Episode 23:

How to overcome imposter syndrome in your business

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Show Notes

Summary

Hello, fabulous human!


Welcome back to the Empowered Edupreneur Podcast.


If there is one thing that continuously creeps up in my life, in my DBA students' lives, and in my coaching clients' lives… it is imposter syndrome.


It is sneaky, incredibly pervasive, can lead to more suffering in your business journey AND massive resistance where you simply can’t move forward. Hello, action paralysis. Sound familiar?

So this is what I am diving into in this episode today.


In this episode, you will learn:


  • How to identify the signs of imposter syndrome.
  • Practical steps to managing and overcoming imposter syndrome.
  • A new perspective shift to take the ‘pressure off’.
  • And a way to move forward in your business WITH imposter syndrome by your side (yes, I said WITH).


If you want to grow a successful business online then it is almost guaranteed that imposter syndrome will creep up on you and potentially hold you back. This episode will hopefully help you reframe this syndrome and work through it yourself.


The doors are open to the Growth Accelerator currently at a pre-sale price. If you are an educator in business who has made a few sales and you are desiring to expand and create bigger cash months with a customized strategy that suits your goals then this is the program for you!


This is a 12-week group coaching container for educators in business who are desiring to scale up their business using the power of aligned strategy and potent energy. If you are feeling the pull, then click this link to learn more. 

Subscribe to:

Links

  • Ready to supercharge your online education business growth? Join the Growth Accelerator now and get customized biz strategies with powerful energy tools to grow your business to $5K months and beyond!

Transcript

Transcription

Welcome to the Empowered Edupreneurs Podcast. My name is Michelle Smit, and I am an ex-teacher turned online business coach for Edupreneurs, the owner of Digiteach and a six-figure entrepreneur. I am in love with empowering educators just like you to create freedom filled online businesses and lives they love.


If you are looking to up-level your skills, your finances, your mindset, and change the trajectory of your life as an educator and business, then you are in the right place. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of business and mindset development to help unlock the infinite potential within. To play bigger with your life and go after your dreams.


We are going to have so much fun together. So thank you so much for pushing play today. Now let's dive in.


Hello, hello, hello. Amazing one, and welcome back to the podcast. I am so excited to have you here today. I'm talking about something that honestly, it comes up all the time. It comes. With all my coaching clients, it comes up in all of my students' lives. It comes up in my life as a business owner. I think it comes up in everyone's life as a business owner.


So what is that thing? That thing is imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a sneaky little devil that rears its ugly head. All the time as you're trying to build a business, as you're trying to increase your income, as you're trying to raise your prices, as you're trying to do, do anything that you haven't done before.


So really, when you step out of your comfort zone, imposter syndrome rears its ugly head. And for many people it stops them from being able to move forward. And I really think that. That is a problem. I really think it's such a shame for that to be the case. And so I really wanted to create this episode just to help you see, realize what you're experiencing, so be able to identify that its imposter syndrome.


And just ways that you can reframe it and work through it and even continue working with it as a part of your business. So, I know that the title of this podcast is How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome, and obviously that's what everyone wants. They want to overcome it, they want to crush it, they'd never want to have it again.


But we are human beings and part of being a human being. We're going to experience these things. And I really do believe, just like fear, I really do believe imposter syndrome is just one of those things that will rear its ugly head as you're growing your business, as you're doing things that are out of your comfort zone.


And yeah. And so I don't think the goal is to overcome. Like in the sense that you will no longer experience imposter syndrome. I think the goal is to experience it, but no longer let it stop you from moving forward. So you are aware that you're experiencing it, but you're not letting it. Paralyze you and stop you from taking the steps you want to take in your business to create the results you want to create.


So this is what this episode's about. I'm going to give you a little bit of a little, a few steps that I think is going to help reframe the experience, how I've done it in my business, how to take the pressure off, all of that stuff. So hopefully you can see when you're experiencing imposter syndrome and you can shift yourself out of that, into movement, into action, and so that it doesn't hold you back because if it is going to hold you back, then just know that building a business is going to be very difficult. Like we're probably not going to be able to do it.


