Being consistent: My sister will tell you. Once I start something I am focused on that goal. I knew once I built my Email Developer Portfolio and optimized my resume. I would be diligent and focus on submitting my resume to all job boards. I was sort of relentless.
Starting something new is scary. Learning to believe in yourself can be a critical precursor to starting a new initiative. Why is it so important to learn to believe in yourself? How can someone work on gaining these skills? In this interview series, we are talking to business leaders, authors, writers, coaches, medical professionals, teachers, to share empowering insights about “How To Learn To Believe In Yourself.” As a part of this series we had the pleasure of interviewing Marcus Ollison.
Marcus is an experienced email developer with a passion for crafting engaging and visually appealing email campaigns. He has over 2 years of experience in the field, working with clients/agencies across various industries to create effective email marketing campaigns.
Marcus’s expertise lies in creating responsive, mobile-friendly email templates that deliver strong engagement and conversion rates. He has a deep understanding of email design best practices, including optimizing layouts, images, and calls to action for maximum impact.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I am a country boy from a small town (very small) in Arkansas. The population is 326 people, of course everyone knows each other. My mother still lives there til this day in the same house since I was 4 years old. The community is good about helping each other, especially the elders.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
Ivan Hurt. He was a major influence. I consider him as a mentor. He would always answer all of my questions. I would offer him compensation and he would always turn it down. Ivan is a good overall person and he helps the community and volunteers as well. It is because of Ivan and his support is the reason I am in my current position as we speak. A truly good guy.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funny mistakes I made were going to interviews and not knowing the language of hiring managers. Some of the managers knew that I had very little to know experience working as an Email Developer. Taking shortcuts and winging it is something I do not authorize at all.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
Although not at the moment. I have built email templates for Hope Haven in San Pedro Belize. It is a Children’s Home & Community center that I volunteered with while living in San Pedro back in 2018–2019.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. This will be intuitive to you but it will be helpful to spell this out directly. Can you help explain a few reasons why it is so important to believe in yourself? Can you share a story or give some examples?
Self confidence and Self assurance is everything. When you believe in yourself, you feel more confident about your abilities and strengths.
This self-assurance can help you to tackle challenges and take risks without fear of failure, which can lead to greater success in your personal and professional life.
Believing in yourself can also help you to bounce back from setbacks and failures more quickly. If you have confidence in your abilities, you are more likely to persevere and try again, rather than giving up or becoming discouraged.
There were countless interviews, sometimes 3 interviews on a weekly basis. I actually went through 9 months of getting turned down for Email Developer jobs, but I knew I just needed one chance to prove myself, my skills and my discipline and work ethics.
What exactly does it mean to believe in yourself? Can I believe that I can be a great artist even though I’m not very talented? Can I believe I can be a gold medal Olympic even if I’m not athletic? Can you please explain what you mean?
Believing in yourself means having confidence in your abilities, qualities, and judgment. It means having a positive attitude towards yourself and your potential, and trusting yourself to make good decisions and achieve your goals.
When you believe in yourself, you acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses, and you know that you have the ability to learn and grow. You have a sense of self-worth and self-respect, and you treat yourself with kindness and compassion. Believing in yourself doesn’t mean that you never experience self-doubt or fear, but rather that you are able to recognize those feelings and work through them in a positive way.
Was there a time when you did not believe in yourself? How did this impact your choices?
Most definitely. Self doubt and the lack of confidence along with fear stagnated my Email Development journey for about 4 months. I was not studying tables, not learning interview questions and definitely not submitting my resume to hiring managers. All because of intimidation and fear.
At what point did you realize that in order to get to the next level, it would be necessary to build up your belief in yourself? Can you share the story with us?
One day I had an epiphany. I was a single father and raised my two sons. What could be as hard and intimidating as being a loving, caring father that provides for his children. I am currently an empty nester and I look at the world as my oyster so I took the same approach and discipline with Email Development as I would as a father of my two loving sons.
What are your top 5 strategies that will help someone learn to believe in themselves? Please share a story or example for each.
1 . Being consistent: My sister will tell you. Once I start something I am focused on that goal. I knew once I built my Email Developer Portfolio and optimized my resume. I would be diligent and focus on submitting my resume to all job boards. I was sort of relentless.
2 . Stay focused: There were times that I actually searched for distractions that would give me an excuse of failing, but I stayed the course no matter what was going on. Although I was turned down on several interviews (I stopped counting around 25) I remained focused and dedicated.
3 . Believing it will happen: I knew eventually I would become an Email Developer. It was just something that I didn’t worry about. I just did not know when that time would come. Believing is everything.
4 . Discipline: I had to take my Email Developer Journey very seriously. It was about positioning myself in those circles that would enhance my chances of reaching my goals. Week in and week out I would always stick to the plan and not mentally derail myself.
5 . Stay positive: When you are accustomed to a certain lifestyle (income wise) It can really trigger negative thoughts. Should I live a better quality of life? Should I feel guilty if I want to better myself? As far as lifestyles and employment opportunities for years this was my mindset. I was comfortable but I also knew I had to change my way of thinking and that starts with a positive mindset.
Conversely, how can one stop the negative stream of self-criticism that often accompanies us as we try to grow?
We all should reframe our negative thoughts. When you notice negative self-talk, challenge those thoughts and try to reframe them in a more positive or realistic way. For example, if you find yourself thinking “I’m not good enough,” try to reframe it as “I’m not perfect, but I’m doing the best I can.
Are there any misconceptions about self-confidence and believing in oneself that you would like to dispel?
It’s not about being perfect. Many people believe that self-confidence means being perfect or flawless. However, this is not the case. Self-confidence means accepting your imperfections and believing in your ability to learn and grow from your mistakes.
What advice would you give to someone who is struggling with imposter syndrome?
Recognize that it’s common. Imposter syndrome is a common experience, and many people have struggled with it at some point in their lives.
When negative thoughts about your abilities and accomplishments arise, challenge them by asking yourself if they are based on facts or assumptions.
Ok, we are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
In my opinion, We could encourage people to seek to understand and appreciate different perspectives, prioritize the needs of others, and work towards creating a more just and equitable society for all.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
I’ve always admired Mark Cuban’s intelligence. He has a brilliant mind and I really enjoy how he breaks conversations down. I would love to just pick his brain on certain subjects of conversation. I’ve lived in the DFW area almost 2 years so that is a start. Putting myself in position.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Website/Job Board: Emailcapitol.com
Youtube Channel: HTML Email Developer Channel
Youtube Channel: MR. O
Email: [email protected]
Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.