Earlier this year I sat in a room full of amazingly talented females. Photographers galore, of which, I was almost definitely the least experienced (kind of how I like it when I’m learning a new skill).
The woman leading the workshop asked the group at one time, “Who here doesn’t feel confident?” Now it was a fairly open question. It wasn’t who here doesn’t feel confident they’re the best photographer in the world, or the best in the room; it was just simply “Who doesn’t feel confident”.
As I looked around the room I was stunned to see every single person in the room put up their hand – without fail – except myself.
In this room were photographers who are able to capture images that make my heart literally skip a beat with joy and yet none of them left their hand down to confess they felt confident.
I think that some people confuse confidence with arrogance or cockiness and that’s an easy mistake to make whether it’s in the portrayal or the interpretation and maybe that’s a reason some of the amazing women in the room didn’t feel they wanted to own up to the title “Confident”.
For me, the way I saw it was that these women were predominantly in business for themselves. That takes exceptional confidence. We spoke at length about charging a price that put a high value on the work that they do, despite being bombarded with discount counterparts on every front.
Again, being able to stand up for what you’re worth takes huge confidence. They get in front of and control both small and large groups wrangling newborns to pets to octogenarians and give them guidance on styling, posing, locations and more. And to do it well, as so many of them do, that too takes exceptional confidence.
I see the work these women put forward and I see the confidence in it. I see the confidence in them, even where they don’t in themselves and that confidence is spectacular and should be celebrated unashamedly.
Are you confident?
Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27: If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21.
Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell and ReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.