All righty. The first step is to spot it, is to have the awareness that I am experiencing imposter syndrome. So these are a couple of signs that you are experiencing imposter syndrome if you feel like you got lucky with something when you actually prepared well and worked hard.


So, for example, if you have a really. Launch and it's the best launch you've ever had and you made a great amount of money and you're super stoked in the moment. A couple of weeks later, you may get in your head about it or you know, just as you're doing it, you may just think, ah, that's just luck. Like that can't happen again.


I just got lucky. So you're discounting what you did. You're discounting that you worked hard and this was a result you created. You're just saying, ah, no, I just got lucky. That is a sign of imposter syndrome if you find it hard to accept praise. So people saying you did really well. And just accepting things like that.


That is a little bit of a sign of imposter syndrome if you hold yourself to insanely and impossibly high standards. So perfectionism type stuff. Obviously that is perfectionism at play, but it's also a sign of imposter syndrome if you are paralyzed in your action to move forward. Sometimes it's because you are feeling like an imposter or a fraud.


So if you feel like a fraud and you're like, I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be like doing this, I shouldn't be, who am I to do this? That's imposter syndrome. And you're just kind of feeling that you're just not enough. Like you're not enough. In your business, you're not enough in your niche, you're not enough of an expert.


The thing of having to keep going and get certifications and this and that, accreditation or I don't know if I even said that word correctly, but whatever. So, Yeah, if you feel like you need to keep getting certified with different things, that's also a sign of not enoughness and a little bit of imposter syndrome, like as if you're going to suddenly feel like you belong based on a certification.


Okay. So those are some signs if you're experiencing those things. It can often be a sign of imposter syndrome. So create awareness around it. At first. I think that's the first step in actually shifting something or reframing it, is understanding what is going on, being able to spot the thing in your mind.


Okay, now the next thing I want to say is I want you to understand that you are not alone. Now I cannot even tell you. How many times I've experienced imposter syndrome and I'm going to be dead honest. I still experience imposter syndrome every time I reach a new level in my business or I do something that I'm uncomfortable with, I feel a sense of imposter syndrome.


And every time I want to expand into a bigger level at like a new income level, I want to operate on a different playing field, a different arena, and I want to really take myself to the next level as I do that, I feel imposter syndrome. I feel like, who am I to do this? You're a fraud, you're not good enough.


All of that stuff. It comes up all the time. Just know that you are not alone. And I can also say that every business owner has experience imposter syndrome. Okay? It is just part of being a human being, I believe. And as we as human beings desire to evolve and grow, that's just part of our evolution. We really want to grow.


We want to do better. And as part of our growth process, every time we're trying to expand, there is a level of discomfort in that expansion where you're like questioning yourself and you're like, you can't do this. Who are you to do this? Who do you think you are? Because it's out of your comfort zone and it's, it's unpredictable and it's not certain and so much.


Business is in that area of uncertainty and not exactly knowing the outcome. And that space to be in. That really can bring up a lot of stuff and it can bring up a lot of that inner critic inside that ego mind that's really trying to keep you safe. That's entire goal. That reptile part of your brain is to keep you safe.


And yeah, I just think it's a human thing. We all have it. And so you are not alone. Don't make yourself feel bad about these feelings, they are just part of the package. Okay? So if you want to grow a business, know that this is going to come up and know that it comes up for everyone. I think that is helpful to, to know the next thing.


You know how everyone's like, you need to be an expert in order to do this thing. Now, I agree. You do need to have, you need to, you need to be confident in your expertise in order to sell something online, for someone to trust you, to pay you something. They need to see that you are an authority, that you can actually help them, that you are not just some scamster. 


They want to see that you are knowledgeable in your area and that you're good in your expertise, right? I agree with this, but what I want you to start shifting to, because I can feel that can be very paralyzing for some people, and that's where you get into that imposter syndrome. So being an expert is very subjective.


