Feeling Confident Today

by michael 1. February 2011 15:14

1con·fi·dence
1. a : a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances.
                                                                               (Merriam Webster)


Confidence is power.
I am much more confident now than when I founded my company 5 years ago. I have taken the time to carefully protect and nurture my confidence, and adhere to strategies that keep my confidence high at all times.

With confidence, people can accomplish anything they can dream of.  Without it, it’s highly unlikely. Why? Business problems will always be here. The famous song lyric, “Mo Money, Mo Problems” is actually quite accurate. However, the more I work on protecting my confidence the less I worry about these problems. I view them differently.

Problems as opportunities.
With confidence, I view seemingly insurmountable problems as great opportunities in disguise. With confidence, my team and I move through challenges quickly. We smile and view issues almost as if in hindsight -  we know we will clear each hurdle, so we let our confidence ride high.

An “unsuitable” example.
Here is a simple example of how confidence created a wonderful situation for me. Usually, I dress formally when meeting with new or potential customers, with a full business suit. While I know that suits are considered proper attire, they don’t always do much for my confidence, as I am not comfortable wearing them.

About 4 years ago, I broke the “suit rule.” It was one of those gorgeous, warm summer days that we all dream about. Not a cloud in the sky. And it was Friday. I woke up that morning feeling quite confident, and planned to make some business calls.

I decided to dress a little differently.
To parallel my mood, I pulled on a great pair of jeans - not “working in the field” Carhartts, but a really sweet pair of jeans from Express. To top it off,  a completely uncharacteristic yellow polo shirt - usually, if I wear a polo at all, it’s white or blue, embroidered with the MCC logo. I left my house on that brilliant, sunny summer Friday, dressed perfectly…for a Saturday bar-b-q. I felt like a million bucks.

Long story short…
I signed one of my greatest customers that day - we are still doing business today, and enjoy a wonderful relationship. I often think about how easy it was to close that deal. In retrospect, during recent training in business confidence, I realized what had happened. I felt great that day. I was confident in my jeans. I was confident in the weather. I was confident as a salesman. I felt there was nothing I couldn’t accomplish!

The results speak for themselves.
I believe that we all deserve to feel like this as much as possible. Look around - the people who are most successful and happy in life, also seem to be exceptionally confident. Whether they’re wearing a great pair of jeans…or not.

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Business Observations | MCC Recycling Services

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I am the creator of MyRecyclingReports.com, the CEO of MCC Recycling Services, a public speaker, a serial entrepreneur, a father and a gentlemen mariner.

I think the entrepreneurial code has been programmed into my DNA since birth. Like most entrepreneurs I have a long list of failed ideas, short lived companies and other various businesses experiences that date back to the single digits of age. One of the more comical ones happened when a buddy and I decided that we should start a maintenance company for one of the retirement communities in our hometown. Cell phones weren’t popular yet so I put my beeper number on a flyer and distributed it to the residents in the community. Within about an hour we had our first “beep”. Turns out the existing maintenance division wasn’t too pleased with our new venture. Including the time to print the flyers in my mom’s basement, I think we were in and out of business in about 12 hours.

Join me on the water one afternoon and I’ll tell you about a dozen or so other stories like this, all ending with the same result. However, I think it really started to get serious back in 2001 while attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I managed to pass eight semesters of technical and mathematical classes while earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics. By sophomore year I had I launched my first recycling company and eventually my second. By junior year both were belly up, I was out of money and tired of running a start-up.

I graduated in 2003 moved back to NJ and accepted a salaried engineering job. It was more of a civil than mechanical job and the salary sucked but they had a very unique offering. The company served a wonderful catered breakfast and lunch every day at no charge. New job, new suit and free lunch, I thought I was ready to start a career. I lasted about 4 hours before becoming depressed and by 5pm on day number two I had quit.

Instead I surrendered to my real passion, starting and running businesses. I launched my third recycling business, MCC Recycling Services and haven’t looked back since. The success we are having is staggering. We run extremely lean, have a very healthy gross margin, innovate daily and turn a profit. We’re growing at a very steady 20% each year. I attribute most of our success to being obsessed with customer service.

In 2005 I created HullScan, LLC. It was destined to be the next generation of non-invasive inspection for boat hulls. Apparently a great idea with poor execution won’t take you very far. I still regret letting that one die.

In 2010 I’ve created MyRecyclingReports.com. It’s an online web application designed for recycling companies around the country. A large part of this blog will be dedicated to the build of this new venture.

I boat, I fish, I live to eat sushi that’s only hours old. I love to ski and I’m learning to golf. I have been blessed with an amazing son. I am 29 years old.

Email me for speaking, interviews, anything.