041: FIGHT THE FEAR: THIS IS HOW TO OVERCOME IMPOSTER SYNDROME

 

iTunes | Stitcher | Soundcloud | Overcast | Spotify | TuneIn | Castbox

Today’s talking point:

I am so good at running someone else's Instagram, but I can't get the same traction. I am envisaging what I want on my own Instagram and it's driving me nuts. I feel like I'm missing the mark, but the more I focus on it, the more I feel stretched too thin. Now it’s grown to imposter syndrome because if I can't fix my own channel, then what business do I have helping someone else with theirs? 

That is one loaded question, but imposter syndrome happens to everyone. 

I have a tactic I am going to teach you today that will cure your imposter syndrome. Seriously, you’re going to be so good, you're going to be selling like hotcakes.

Now, you are probably thinking, “wait a minute... Holly, you didn't say anything about sales”. But this step is required to be unlocked before you have the ability to effectively sell what you do. 

Before we get into it, I wanted to let you know that this episode is brought to you by my free challenge, The 5-Day Online Marketing Challenge: My Step-by-Step System to Simplify Your Social Media Strategy & Attract More Clients. And we are officially open for registration!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE FREE CHALLENGE


This free 5-day challenge is running from Monday 21st to Friday 25th October where I’ll be going live every day on Instagram and in my free Facebook group at 12pm BST.

I cannot wait to share with you the step-by-step system I use to market myself simply online, attract more clients and book out my coaching packages. It’s going to be an amazing jam-packed 5 days that you are not going to want to miss.

You can click right here to register and you’ll get an email with all the details. But you have to sign up to get access to all the goods so you can take part in the challenge!

WHAT IS IMPOSTER SYNDROME?

For the past couple of months we've covered everything from foundations you need to set your online presence and business up for success, how to create a content calendar and repurpose your content, to how to use SEO on your website. 

But there's a big piece internally that has to be done in order for you to go from finding opportunities to landing opportunities. There's a giant gap in the middle of that - a lot of us struggle with the big monster that wakes you up in the middle of the night: imposter syndrome. 

So why is this happening?

Everyone suffers from imposter syndrome (I do too!). But once you crack this code, it will flip your way of thinking. It’s a thought we put in our brain, it’s a thought that if you're not getting clients and customers, you've convinced yourself that it's because your work is not great. Then you convince yourself, okay, I need to keep working for free for my portfolio, and maybe eventually you will get more clients. 

Yes, in some cases, an amazing portfolio can make an impact on a decision, but most people are not in a place to decide what is good or bad! You are the one with the expertise in your field, not the people hiring you. 


HOW TO GET PAST IMPOSTER SYNDROME

In this post, we’re going to cover how to stop the constant comparing of yourself to others such as:

  • How are they making so much more than me?

  • How do they progress further?

By backtracking negative self talk and changing your mindset, you can get past imposter syndrome and thrive in your business


Switching What You’re Selling

The difference between the person that looks like they are killing it, and the way you are feeling is: they have learned the tactic of switching what they're selling. 

So instead of saying, “I'm selling high quality wedding photographs to you,” they're actually saying, “how can I show up as the unique human being that I am and offer this service in no other way that anyone else can?” 

You are the only version of yourself. How do we internalise the way that we're showing up and serving people, instead of making the quality of the work do the serving?


The Myth of the Portfolio

You might be putting a portfolio together with your past experience and thinking, it's not applicable to the kind of person I want to serve. If you show that content, you are going to attract the wrong clIent. It’s ok if you don’t have an in depth portfolio with the exact work you want to do.

Think about it like high school. Has anyone asked you to use the Pythagorean theorem since? For instance, I started out doing social media management. I created social media posts, scheduled them, all that jazz, and then one day a client asked if I could do social media advertising. I had never tried, but my client knew me, and trusted me.

Focus on your individual value, and trust yourself to serve your ideal clients. 

Instead of focusing on a detailed portfolio, focus on:

  • Your individuality, and the value of that

  • Where your passions lie

  • The connection between you and your clients


Create a Personalised Approach

So let's paint this picture. We're going back a bit now: I'm a new business coach and convinced myself that if I got better numerical results, (10K Instagram followers within a week), then I would have better testimonials and more people would hire me. 

Yes, to a certain extent, this is true. People want to see you can get your clients results. Though after research, I realised that coaching doesn’t work that way. It's not a one size fits all. When I focused on creating a personalised experience, my business thrived.

I realised that people wanted to work with me, not mainly because of what I knew or because of my experiences, but because they knew they liked my way of teaching. They liked my way of explaining things, and they liked me.

I'm not going to give you a cookie cutter formula of what every single one-on-one client has to work on. I'm going to find out where you are now, where you want to be, and what we can do in 12 weeks to close that gap while making it very fun along the way. 

Don’t rely on a strict one-on-one structure, or specific steps that need to be followed, but recognise the differences between businesses and work to let them thrive individually.


Find Your Passion

Think about what is it that you're attracted to about what you do. So rather than saying, I want to be like X, Y, Z… 

  • What are you already like? 

  • What do you already produce? 

  • What is it that makes you excited? 

What part of your process are you just like, this is my favourite part of the process. Every single time. 

When you're selling and you're getting in front of people, talking about your passion with passion, you're talking about your craft in a way that's just powerful and exciting, that something people want to be a part of.

When you are in your element 100% and you're not trying to be anyone else, people want to be around you. 


RECAP

So ultimately what you’re trying to do is not necessarily a shift, it's just a thought reversal. It is less about the quality of your work and more about your passion for the subject and your passion for the process. Selling yourself by being yourself, and talking about what it is that lights you up. 

What gets you excited about doing this? If you're missing that (because there have definitely been periods where I've wondered: what is my purpose?), acknowledge those as seasons. Step out of your comfort zone and launch something new. The simple act of acknowledging how you feel is going to allow you to make shifts towards being able to deal with it better next time. 

Stop comparing yourself to others you see on the internet. If that person is not providing any value to you, why are you following them? The simple act of focusing on your community rather than your competitors makes this whole thing worthwhile. You can step into your element and feel excited because you’re pleasing your community and not assigning your value to the people you compare yourself to. 

What I'm encouraging you to do today is to start to begin to think about how you can flip how you are selling the thing that you offer upside down. Think about what is the story behind how you serve and ultimately, deliver that final product. Because that thing is not going to change. 

If you have a passion for it, focus on you, and just be yourself - people will want to work with you.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

 
PodcastHolly Sutton1 Comment