What does that even mean? Firstly? And the other thing. Yeah. When do you know when you're a full hundred percent expert? And I think people get into the state of, Ugh, I can't teach that, or I can't offer this service to someone because I'm not a hundred percent the best in the world at this thing.


And that's very paralyzing. Because when are you ever going to feel a hundred percent the best at something? It just doesn't really ever happen. And so that means that you're never going to actually feel safe enough to just do the thing anyway. So I want you to shift to this reframe. This reframe helps me a lot when I get into that imposter state.


Instead of saying I need to be the best of the best a hundred percent expert in this space. I say to myself, can I be a contributor to this space? Do I have enough to contribute to this conversation? Do I have enough to contribute to this market to serve this niche? Do I have enough to help someone achieve this result?


and most of the time it's a yes. Okay. Very rarely am I like, no, it's, you know. And so when you reframe it like that, you're going to be like, yeah, sure. That's achievable. I can be a contributor to this space. I am allowed to sit at this table. I am allowed to share my perspectives. My perspectives are unique and different, and my lived experience is different to other people.


The lessons that I've learned are different, and the way that I teach something is different and I've achieved a result in my life, and so I know I can help someone achieve that result. Or I've helped my students achieve this result. Of course, I can help someone else achieve this result, right? So instead of thinking, I need to be the best of the best.


and I need to go do a mizillion certifications to become better at my craft, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, but it can be a, it can be a sabotage, it can be some resistance point that you're holding yourself back out of a thing of, oh, I'm not perfect. Perfection doesn't exist. Right. And a hundred percent being an expert doesn't exist either.


Be confident in your expertise. Yes. Share your perspective on it. Yes. A contributor to the space. Do you think you can do that? Yes. And if so, just focus on that. Take the pressure off yourself to be perfect. Take the pressure off yourself to be the best of the best of the best. And I often use helpful mantras like, I am enough.


I am good enough. So that imposter syndrome is coming from a place of not enough. That is really the source of it. I am not enough. And so really changing that thought process into I Am Enough, and just flipping it on its head and instead of looking at why not you, you start looking at why yes to you.


Like this is why I should do this. This is why people should listen to me. This is why I am good at what I do. Our brain loves to remind us of why not us. And so it's important for us to remind ourselves of why us, why we should do this. And so mantras are very helpful in that. And anything that you follow with I am is very powerful.


So yeah, take the pressure off. You don't have to be an expert. You don't have to be the perfect person. You can be a contributor to the space and you can help someone. Achieve something without being the best of the best of the best, in my opinion. Okay. That just takes the pressure off. Does that mean you mustn't strive to be good at what you do? No. Strive to be good at what you do, but don't put so much pressure on yourself. Okay? 


The next thing, focus on honing your craft. Okay. That is something that I think really helps with imposter syndrome. The more you get confident in your area of expertise, the less you're going to feel like an imposter.


Now, besides that, focus on your self-worth. So having confidence in your expertise goes a hell of a long way. Okay. It really does. Of course, the first time you do something, you're not going to feel fully confident, but you do the thing so that you can start building the confidence. For example, the first time you launch, you're going to be very, Unsure.


You're going to be in doubt the whole time. You're going to feel lack of confidence. You'll be like, what am I doing the whole time? The more you launch, the more confident you get at launching, and as a result, the results just improve. So yes, focus on your craft, your expertise, but also on selling and all of that jazz.


The more you do it, the better you become. Right? So just build that confidence, build your skills. But self-worth is important, right? I think it's so important. I think if you have a low sense of self-worth, it really doesn't matter as much of the other stuff. If you are going to just by nature in your subconscious mind, have a low sense of self-worth, you're going to find a lot of resistance to selling a product, increasing your prices.


