How to Make Business Decisions with Confidence

July 12, 2020

You left your 9-to-5.

You’ve put everything you have into this.

You’re ready to conquer the world as a solopreneur.

It’s just… the process of making the right business moves is proving to be more draining than you thought.

And while it’s true that your decisiveness will get better over time, there are a few things you can do to master the art of always making the right business decision.

Here’s what’s worked the best for me so far!

Learn to listen to your gut.

Your number one business consultant isn’t someone you pay a fortune to tell you what to do – it’s your own intuition.

Your intuition knows things, much sooner than the mind.

Every time I didn’t listen to what my gut was saying, I almost immediately regretted it.

In the beginning, it’s going to take a while to learn when your intuition is doing the talking. My best advice? Pay attention to your body – especially the way it feels in the stomach and chest.

After a while, it’s impossible to miss the feel-good vibes and the absolute assurance that you’re doing the right thing.

Know the WHY behind your business.

WHAT you do and HOW you do it may change – as a matter of fact, it will change over time for certain – but WHY you do what you do will never change.

Your why is the USP of your business.

The more you’re certain of your why, the easier it’s going to be for you to determine what’s the next business move.

If your why is wanting to help people live better lives, then you’ll always know whether or not a business move supports that cause.

Another hack that may help you…

Your brand values!

Brand values aren’t only something to throw in on your About page, they’re the compass to navigating entrepreneurship!

Write down your core brand values and always have them in front of you.

Again, if we take the same why (helping people live better lives) and add empathy as a brand value, then it’s easy to determine that a collaboration with that brand (that has a bad rep for the way it treats its employees) is not aligned with you and your business.

Take away the pressure.

The minute you step away from the corporate world, I’d like to encourage you to step away from the whole working-under-pressure thing.

Don’t get me wrong, there will be times when you’ll be under an immense amount of pressure as an entrepreneur.

However, I don’t think anyone makes good decisions under a lot of stress. Try to calm yourself first. Respond rationally, don’t react emotionally.

For example, you can, try some deep breathing, go for a walk, and then do a list of pros and cons. After all, you do have that luxury as your own boss.

I promise you those decisions are going to be so much, much better than the ones made haphazardly.

One last thing to consider…

I read somewhere once that there’s no such thing as wrong decisions.

Why’s that?

Well, the logic behind this is that we all – you and I included – always make the best decision based on what we know at the moment.

And if later on, that doesn’t prove to be working for us, we shouldn’t really blame ourselves. If we’d known better, we would have chosen better!

So cut yourself some slack and course correct quickly.

You’ll very likely make some mistakes, no matter how much you try not to. After all, that’s how you learn and grow – and ultimately, end up right where you’re meant to be.

What’s your way of making decisions? Do you often struggle to choose one option? Leave me a comment and let me know – I’d love to hear more from you!