Authors and Imposter Syndrome

Do you want to look like this guy when you finally finish your book? If not, then you need to know how to battle imposter syndrome. And this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book broad, founder of a fabulous self publishing services firm called Book Launchers. At Book Launchers, we've worked with more than 350 authors, and many of them have found themselves facing imposter syndrome at some some point in the process. So if you face that feeling of who am I to write this book, or you're facing it right now, let me assure you that it is real and it should not be in charge. If you're new to the channel, I do hope you've subscribed and turned the notifications on because I have so much amazing support for you as an author, but also because I talk about the monsters we face all the time, and one of the monsters authors face is imposter syndrome. And let me tell you, when it comes to your personal monsters, there really is no beating them or getting rid of them. There is a getting to know your monster and not letting it drive the car, though. Imposter syndrome and fear of judgment are my own personal big monsters. And through therapy, personal development, and a lot of humbling mistakes and pure determination to have an impact and achieve things, I've gotten to know my monsters. And they rarely are allowed to drive the car, but they're always along for the ride. So my first tip is this. Get to know your monsters so you know when your monster's trying to drive and put it in the backseat, acknowledge it, give it a sandwich to chew on, and tell it that you're driving. Actually, that's kind of like traveling with children. Give them snacks, put them in the back, and they're happy. All right. Truly, though, we all fear we aren't enough. In Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour, she even says, I still sometimes feel like a loser kid in high school, and I have to pick myself up and tell myself that I'm a superstar so that I can get through this day and be there for my fans and be what they need me to be. In that quote comes my second biggest tip for handling imposter syndrome. Don't do it for you. Do it for the person or the people who need you. At fincon this year, a speaker didn't show up. The talk topic was creating sizzling content from a book or something like that. And someone came running up to me at the book Launcher's booth and said, the speaker didn't show and you should go up there now. My monster got really loud in my ear saying all the things like, you're not ready. You didn't prepare for this. They aren't expecting you. What's the audience going to think when you just stroll up? They didn't even accept your speaking proposal at fincon this year. They didn't want you to speak. So all of these things are going on in my head. But I could see the audience from my booth and they were just sitting there waiting for someone to come and speak with them. And they were there waiting for content. And even though my monster was challenging me on what the heck I was going to say, that would be of value, I knew in my heart that I would be able to deliver some value to that room of people that were currently not getting any value at the moment. So I went up and did it. And it was one of the highlights of the event because one of our clients, Deb Meyer, happened to be in the audience and when she saw me walking up, she started cheering and that made the whole crowd cheer. So thanks, Deb. I didn't go up there for me. I got up there and said, okay, let's see if I can help you all out. And I gave it my best. Next tip is one of the reasons I've created success is because I take action. I charge forward despite uncertainty and usually often not knowing more than one or two steps ahead. Nobody wants to fail, but the greatest successes almost always come out of failure. And did you know why WD40 is named WD40? Well, it took them 40 attempts to get their water displacing formula to work, but now look where it's at. It's a product everyone knows. I don't want to fail. It's not fun. But I'm not going to not try just because I might fail. If you want to conquer, or at least push your imposter syndrome to the backseat, be the person who takes action in spite of the fact that anything you do may not work. Number four, embrace who you are and share it as openly as you can. When you're as close to transparent and yourself as you can be in every situation, you will start to see the people who need your story and need you to be you. The books that often fall flat are by an author who wasn't willing to go beneath the surface and show people who they really are. They pretend they didn't screw up here or there, or they pretend try to hide a bad decision, or they try to justify it even though, looking back, it was obviously a bad choice. When you do that, your imposter syndrome monster knows you're faking it. And it's going to get louder and louder. When you embrace your mistakes, share them with others, and present yourself for who you are, the beautiful but flawed human that you are, you will be appreciated for all that you are, and that helps helps you handle your imposter syndrome. The greatest compliment I get is when someone says how much I've helped them by sharing so openly. I am not perfect and everything I touch does not turn to gold. Gosh darn it. But much of what I touch turns into a lesson that I then share with you so we can all learn together. I mean, look at my video on BookBub ads. That was a story of. Okay, that didn't go so well, but here's what I learned. Number five. Remember, there are always people who are behind you on your journey, and they are the ones that often need you the most. I've shared this before, so apologies to my beloved YouTube besties like Allen West, Mike Hurd, Sean Hayes, Rachel Robertson, Scully's House of Thrillers, and Benny Bullock, because I know you've heard this story several times before. But when I wrote More Than Cash Flow, the book that hit number one overall on Amazon, I was really terrified to share my stories and claim to be an expert. Because I kept thinking, who was I to write a book on real estate investing when I'd only done about 30 deals? But I wasn't writing it for the experienced investor. I was writing it for the new investor to help prevent them from owning their own crack house or having a property manager rob rent money from them. Like happened to me. So remember the person behind you on the same path. And again, give that monster some snacks and tell them to shh. Now I'm curious. What's your monster's favorite sandwich? Let's chat about it in the comments below and then check out this video on my BookBub ads experience. And if you want the video that YouTube thinks you really need to see, well, that is right here. Both are awesome. Hope to see you there.