You're going to feel imposter syndrome a lot, and so really working on your self-worth and talking yourself up. And really controlling your dialogue in your mind and being, yeah, not just letting that inner critic tear you down the whole time, but just working, working on your sense of self-worth, your self-love all of that to build yourself up so you feel like you are enough, you are operating from a place of I am.


What I'm doing is enough instead of a place of I am not good enough, nothing I do is good enough. I'm just not a good teacher. There's so many other better people than me. I'm going to go do another 10,000 certifications and another qualification just to make myself feel like I'm enough.


And then when you do that qualification, you still don't feel like you're enough, right? So it's really just a sense of self-worth and enoughness within yourself that is very, very important. And I think people miss it a lot in business, but it's really difficult to sell products, increase prices you know, be confident in all the things you're doing.


If you do, if you're constantly in a state of not enough. And you don't even value yourself. How can other people value what you do if you can't value it yourself? Right. Very powerful. The next one that I would say is to be kind to yourself. Okay. Compassion goes a long way. I feel like we are our harshest critics.


The way we can talk to ourselves is. Unlike anything we would ever say to another human being or a friend or a family member, we would never talk to other people like the way we talk to ourselves. And that's really sad if you think about it. We have to live with ourselves for the rest of our life. We cannot escape ourselves.


We are literally inescapable. Like you can leave your friends, you can say, I'm like not going to see my family. Like whatever it is, you can't escape yourself. And it's so funny that our inner dialogue and our voice and our head can be so mean to ourselves and so judgmental and critical. I think that's the case for everyone.


Everyone experiences that in a critic. It's that ego part of them that is just, you know, it's meant to keep you safe and it's there for a reason and it has benefits, but at the end of the day, it doesn't like you doing things that are out of your comfort zone. And when you are doing things in your business that are out of your comfort zone, which is like all the time. Your inner critics get louder and louder.


And the more out of the, your comfort zone, you get your inner critic can get even louder, right? And thoughts can be really harsh and we tend to go down rabbit holes where we start believing these thoughts and they start to rule the show. And this is why I really want you to remember to be kind and compassionate to yourself.


Just like you would treat a friend or a family member who is starting a business and doing things out of their comfort zone. I want you to treat yourself like that. If your friend started a business and you know is doing something that's following their passion, they're feeling scared but energized in it, you're not going to say all these terrible things to them.


You're going to support them. You're going to praise them, hopefully, and you're going to just make them feel supported in that process. I want you to support yourself in the process, okay? I want you to treat yourself like you would treat your friend. It's easier said than done. I'm not saying I'm perfect at, at it, but it's something that I want to remind you.


When you are new at something, don't be so harsh about it. Like you're learning, you're new, you're at the beginning of your business, you're doing things you've never done before. You've never sold something before. You've never launched before. You've Yeah, maybe you've been teaching one-on-one classes and now you're doing a course.


So you're doing a group program and that's making you feel insecure and maybe your imposter syndrome's coming up because of that, like, and you're judging yourself the whole time. Just remember, you are a beginner and it's okay to be a beginner, and it's okay to not be perfect, and it's okay to not get everything right.


It's expected to not get everything right, that the first couple of things you do aren't going to be your best work. And that's just how it is. Like when a child is trying to walk and it falls, do you laugh at the child and think, ha ha are you useless? No. You're like, amazing. Get up again. Carry on walking like you can do it.


This is amazing. This is how you learn. Think about yourself as that child learning to walk when you're learning how to run your business and how to make money online and be kind like you would to that child. Be kind to yourself when that imposter syndrome comes up, you can just shift into a place of compassion and you can just say, I am enough.


I am good enough. What I'm doing is. The next thing that I can also recommend is an acknowledgement practice. I tell this to my clients, I've mentioned it a lot. I've done it myself. I want you to remind your brain when that inner critic screams louder. Journal, and do a bragging practice on yourself, I want you to go and brag about yourself.


