Greg Faxon (coach/entrepreneur) presents three lessons from his 10 years coaching entrepreneurs about living with and learning from imposter syndrome rather than trying to eliminate it. Key points in this chunk: (1) accept that nobody truly "knows it all"—credibility doesn't require omniscience; (2) avoid "playing God"—don't take full responsibility for clients' outcomes and instead gather evidence of your impact; (3) use measurable feedback (case studies, referrals, repeat clients) to validate and improve your work. The video is practical, candid, and aimed at coaches/entrepreneurs who feel fraudulent or avoid marketing themselves.
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I'm just going to be honest with you. I've coached hundreds of entrepreneurs. They all have imposter syndrome. You're not going to get rid of it, and actually you don't want to get rid of it because in almost every case, your imposter syndrome is trying to tell you something. So the goal isn't to get rid of imposter syndrome. The goal is to learn from it. In this video, I want to share three things I've learned about imposter syndrome over my last 10 years as a coach. Before I learned these three things, I dread getting onto calls with potential clients. Deep down, I felt like a fraud and I didn't want to market myself because I was afraid of being found out. After I learned these three things, I started looking forward to calls. My clients got better results and I was much more confident marketing myself and charging higher rates. So let's start with the first lesson number one, nobody knows anything. Jerry Seinfeld tells this story of being invited to speak in front of a comedy class. And here's what he told them. The fact that you've even signed up for this class is a very bad sign for what you're trying to do. The fact that you think anyone can help you or there's anything that you need to learn, you've gone off on a bad track because nobody knows anything about any of this. And, and if you want to do it, what I really should do is I should have a giant flag behind me that I would pull a string and it would roll down and on it, the flag would just say two words. Just work. It's easy to assume that everyone else knows what they're talking about. But experts are often the most aware of what they don't know. It's the beginners who tend to display overconfidence. This is known as the Dunning Kruger effect. It can be very liberating to realize that a lot of what we learn, all the formulas, all the systems, it's all made up. We nobody knows anything. How do you build a business nobody knows? How do you lead a team? No clue. How do you mix a new jar of natural peanut butter without a little bit of the oil spilling over the top? It's a complete mystery. Of course there are some helpful guidelines to follow, right? But it's all a rough approximation of reality. So please let go of the idea that credibility means knowing it all. A little bit of self doubt, it's actually a good thing. It means you have more to learn. Lesson number two, stop playing God. I used to get so anxious about my clients. I'd wonder, are they getting results? Am I doing good job? Do they like me? These thoughts fueled my imposter syndrome, and they took the fun out of coaching a little bit. So one day I was explaining this to another coach, and he stopped me and he said, greg, stop playing God. And he was right. I was taking too much responsibility for my clients. There was a hidden little benefit for me, because when things went well, when my clients were succeeding, I got to feel responsible for that success. But when things didn't go well, I felt responsible for that, too. It stressed me out, and it disempowered my clients. Then I started thinking about my experience as a client. I realized I don't hold my coaches responsible for my success, and I don't expect them to save me either. I just want them to do their best. The fact that you can't control the universe, it doesn't make you a fraud. It just makes you human. And sometimes your imposter syndrome is a sign that you're taking too much responsibility for your clients. Gather evidence. When you think about imposter syndrome, there's an assumption that you're not actually an imposter. You just feel like one. But what if, in some ways, you are an imposter? The only way to find out is to stop thinking about yourself and put the focus onto your clients. What results do they get on average? Are they sending you referrals? Are they coming back and becoming repeat business? It's hard to argue with actual evidence and real numbers, but a lot of us are scared to look for the evidence and not find anything. I can tell you that when I started coaching, I probably was more of an imposter than I am now. I was probably charging a little bit too much relative to the value that I was giving. And it's because I wasn't looking for feedback. I wasn't measuring the results that clients were getting. So I was anxious for a reason. If I'd been more diligent about getting feedback, about looking for evidence, I would have gotten better. And I also would have been more upfront with potential clients about what they could expect. So don't assume that your feelings are irrational. Ask yourself, in what ways am I an imposter? It's okay. No one's perfect. But there might be things within your control that you could actually take action on. So sometimes your imposter syndrome is a sign that you need more feedback. One of my favorite ways to gather feedback is in the form of client case studies. I look back at them whenever I'm doubting myself. If you want to learn my process for creating case studies, watch this video next. It will help you generate real world proof that you know what you're doing. It'll make you more confident, and it'll get you more clients. Check it out now.
