We recently connected with Erin Summ and have shared our conversation below.
Erin , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I’m a Confidence Transformation Coach now, but I grew up very shy and was this way most of my life. However, I always knew I was put on the planet to make an impact. Throughout
my life I put myself in many situations, groups and businesses to help me grow personally
and develop my confidence, so that one day, I would be able to make the impact I knew I
wanted to make. In 2008, I took a huge leap and joined Passion Parties in order to grow my
confidence. I spent five years doing parties, selling lotions, potions and things that went
buzz in the night, growing my team to Executive Director status, and had my first life coach.
I fell in love with coaching and the transformation it provided. I knew this was what I
wanted to do with my life, to support other women to transform their confidence through
building their self-worth, believing in themselves and stepping into who they truly are, so
they could reach their visions for their lives.
Once certified as a coach, I began speaking, something that absolutely terrified me, but I
knew was necessary to spread my message and grow my business. My first speech was
completely written out and I read it, word-for-word, with my face hidden behind the pages.
BUT, I did it! I kept pushing past my fears, taking baby steps and big giant leaps, one after
the other, to become the confident woman I am today, and I continue to do so, because the
journey never ends. And it’s not just about getting outside my comfort zone. It’s about
exploring, recognizing and working on the areas inside myself that don’t feel worthy or
deserving.
Over the years, I have continuously developed my confidence, self-worth and belief in
myself and have hosted many of my own events, done countless speeches and hosted an
incredible, transformational retreat. I plan to do more of all of these, and I also dream of
hosting international retreats.
It takes being B.O.L.D. to build confidence, which is an acronym I created to support women
in developing deep inner confidence.
B – Be Brave
O – Get Out of your Comfort Zone
L – Let go of Limiting Beliefs and Fears
D – Do the Unexpected
Being BRAVE requires you having a clear vision of what you want, why you want it, and
how you want to feel. When you are clear on what it is you want, the reasoning behind it
and how you want to feel when you have it, it will help you bust past your inner beliefs and
fears holding you back. Really getting into the feelings of your desires, will help re-wire
your brain into believing it’s possible, while telling the Universe to send you what you
want.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Staying in your COMFORT ZONE won’t help you when it comes to creating what you want in your life, whether that’s success in your business, the love you desire, or making a bigger
impact. I’ve taken many, many big leaps and even more baby steps throughout my life to
build my confidence. It doesn’t matter if you’re mostly taking baby steps, just get
uncomfortable and keep moving forward. Your confidence will continue to build, you will
believe in yourself more and you’ll become more bold!
Many years ago, I was asked by my friend who was a dating coach, if I wanted to participate
in a live-on-TV dating segment, where the audience would pick their favorite participant to
go on dates, live on TV. I would not only have the opportunity to look for love with a big
audience, but would get to mention my business on TV and of course, build my confidence.
I didn’t even have to think about it. My answer, although terrified, was YES! I was picked by
the audience to go on the dates, was named Sacramento’s Most Eligible Bachelorette, haha,
I had a blast, and gained confidence to do other scary things in the future.
Identifying and LETTING GO OF LIMITING BELIEFS AND FEARS is critical to feeling more
worthy, building confidence and reaching your goals.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Confidence. When it comes to success, confidence is way more important than competence. Confidence gets the business, competence keeps it. In business, love
and relationships, people will be attracted to your confident energy and want to be
around you more.
2. Persistence. When it comes to getting the things you want, you’ve got to be
persistent. Most people give up WAY before they get to the finish line of their
desires. If it’s taking longer than you expected it to, which it probably will, DO NOT
give up! Keep going! Keep persisting and moving forward. Keep developing yourself,
doing your inner work, and you will absolutely succeed.
3. Lastly, I am choosing two qualities which I believe work together. Adaptability and
resilience. In life and business, it’s essential that we are able to adapt to changing
situations and the world around us and be resilient when things change or don’t go
our way. The more adaptable and resilient we can be, the easier it will be to go with
the flow when things change, don’t go our way, fail or even when we have massive
success!
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The biggest obstacles to your success are within YOU, not in outer circumstances. When you identify and break through those limiting beliefs and fears, and know on a deep level
that you are absolutely, inherently worthy of everything you desire, no matter what, you’ll
be unstoppable! Developing a deep down sense of worthiness is key to everything you
desire.
When you DO THE UNEXPECTED, you not only surprise those around you, you surprise
yourself, which builds your confidence. No one, myself included, expected me, the formerly
shy woman, to sell sex toys for a living, or to go on dates live on TV, but I did it, and had
massive growth!
Ask yourself, how would I act if I felt confident and bold? Most likely, before doing
something unexpected which is outside your comfort zone and scares you, you won’t feel
confident. So you will likely have to build up some courage and take a leap. Imagine doing
the thing you are wanting to do, sit with it for a while and visualize what it will be like to
do/be/have what you are dreaming of, then do that thing! Action will build confidence,
making you unstoppable.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.erinsumm.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/confidentwomancommunity
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ErinSummConfidenceCoach
- Other: https://www.erinsumm.com/carddeckjournal
Image Credits
Erin Summ Headshot – KLJ Studios, Kelly Lynn Jordan, Woodland, Ca Erin Summ Fab40- KLJ Studios, Kelly Lynn Jordan, Woodland, Ca Erin Summ Smiles – KLJ Studios, Kelly Lynn Jordan, Woodland, Ca Group Power Pose – Nafsheen Luhar Erin Strong – Nafsheen Luhar Power Pose Beach – Tanya May