You know, like as if no one's watching, no one's going to read that journal. No one's going to see it. Just go and write down why you're a badass and go wild. Like with everything in your life. There's so many things that you're so good at, there's so many qualities of you that are amazing. You've got good morals, values, you care about people.


You are an excellent educator. You have years of experience in education. This is amazing. You've already changed lives probably in your education like yours. And just like acknowledge even the small things that you've done in your business, you know launching, even though it was a small launch, how incredible that you could launch.


How incredible that you are one of the 0.1% of people who would actually have the balls to do it. All of these things. Acknowledge yourself. Remind your brain. Because your brain's going to remind you, why not you all the time. And so you need to manage your mind and you want to remind yourself that you are worthy of being in this space, and you are good, and you are great.


And you know, just talk yourself up as much as you can, like a bragging. Like, just have fun with it. It's going to feel so good. You're going to be so uplifted. It's so empowering. It's really good to counteract imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome, it's completely irrational most of the time.


Like, I'm not even joking. If I have a big launch, where it's like, wow, that was insane. And it's a big jump in the amount of money I've ever made. Imposter syndrome creeps up and I'm suddenly like. Oh my God, I have no idea what I'm doing. But I'm like, I do know what I'm doing.


I've done this so many times. It's crazy. But your brain in, its just, it can just, the thoughts just, they are completely irrational a lot of the time. And so your acknowledgement practice, your bragging practice is just bringing you back to yourself and rooting yourself in what is real in my opinion. Alrighty.


The other thing is, and I would say this is the last thing is. To realize this ultimate truth. Now, we're never going to fully overcome our imposter syndrome. Sorry about the title of my podcast, but let's be honest. Everything, everyone wants that I think people just love to think that they can overcome imposter syndrome and that they can crush all their fears, but I just don't think it's possible.


As I said, I just think we are humans and part of being a human being is having an ego, an inner critic, is experiencing fears and experiencing imposter syndrome, experiencing not enoughness. Negative thoughts, negative thought patterns, limitations, perfectionism. All of those things are just part of our human experience.


The other honest truth, and this might be depressing, is at every level of your business, imposter syndrome creeps up normally. And so that is a truth that I've had to make sense of myself because you think, okay. When you've made a certain amount of money, imposter syndrome goes away. That's what is nice to think, okay, when I've made this amount of money, I'm no longer going to experience this feeling of not enoughness or that I'm a fraud.


Unfortunately, it doesn't work out like that. The next level. So say you've made like, I don't know, say you've had a $10,000 launch for example, and you think that at a $10,000 launch, you're going to feel like, all your problems will go away, or whatever. Suddenly your imposter syndrome will go away. 


When you hit that number. You will still experience imposter syndrome and then when you go to 20 K, imposter syndrome rears its ugly head at 20 k. Because now it's like new level, new devil. Who do you think you are to make this money? You're not, you're not going to do a good job. People are going to find you out as the fraud that you are.


Like, that's what goes through your mind at every level. As soon as you expand into a new level, that little devil creeps up, as we say, new level, new devil. So that's why the internal mindset work actually never ends. It literally never ends. The money work working through your resistance, your blocks around money, all of that stuff. 


It's just ongoing. It's just part of being a business owner, right? Even the most talented, incredible people in the world who have done the most amazing things that are just like people just look up to them, they experience imposter syndrome. No one is spared. So what makes it possible for those who can move forward with it and succeed and those who cannot?


I really believe mind management is key, and the steps that I just ran through with you make a really big difference. People who can manage their mind, who are committed to doing the work to control their negative thoughts, who are constantly reframing. What things are to them for example, what imposter syndrome means to them who are focusing on their craft and just becoming good at what they do, who are focusing on building self-worth and enoughness and confidence, and who are compassionate and kind to themselves and reminding them.


To be compassionate and kind to themselves. I really do think this goes a long way. I think that's going to help. I think that's what people do business owners do, who are able to move forward personally. That's what I've done to be able to move forward. Because I've had imposter syndrome a lot. Does that mean I stay stuck in my.


