We were lucky to catch up with Alexandra Borzo recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alexandra, 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.
There was a time when I had a lot to say about self-confidence, but from a point of view that changed since. I remember my amazement when I learned how many people saw me as a confident person while I felt like I was drowning in a pool of self-doubt. How could I come off as confident if I struggled so much to like myself, to respect myself, to trust myself?
I remember conversations the likes of which made me feel like I’d just had coffee with Sigmund Freud. How could external perceptions differ so much from how we see ourselves?
After years of wondering and philosophizing, I worked on a project with a friend that gave me a completely new way to describe self-confidence. Specifically, a co-author and I compared self-confidence with self-esteem and self-worth. The short version is:
1. Self-confidence is, “I can do some cool stuff if I put my mind to it”
2. Self-esteem is, “I’ve done some stuff I’m proud of”
3. Self-worth is, “I’m worthy of others’ love or respect”
As it turns out, I do have self-confidence. I slowly built a base of “sure, I can do that” based on positive feedback from some things I’ve done in the past. I’ve worked hard. I’ve failed a lot. But with persistence, I’ve done enough cool things that my self-esteem kicked in and said, “sure, that’s something to be proud of,” and then self-confidence grew from that, naturally telling me, “you can probably do that, too.”
Self-worth is the hard one for me. I don’t feel like I’m worthy of others’ love or respect. Not really. I feel like the context of what I’ve done that is cool isn’t as cool as what others have done. I believe that the cool things I’ve done have given me satisfaction but haven’t necessarily brought value to others.
These are negative dialogues that I continue to work on every day. Learning that I do have self-confidence and self-esteem, though, helped frame my struggles with self-worth. Knowing what I do have gives me more opportunity to leverage it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’ve been working as an independent marketing consultant and ghost writer ever since I moved away from the U.S. in 2016. After a decade of work in the banking sector, it was exciting to connect with business owners from dozens of different industries through projects I first acquired freelancing.
I’ve learned so much from so many projects that I now call all my client work “collaborations.” I see how this attitude manifests in the outcome of every project. My clients are surprised and amazed at what they, too, can do with the wordsmithing, internal procedural writing, and project management that I’m naturally best at.
I like to say that the work I do always comes down to words. I published a small dictionary as a pet project, and I created and sell a card game about storytelling, so I’m definitely into the use of language. In my contracting work, I put the right words in the right places to craft marketing strategies that align teams; I put words on the page that my ghostwriting clients find hard to articulate themselves; and I put words into processes and systems to help marketing programs run better at each client company.
I also work with clients in two languages: Spanish and English. Born in the Midwest, I relocated to Guatemala in 2016 and to Peru in 2017. My husband David and I relocated to Spain in 2023.
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?
I could highlight several different skills, qualities and opportunities that each had a big effect on my journey because I’m in a habit of practicing gratitude for all of them. With this audience in mind, though, I’d like to talk about perseverance.
I remember when I was a kid, I tried out for around 60 local community theater stage productions. I love to sing, and as a young girl I thought it was one of the only things I did well. I was cast once at one theater, and then once by a traveling production company. Otherwise, it was almost 60 rejections. I couldn’t even make it into the chorus of A Christmas Carol, despite a set of lungs and a decent voice that could have helped the choir shine.
You know what I took away from all that rejection? Enjoy the journey, and you will have an easier time persevering. My auditions turned into my theater fix. I would go to each prepared with an a capella song, and I’d sing it with verve. I enjoyed every moment. Whichever friend or cousin accompanied me would say I’d done a great job…and then my name never showed up on the cast list. I just looked forward all the more to the next opportunity to try out.
We’re all suckers for the instant gratification culture at some point. I’m just as guilty as the next person, but when it’s something important to me, I can practice greater dedication and patience. Decide what’s most important to you, then commit to the journey. Expect that you’ll fail along the way. As long as you can get joy out of the smaller victories throughout the process, you’ll be able to keep on going — and eventually get anywhere you want to go.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I have found immeasurable happiness working with other passionate people. My most recent collaboration was a co-authored book about coping with anxiety. I’m not a mental health professional, but the passion the principal author brought was invigorating. I’m hungry for more projects like this one.
I work best with passionate people because it’s not just about the money, it’s about the message. I underbid my peers in the industry because I live in parts of the world where my cost of living is lower. This means I’ve gotten to help passionate people realize their dreams when they otherwise couldn’t always afford hiring someone like me.
Ultimately, my work does come down to words. I love ghostwriting. I love helping people improve existing manuscripts, too.
I do fundamentally believe there are many paths to the mountaintop; maybe you’ll get a marketing strategy from me that doesn’t sound like the strategy someone else gave you, but both could work. It’s about finding someone who “gets” your message so that you know the path will lead to the right destination, no matter the side of the mountain it’s charted through.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.borzo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aborzo/
