Inspired by: Jim Rohn’s idea of a personal philosophy and working on yourself; Tony Robbins’ ideas on standards, decisions and the language you use. Repackaged in our own words for UK founders.
No links in this guide are paid. New Business HQ is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Dan Martell, Tony Robbins, the Jim Rohn organisation or any author mentioned. Ideas are summarised and repackaged in our own words; short quotes are attributed with a link to their source.
Nobody starts a business feeling fully ready. Confidence in year one is rarely a feeling you wait for. It is something you build, one decision and one kept promise at a time.
If you have just registered as a sole trader or set up a limited company, you have probably noticed a gap between how capable you are and how capable you feel. That gap is normal. This guide gives you a way to close it on purpose, rather than hoping it closes by itself.
Start with your personal philosophy
Jim Rohn taught that the way you think about life shapes the choices you make, and those choices shape your results. He called this your personal philosophy. For a new founder, it is the set of beliefs you fall back on when nobody is telling you what to do.
Most of us inherited our philosophy without checking it. Maybe you grew up hearing that business is for other people, that asking for money is rude, or that you should never risk a steady job. Those beliefs will quietly steer your pricing, your marketing and how quickly you give up.
Try this: write down five beliefs you hold about money, selling and success. Next to each, ask whether it helps the business you are building. Keep the ones that serve you. For the rest, write a replacement you are willing to test. For example, “asking for payment is pushy” could become “clear payment terms are a service to my customers”.
“Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”Jim Rohn, quoted on jimrohn.com, “Work Harder on Yourself”
Rohn’s point was that your income tends to follow your personal growth. In year one, that means time spent learning to sell, price and plan is not a distraction from the business. It is the business.
Raise your standards, not just your goals
Tony Robbins draws a line between “shoulds” and “musts”. We all have long lists of things we should do: post on social media, chase invoices, do the bookkeeping. The things that actually happen are the ones we have turned into musts, the standards we will not drop below.
Confidence grows when you keep promises to yourself. Pick two or three small standards and keep them for 30 days. For example:
- I reply to every customer enquiry within one working day.
- I update my income and expenses every Friday.
- I contact one potential customer every working day.
Small, kept standards beat big, broken goals. Each week you keep them, you collect evidence that you are someone who follows through. That evidence is what confidence is made of.
Make decisions, then make them right
Robbins often talks about decisions as the point where direction changes. New founders tend to stall here. Which logo, which bank account, which card reader, whether to go limited. Every open decision takes up mental space.
A simple rule helps: if a decision is easy to reverse, give it a deadline of one day. If it is hard to reverse, such as signing a long contract or taking on a lease, give it a week and get one informed second opinion. Then decide and commit. Most early decisions matter less than the habit of deciding.
For example, when you are choosing how to take card payments, a pay-as-you-go option with no contract is easy to change later. You can compare the options on our no-contract card reader comparison, choose, and move on to finding customers.
Watch the words you use about yourself
Robbins also teaches that the language you use shapes how you feel. Saying “I’m useless at sales” sets up a very different day from saying “I’m learning to sell”. You are not lying to yourself. You are choosing the more accurate and more useful description of where you are.
Notice three phrases you repeat about your business this week. Rewrite any that are fixed and final (“I can’t”, “I always”, “I’m not a…”) into ones about learning (“I’m getting better at”, “I haven’t yet”).
A first-year example
Imagine Priya, who has just started a mobile dog-grooming business in Leeds. She is skilled, but she undercharges because she “doesn’t want to seem greedy”. When she writes out her beliefs, she spots that one. She replaces it with “fair prices let me keep serving my customers well”, checks what local groomers charge, and raises her prices for new customers. She also sets one standard: reply to every booking enquiry the same day. A month later she has not become a different person, but she has a record of decisions made and promises kept, and she feels more like a business owner.
Your confidence checklist
- Write down five beliefs about money, selling and success, and rewrite the unhelpful ones.
- Choose two or three standards and keep them for 30 days.
- Clear your list of open decisions using the one-day and one-week rule.
- Rewrite three fixed phrases you use about yourself.
- Block one hour a week for learning a business skill you find hard.
- Review on the last Friday of each month: what evidence have I collected that I follow through?
When confidence is something more
Everyone has wobbles. But if low confidence comes with feeling hopeless, anxious most of the time or unable to cope, that is worth talking to someone about. The NHS Every Mind Matters site and Mind have free information, and your GP can help too.
Further reading
If you want to go deeper, these books cover the original ideas (we earn nothing if you buy them):
- Jim Rohn, The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle
- Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within
More free guides
- Time management & focus
- Avoiding burnout & wellbeing
- Money confidence for founders
- Building good habits
- Goal setting for your first year
- Fitness & nutrition for busy founders
- Dealing with setbacks
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Last updated 29 October 2026. General information only, not professional advice.