Current way of being and not move forward? No, I work through the staff. I reframe thoughts. I, I don't listen to a lot of the stuff that I, my mind is telling me. I really just don't listen. I don't let it mean anything about me. And so that internal work is very much part of my journey as. And this is really what I want for you to do too.


Imposter syndrome should not be something that stops you from taking action and moving forward. So use the steps that I gave you, really, really use them and create awareness around when imposter syndrome is causing you resistance. Action paralysis. And shift yourself. Shift yourself. Okay? This is so powerful.


If you can do this, if you can manage your mind, success is inevitable because I really believe that our minds are our greatest limits in creating the, the money and the impact and all the things that we desire. I believe our mind is our greatest obstacle, our limitation.


If we can overcome that, then we are mad powerful. Now this is very much part of the coaching conversations that I'm going to have with my growth accelerator humans who are wanting to expand into bigger cash months. Because guess what happens when you try hit bigger cash months, you are going to come up against imposter syndrome as always.


So this is the kind of stuff that I really want to dive. Reframing all sorts of limitations of the mind and really shifting on an identity deep, subconscious level, like becoming the version of ourself who does hit those cash months. Who feels worthy, who feels enough. I think if you have that foundation, you are going to be pretty much invincible.


Okay. And I feel like strategy and stuff. Is important, but this stuff is a hell of a lot important because your strategy cannot outperform your energy, okay? If you are just in doubt and fear the entire time and breaking yourself down, that is going to be very much a low frequency energy, and that's not going to bring about the money that you desire and the results that you desire.


Okay? So if you are wanting to. Grow your business online. Expand into bigger impact with more income. You know, maybe five figure launches are the goal, maybe 5K months of the goal. Then make sure to check out my Growth Accelerator. It's a three-month coaching program. We dive into a lot of the identity stuff, the beliefs, the things that are holding us back and we really.


Digging deep on that stuff. And then of course, we look at your business goals and we create a customized and aligned strategy that suits you, that makes sense to your energy, that's going to help you create the results that you want in your business. So we are going to start this coaching container on the 20th of March.


And so there's a couple of days I think to go before then, depending on when this podcast airs. It's currently 1,777 and the price is going up to 2,222. So yeah. If you want to get involved, the price will be going up, and hopefully you can join us for this amazing experience. This is really for someone who has who knows their niche, who knows what they want to do.


They've sold stuff before and they're just wanting to now expand into a new level essentially. Alrighty, so I hope this episode was valuable for you. I think that this has really been valuable for me in my journey, in my business. And I still have to do this stuff, guys. I promise you, it never ever ends.


And this episode was helpful for me to remind myself of these things because this is so valuable, even as a reminder. So I hope you enjoyed. Reach out to me on Instagram. Let me know if you're listening to the episode, let me know what resonates what you like. I love hearing that. It makes me so happy. Otherwise, have an amazing rest of your day and I will chat to you soon. Bye. 


Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I am beyond excited to announce the doors are officially open for the Growth Accelerator. This is my 12-week group business coaching container, helping Edupreneurs scale to 5K months and multiple five figure launches.


Using the power of intentional strategy with potent energy, the doors are open with an epic presale price, which increases soon. Head to my website at digiteach.biz or click the link underneath this episode to read more or join the magic. 


I appreciate you so much, and I can't wait to connect with you in the next episode. In the meantime, go create a business and life you love.

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ABOUT THE PODCAST

The Empowered Edupreneur is your weekly dose of business and mindset development geared towards educators in online business. 

Michelle's mission is simple: To help educators unlock their infinite potential within, take back their power, and make their own money online. In this podcast, you can expect weekly inspiration, relatable stories, and business advice to help you grow your online business with more ease and joy (and fewer teaching hours). 

Be sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode! 

Tags: How to overcome imposter syndrome, How to stop feeling like an imposter, Imposter syndrome, How to reduce imposter syndrome, Mindset in business, How to overcome resistance in business

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