Newsweek more than 40 years ago. Somehow knowing that she, too, feels like a “loser” sometimes makes it okay for the rest of us.
“In order to be confident, the most important thing is never to lose yourself,” she said. “The relationship you have with yourself is the only place you can always go for strength and courage and confidence.”
Lori Smith pulled up that confidence from within as well.
“I remember when I was first asked to get up and talk in front of a group of people, and I thought no way, I’m not going to do this, I can’t do this. I don’t have anything they’d want to hear from me. And lo and behold, all of a sudden I thought, yes they do.”
Smith realized she had knowledge that could benefit others. She wanted to share what she knew about entrepreneurship – especially how women could contribute to their household income or earn some spending money while working from home.
“I thought, how dare you not share what you have with the world. There are so many women that need to hear this. We don’t know who that is until we start sharing it. So I just share it.”
