January 3, 2018

Getting confident with former WNBA player, Chantelle Anderson

Chantelle Anderson is a 6 year WNBA veteran and an award-winning medical sales representative turned confidence coach. She specializes in helping others build the confidence they need to get what they want. Chantelle’s joy is infectious and she leaves others inspired and equipped to succeed.

Her mission is to provide a million women with the tools to build confidence in themselves, walk in their full potential and impact the world in a positive way.

We caught up with Chantelle to find out more about her wonderful journey, how to deal with transitions in your career and to get some confidence tips for 2018!

So you spent 6 years playing in the WNBA, what an amazing achievement. What was this experience like?
Playing in the WNBA was a dream come true. As cliché as it sounds, it’s totally true. In high school I had posters of the Women’s Olympic Team and Lisa Leslie all over my walls because I wanted to be just like them. And through four years of college that was always the goal in the back of my mind. It was a ton of hard work, injuries, days I didn’t want to go to practice and lots of tears. But I remember calling my sister during my senior year and telling her how WNBA scouts were coming to my practices and the prediction was that I’d be picked in the first round. We were so excited that it was actually going to happen and it made
everything worth it!

How was the transition from having to leave the WNBA and move into a completely different career and to start again? 
The great thing about sports is that it prepares us to be successful at anything else we could ever want to do in life. But the hard thing about sports is that it’s so self-consuming that when I was done, I didn’t feel prepared to do anything. It was hard trying to find myself apart from basketball while at the same time trying to figure out what that next step was. The whole transition was difficult. But thankfully basketball prepared me to handle it. It was like the transition drills, in going from offense to defense, that I had practiced my whole life. So I did the same things: kept moving, paid attention to everything that was happening, played to
my strengths and just did the best I could. Eventually I landed in the right place!

You experienced incredible success as a medical sales rep, it seems that you have the special gift of nailing whatever you put your mind to. How did you approach your new career and become successful? 
Thank you! I think it goes back to applying everything I learned in sports to everything else I do. But if I had to give specific strategies that were constant, I would say:
1. Figure out who you are and build confidence in that. After I retired from the WNBA, I spent the next year intentionally working on me and getting to know myself outside of basketball. I didn’t realize it would have such a lasting impact at the time, but it really changed everything that would come after it. At the end of the day, we are the constant in
everything we do and so it’s important to work on us and build confidence in ourselves.

2. Work.
Sounds like a given but so many people don’t do it enough. One of the things that I always did was go all in to anything I was doing at the time, and do everything I could do to be successful in that. Sometimes we let fear stop us from going all the way in but that will always hold us back from getting where we want to go.

3. Talk to everyone.
Seriously, networking and making friends is a skill that you need. I rarely go anywhere without
leaving with a new friend or business connection. The importance of networking has to be a
conviction of yours.

4. Treat people like they’re famous. Lol.
Seriously, from being in the public eye – especially in college – I noticed that people always treatedme like I was important. But when I went to the pros and was no longer a star (relatively), and then again after I stopped playing altogether, people stopped treating me like I was important. It was a really sucky feeling, but I realized that most people were treated like that their whole lives. So I decided to be different. From then on, my goal was to treat every person I meet like people had treated me when I was “somebody”. It made all the difference. So many of the opportunities I’ve gotten are simply because I treated someone like they were important regardless of what their title was.

5. Have the courage to change what you don’t like.
Whether it’s within your self, in a job you hate or a relationship that isn’t giving you what you need,change it! People say don’t settle and that’s key. But none of us want to settle. What gets in our way is that we lack the confidence to believe that we can get better and then the courage to try. That’s one thing I’ve always had a strong conviction about. When I stopped playing basketball, I refused to stay at a job I didn’t love – sports spoils you in that way – and so I didn’t stop moving until I found that thing. I established my non-negotiables, did the work to build what I wanted and then I found the courage and faith to jump into it.

A lot of women struggle with imposter syndrome, what would be your advice in tackling this? 
Imposter syndrome sucks! It’s something very close to my heart and a big reason why I developed my Visible Confidence course. Some of the keys to beating it are to realize it’s a problem, address the root issue, fight it every day and surround yourself with people who will fight with you.

Do you think confidence is something you are born with or can anyone develop confidence? 
Confidence is definitely something we’re ALL born with. You remember when you were fearless as a kid,right? We all have it. But then life teaches us that we shouldn’t be confident as we get older. And from there, it’s definitely a skill that we need to rebuild. It’s not for the select few. Any and everyone can – and should –work to build confidence in who they are and what they do.

Many people let fear hold them back from making life changing decisions, how do you help your clients overcome fear? 
Yes, fear is a huge thing for all of us. When I work with my clients, I help them see fear differently, give them specific weapons to fight it with and then get to the bottom of where it’s coming from so they can lessen it all together. No one is or will ever be fearless. Being confident takes away the excuse of fear and allows you to succeed anyway.

Tell us about your online course Visible Confidence and why did you create this program?
Yes, this course is my baby! Haha. My coach used to say that in basketball, I guarded myself far more often than any one else guarded me. And so I worked really hard and became a player that was unguardable in a lot of situations. But when I left basketball, I found out that guarding myself was costing me a lot more than a missed shot or a lost game. It was costing me money, missed promotions and failed relationships. So I decided I didn’t want to guard myself in life either, and figured out a way to stop doing. So I created the process behind Visible Confidence because I needed it.But I turned it into a course because when I went through the process, it changed everything about my life,how I felt about myself and what I was able to do professionally. When I saw the difference, I wanted to help others and see them experience that same thing. And so now I take 8 weeks (and longer if needed) to give women all the tools they need – that have worked for me and others – to live a more confident life in every area.

Who in your circle gives you encouragement on your down days?
I have an amazing circle of women around me. The people I’m most likely to call and talk to when I’m down are my sister/BFF, Kristin, and my best friend, Lee. I also meet with my spiritual mentor, Helen, once every week to talk and get advice. If something is going on, I’m calling one of those three. Haha.

Who are your role models and influences? 
In a lot of ways, my role models are the people in my inner circle because I make friends with people I admire and who I want to be like in certain ways. I think that’s really important for all of us. But there are other people who I look to for career/fashion/hair inspiration and ideas. There’s too many to name but the first ones that come to mind are Nicole Walters and Gabrielle Union.

What else do you have coming up? 
I’m super excited to launch the next cycle of my Visible Confidence Course in February, 2018. My new book, also titled Visible Confidence, is coming out next week and then my TEDx Talk called “Saving Yourself the Cost of Insecurity” that I just did will be posting on the TED site in January. I also just began a partnership as one of the new Voices of Women of Faith so I’m happy to have the platform to share about my faith as well. It’s shaping up to be an amazing 2018!

The best way to keep up with everything that’s happening is to go to VisibleConfidence.com and join my email list, because I send out weekly confidence tips as well as updates. I also announce a lot of stuff on Instagram @MissChantelle.