If you're good at estimating, you'll hit one out of every five or 10 bids. Quite simply, like a .300 hitter, you'll fail much more often than you'll succeed. This requires tremendous personal confidence in your ability. I have overcome my fear of failure by learning all that I can about estimating painting. I have also striven to improve my self-image by reading the right books and practicing positive thinking.
Little tricks can sometimes help, too.
Then he calmly and methodically reverts to his system, and starts breaking the structure down into individual components and does his bid. His firm does millions of dollars of business a year, so if the big boys get a little nervous sometimes, it's OK if you do, too. But then get back in the saddle and get to work. Their bids are either way high or way low. This makes me wonder if my new competitors even have the faintest clue about overhead costs.