| Stop caring about what others think of you. Back in the day, I was pretty shy and probably still am to a certain point. I was always self conscious; was I dressed properly, did my hair look ok, etc... I made it a point to stop being like this. To just be me. It's not to say, don't care what you look like or how you carry yourself or etc... But stop worrying about what others think. You can't please everyone; not everyone will like how you dress, talk, etc... That's ok. Your not out to please everyone. Own the room / conversation / email. Over the last 5 years of doing my startup, we started going to events where we were exhibitors. I go to help out - pass out free t-shirts, tell the students what we do; how we help them, etc... So a shy person having to talk to 600 strangers inside of 3 hours? Yeah, no. So I decided to own the room. I walked into that room prepared; I knew what I'd say; I knew what I'd have to offer and if I couldn't answer; I'd defer to my partner. At first, I wore a suite / tie. This last year; I wore our t-shirt and a sports jacket / jeans. We own the room at these events. Know what your talking about. At first, I was just the developer. I knew very little about our target industry. I built the site for sure, but anything past that - "I'd like to introduce you to my partner..." It wasn't until I took an interest in our industry could I speak confidently to our users. Being confident in what I was talking about took time for sure; but where I was nervous about going to this event in years past; now I walk in like it's a party. We're there to see our users face to face, give out some cool free stuff and make new connections. It's become my favorite thing of the year to do. Smile from ear to ear, baby. So - confidence, knowledge and level of comfort with a given subject. Nail those, and you'll have an easier time. |