When we started our company 25 years ago, many people asked, “What do Friedel and Alison know about running a company? Give them three months. ” The optimists gave us a more generous six months.

Neither of us had a formal business background, but between us we had a broad spectrum of technical expertise and business skills, they were just honed at the university of life. My Husband had built roads in Uganda, harbours in Pakistan, and beautiful barn conversions in the United Kingdom (UK).

My husband had qualified and worked in almost every trade related to the building industry, and transport sector. He had also been a partner in an international company in the furniture industry, where he specialized in upgrading production and product development.

Yet, still, people doubted him. He hadn’t yet grown into his own confidence.

I had been a political activist, a journalist, a change management consultant, a democracy researcher and advocate, a media specialist, an educator, and many other roles. Still, people doubted us. However, the University of Life had taught us many things. Assisting in organizing a mass meeting of 10 000 people in Cape Town, made organizing a small corporate event of 100 people relatively easy.

Now 25 years later, we have appeared on television, radio, and in entrepreneurial magazines, and we still grow and learn every year. The learning never stops.

25 years later, I am now speaking and writing on entrepreneurship. It has been the most humbling and growthful journey. This journey has brought me to my knees on many occasions and has brought me a badge of deliverance and determination year after year.

The other day, someone praised me for my speaking evolution over the past three years. But the same person had emphatically tried to dissuade me from writing my first full book.

“I wouldn’t do that!” she said.

“Why expose yourself unnecessarily?”

“Why are you doing this to yourself?”

I hadn’t even told her what the themes of the book were about. What would have happened if I had listened to her?

What would have happened if her voice had become my voice?

So much in life has to do with whom you surround yourself with. So what is the difference between self–esteem, and self-confidence, and how can we use that to deepen trusting our why? Self-esteem and self-confidence overlap, but they are different. Esteem comes from the Latin word “aestimare”, meaning to appraise, value, rate, or estimate our own appraisal of our worth.

Often, as we embark on a new journey or trajectory, it’s easy to doubt ourselves. We haven’t yet become comfortable with our new selves. We are trying out new shoes for the first few times. It’s unnerving, uneasy, and uncomfortable.

But the more we do it, the easier it gets.

Self–confidence is your belief in yourself and your abilities.

Self-esteem is often inward focusing and dictates the way we engage with the world & others. Self-esteem refers to whether you appreciate and value yourself. Your self-esteem develops and changes as a result of your life experiences and interactions with people.

But, the truth is self–esteem is hooked in your subconscious patterning and past programming. As the remarkable thought leader David Hawkins writes: “The unconscious will only allow us to have what we believe we deserve!”

WHOSE VOICE ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

 

Thank you for tribing with me.

Alison Weihe

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