Women In Work - Lets Work Together To Be Confident

 Hello Ladies, I am Amy Wallis, Founder of Market inn Ltd. I have been asked by the lovely women at Women In Work to express issues I have experienced in the workplace. 

Fortunately, I am lucky enough to say that I haven’t experienced issues in the workplace directly correlating with my gender. Although, I do remember when I first entered the Lincolnshire Business scene under two years ago as a business owner, those early breakfast networking events saw me experience a few up and down looks from women. They later expressed that they were shocked by how fresh I looked at that time in the morning, so it wasn’t as cynical as I originally thought. 

The main factor which has utterly CHANGED my life is… confidence. I used to put myself down and of course, others would follow. People don’t need much of an excuse to put others down now, do they! 

I wanted to angle this blog less about my experience within the workplace, but more about what I have learned along my journey so far. That way, I hope that at least one of these points can mean that you live a more confident life, like me! It's a much better life, do you trust me?! 

I have been lucky enough (is it luck?) to have experienced some astonishing things in my time. Yes, I am still only 24 speaking like someone much older (my friends are always saying that I sound double my age, if not triple). I have recently been to New York on business, filmed at the Ritz Hotel and The Bvlgari Hotel in London (both of which we worked alongside our fashionable friends at SqWears Couture), won Start-Up Business Of The Year for The Lincolnshire Media Business Awards (you may have seen us in the Lincolnshire Echo - apparently, you could spot us a mile off with our orange branding) and been announced as 1 of 30 under 30 rising stars in Lincolnshire through the Lincolnite. Wow - you could say that I am living the dream. But the key point here is to not shout about my achievements in the last 4 months alone, but to take note that none of this would have been possible if it hadn’t been for confidence. By being confident it means that I am able to have experiences like this.

 Although today I am an extremely confident young lady, it hasn’t always been that way. Here is how I have made it happen. 

1. Stand tall even if you are small. I am actually a relatively small person, but apparently not in presence. Which is always a bonus! But how did I achieve this? No, I haven’t stood in soil overnight or stretched myself. My employee forgets that I am small because of how I portray myself. That is the magical bean here. Standing tall and believing in your own abilities. Next time you are around the workplace, stand tall and see the difference it makes. You will get to the point where you don’t even think about it anymore and it becomes natural, like me! 

2. Appearance isn’t even half of it, but your posture helps. In my office, we have a little activity called “posture check”. This image instills that if you have the right posture, and appearance, it does help, buts it’s absolutely not everything. I would like to think that I always stand tall and believe in myself and you should too! Stop thinking about the negatives and more the positives. 

3. To me, mindset is everything. 

Appearance does help with standing out, but mindset is everything. 

-Discover your passion - I have discovered my passion - hospitality and marketing. This means that I am living the life that I really want to. Find your passion. What I would really like to install in you lovely ladies reading this is to live the life that you want to by finding your passion. Confidence and happiness is sure to follow.

- Find what drives you. 

-Believe in yourself, "no one else will". Not everyone will believe in you and if you don’t believe in yourself (I know it sounds like a real cliche) but it’s very true. Not everyone is there to boost you in business, so you have to believe in yourself first. You have to be your own little cheerleader, without being really vein. 

-Don’t give up. Play hard, work harder. This is one of my sayings (see, I switched it around). It’s also important that you have a personal life and that your life isn’t all just work, work, work because it means that you can look after yourself and be the best version of yourself. When I was first starting my business, I wasn’t really getting that play hard, instead, it was all work, work, work (does anyone else want to break out into dance, or is it just me?!) Now I am a much better version of myself, I am getting a bit more of a balance and it means that I can take a step back and realise what I have got. Recognising your achievements then, you guessed it...builds your confidence. 

-Absolutely look after yourself. Make sure that you eat the right things and you have time for yourself and your loved ones. I very much keep my personal and business life separate and I don’t know how many other people do that? With that being said, I think it is important that you are confident in yourself in your personal life and that then portrays in your business life and vice versa. This can’t be the case if you don’t look after yourself and have a personal life in the first place. 

-Don’t put yourself down. I used to put myself down a ALOT and people around me would then put me down. I thought hang on a minute, what’s going wrong here? Answer: It’s the fact that you are actually putting yourself down first. Then they are going to follow suit, aren’t they?! If you don’t put yourself down, you find that other people build you up. Everything starts with you ( I know that from actually living it).

-Know your stuff - I would like to think that by running a marketing agency that I understand marketing. It is definitely good to know your industry and understand what you are talking about within it because people will then see that confidence within you. Marketing is 24/7 for me and because I have found a career path of which I am OBSESSED with, it means that I can inject my energy into something that I am not only good at, but that gives me fulfillment nothing else ever could. And guess what ladies… because I am fulfilled in life, I am confident! 

-Learn To Love Yourself. Again, it sounds very cliche and it comes with time, but yes, you must love yourself first. 

-But of course, be aware of your floors (no one is perfect). I am absolutely not perfect, but I acknowledge my floors and I know how to improve myself. And guess what, as you improve, your confidence follows! 

Master all of this and everything else will follow. I found that when I stopped putting myself down, other people then build you up and everything else follows. When you believe in yourself, everyone else seems to believe in you. 

4. Remember the term “Instagram vs Reality” This is happening around us every single day of our lives. Instagram perceives you to have an amazing life and everything is positioned exactly how it should be, but that is not the reality! It is important to look beyond the photos and don’t just think, that is their life. That is in fact surface value. Don’t just take it as that, there are other things going on below the surface. People are TIRED (like me). Think about the reality behind women, they may appear confident and like they have everything… and they pretty much do, but yes, I am also very very tired most of the time. 

5. Be a good reflection of yourself, your values, your morals. Whatever company you decide to work with or whether you would want to launch your own business, make sure that it coincides with your values. Because you need it to be a good representation of yourself and true to yourself. Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs here, but I think it is really important to say that and for you to understand your worth not only in business, but in life. 

When I launched Market inn, I actually wrote down values of myself and I made sure that everything aligned. One of the reasons was to make sure that I didn’t lose myself in business - so please do the same and stick with yourself. 

6. Create your own wave in a sea of people. You can’t so much create a wave unless you have that confidence in yourself. You need to be able to stand out in some way. During a recent talk for the Women In Work conference, I was wearing orange heels (of which I always wear), my Market inn branding of course and something that will hopefully make me memorable (with a vibrant pattern - in this case, a bright floral patterned blazer). Everything is strategic (it might have looked like I had just thrown it on - hopefully not!!!). Try to be memorable and pick something that is consistent aswell. I appreciate that you might not want to go around with bright orange heels - so find something that is perfect for you and suits your personality (see what I did there!) 

Please believe in yourself because we have so much to offer and need to show everyone else that. Surround yourself with likeminded people as after all, they say, you are an average of your three friends or, something like that!  

Lots of Love (And Support), 

Amy Wallis, 

Founder, Market inn Ltd

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