How to Build Your Self-Confidence while Scaling Your Career with Alda Karen

Nobody is born with limitless self-confidence. It’s something you have to work on and build up over years.  As entrepreneurs, self-confidence is key to achieving our goals and objectives, yet there are many challenges that can deflate our self-confidence – a negative review, a request for a refund, rejection of any kind.  Alda Karen, this week’s guest on The Sigrun Show, has achieved more at 28 than many people dream of achieving in their life. At 19, she became VP of sales of Iceland’s biggest film production company. By 23, she had started and sold her first company. Now, she is an international speaker, runs two businesses and has published her first book.  How come she had the self-confidence to achieve so much at such a young age?  In our interview, Alda and I speak about her journey, what pushed her to become an entrepreneur, and how she developed her self-confidence (and you can, too!).  Ready to be inspired and learn from a truly amazing young entrepreneur? Then tune right in!  “Every wall is a door. You just need to find the right key.” - Alda Karen   If you’re more of a reader, scroll down to read about Alda’s life keys and how they can help you with your self-confidence.  In this Episode of The Sigrun Show: How Alda became the VP of sales and marketing of Iceland’s biggest production company at 19 years old (3:32) How Alda used autobiographies of women to educate herself (7:18) What pushed Alda to become an entrepreneur (13:21)  What happened after Alda sold her first business (15:07)  How Alda deals with push-backs (16:12) Alda’s inspiration to start a second company (19:55) Alda’s life keys (22:18) Alda’s Life Keys to Help You Boost Your Self-Confidence Whenever you think you can’t do something or hit a wall,  it’s really just a door that will open if you find the right key – this is the thought on which Alda based her book, The Life Bible (currently available in Icelandic).  Alda had many doors she had to open during her journey as a young entrepreneur. She believed she wasn’t smart enough, cute enough, and couldn’t speak well enough in public. Finding the keys to open her doors and overcome fears and limiting beliefs made her what she is today: An international speaker, head of two companies, and author of a book – all at the age of 28.  Opening her doors was all about knowing they were there and developing the self-confidence to walk through them.  Here are two of Alda’s most popular life keys to open doors that might be holding you back:  You are not your thoughts or your emotions When you hit a wall, it’s usually your brain telling you all kinds of reasons why to not do something. The brain is programmed to survive. It doesn’t want to get out of its comfort zone. If your goal is to live to the fullest, to be happy and grow, but your brain wants to play it safe, you and your brain clash and you hit a wall.  To pass through it, Alda thinks of her brain as her room-mate. Whenever she feels scared or unable to do something, she establishes that these thoughts come from her brain, not herself. Then she maps out the best and worst case scenarios. She journals or does visualizations to create a practical approach, and to reason with the fears her brain creates.  You are enough For nine years, Alda has been telling herself she’s enough. Every single day.  Reminding herself constantly that she can show up as herself and do her best, but that she’s enough as she is has given her the strong foundation on which she builds her self-confidence. Alda sees life as a gift, and knowing that she’s enough makes everything she does during the day become a bonus in her life, because she chooses to do it.  If you feel blocked or lack confidence, remember this: You can’t open doors you don’t know about. If you hit a wall, sit down, identify what holds you back, have a conversation with your brain, and find the key that gets you through the door.   How do you overcome your fears and boost your confidence? I’d love to hear from you! You can follow, connect and share with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Free Video Training Series on How to Get Featured in the Media Do you dream of landing media coverage but aren’t sure which outlets to pitch to? My friend Selena Soo is an expert in all things publicity and has just released a FREE, brand new 3-part video training series on how to get featured in the media.   The first video is available for you now.   If you’re ready to seriously grow your business and get in front of more of your ideal clients and customers, head over to Selena’s video. It’s not just great value – you also get the chance to win a trip to Puerto Rico!  Connect with Alda Karen: Alda’s book in Icelandic Alda on Facebook Alda on Instagram