888. Listener Q&A: Navigating Imposter Syndrome And Where To Channel Your Energy

Don't just get stuck in one thing because you're going to want to grow your money, but you're going to want to grow your audience at the same time. So you're going to have to keep a close eye and see what's working for you to build your audience and what's not. So maybe your other priority is something else that helps you grow your audience that you need to shift your focus to.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is another episode of bts behind the Scenes of Building a Business. And I get the pleasure of recording these episodes with my incredible co host, Lauren Kuhlman, who just so happens to also be my chief of staff for Light Pink. She's a freaking rock star. So we started these podcasts because we really want you to see the ins and outs and truly the behind the scenes of what is actually going on and what we're thinking and how we're building it. So, you guys, we always want to take you with us and. And you're learning right alongside of us. Mistakes, highs, lows, all the things. So, Lauren, welcome back to your show.

Feels so good to be back chatting with you about all these fun things.

So we've got a fun day planned for you. We have some questions from you guys, which we're so excited about, about building a business. So, Lauren, do you want to jump right into it? What are two questions that we're going to be covering are.

Yes. So the first one comes from Lindsay Kirby, and she wants us to just riff a little bit more on imposter syndrome. All the things.

Okay, I love this because I don't think that you can start anything without having imposter syndrome come for you. And if you are starting something without imposter syndrome, it means that you've just started something that you already know what you're doing. So you didn't make an actual upward move. You probably made a lateral move, which isn't going to excite you, and you'll be looking for your next upward move. So imposter syndrome is simply a sign that you are evolving because you shouldn't know what you are doing in your next big thing. Like, if you're going for the big thing, you should absolutely feel like a fish out of water. What do you think, Lauren?

I agree with you 100%, and I think that you have to get so uncomfortable in order to grow and to evolve in your life. So you want to find imposter syndrome in everything that you're doing, and you want to always be looking for Ways that you're getting uncomfortable, whether it's people around you or going to a new event or getting this new idea that feels maybe completely crazy that not everybody else is doing, because that's where maybe, like, the gold is going to be. So, yes.

Okay, I have a question for you because you have, you know, there's new projects for her and I every single day for Lauren and I, and majority of them, I'd say say 99% of them right now are new. We don't have the answer. And it's literally being presented to us as if it's the first time we've ever heard it, seen it, or maybe even heard these things that we're supposed to understand or know. So, Lauren, like, right now, you have a couple projects in the pipeline of really helping us lock in our licensing and going through everything that we need to do for our licensing. So did that make you feel like an imposter? Not knowing or how do you see? So the difference is a lot of people feel like an imposter if they don't know how to do something or questions are asked of them that they don't know. So can you share with me the approach that you take that doesn't make you feel like an imposter and just has you take action? Like, what do you think that mindset is when you're approaching these things? Is it like, that you take interest or what is it?

Oh, I love that one. Well, for me at least, it is definitely interest. And I, like, get really excited about getting a new challenge and learning something new. So it's like, it kind of just leads you down the rabbit hole where you're like, okay, this is one thing that I don't really know anything about. So let me learn one small thing about it, which will lead me to another thing so it doesn't make me feel like an imposter. And I don't feel scared to ask questions to the people who I work with in licensing or whoever it is, maybe our CFO team or our supply chain consultant. I don't feel like I'm expected to know everything, so I'll ask questions, but I don't feel like an imposter. I just feel like no one's judging me. No one is expecting me to know exactly what to do, but they know that I will figure it out and get it done. So if you're in something new and you know that you're going to figure whatever it is out and have what it takes to get it done, then maybe don't look at it as imposter syndrome in a way, rather just look at it as, this is a new thing. I'm really interested and curious because this is expanding me and I'm going to learn so much, which is going to make me so successful to push this new thing out. Same with supply chain, same with digital advertising, all of those things. You're not going to know every single thing about your business or a role that you're in in a company. And that's the purpose. You shouldn't be just getting a role that you're. That's not expanding you or growing you. Whether you're working for somebody else or you're starting a business, you should be in a role that's challenging you and making you grow. Because if you're not, you're probably not happy in your role or in your career path. So I think that's a good question because I think imposter syndrome is good. But look at it in the way of just being curious and knowing that you're going to do whatever it takes to figure it out.

Okay, so what I heard you say, literally, is, it's the perspective in which you look at when imposter syndrome comes to you or new things come to you. So you have a very enthusiastic, okay, if this is challenging, this must mean growth, which has never been a bad thing.

Right?

It's always been a good thing. Like, yes, it's uncomfortable, but a new challenge means massive growth, means you're warding off that feeling that I think we're all trying to run from, which is boredom or discontentment. So really looking at imposter syndrome as, oh, awesome, here's the opposite feeling that I was looking for. It's just coming in a different form. Like, people don't realize that a satisfaction buying, fulfilling life comes in the form of feeling contrast, which is imposter syndrome is the opposite of comfort syndrome, where we're depressed. Having imposter syndrome is the first sign that you're in the right spot. So that's all I can tell you guys is like, if it's showing up as imposter syndrome, it just needs a new name. It just means that you are getting into the rooms and the places that you're meant to be in in order to become the person you were meant to be. So I love that. Lauren, what's our next cue?

Love that so much. And it's such a good, successful feeling on the other side of that, too. So good. So the next question is from Lori Moser, and she Says, what do you tell yourself to keep going and making progress every day when every single step is new and you have so many steps to get there, you don't know where to focus at times such as your email list, building a website, doing an opt in, starting your blog.

Lori, this is so good. Such a good question. So you know, we all feel this way. Lauren and I feel this way right now. And it's like a lot of times everything is going to feel like it needs to be done all at once, but you actually have to write everything out and say, okay, I could do an opt in. But if I do an opt in, where are they going? Does my website need to be up for an opt in or can I actually have a PDF that once they opt in I literally just have a simple webpage right now that sends them this PDF that sends them something of value. So I can start building my list right now while I build my website. So the ultimate idea for me, what I really think people need to prioritize is getting audience first. So what is the main thing that will number one, get audience or okay, let's. I'm just going to back up the truck for one second. Depending on where you are in your career, if you need money right now, the number one thing that you do is, is the thing that has the path of least resistant to make sales. For me that was messages in the DM to sell something like one on one coaching or to sell something like group coaching that didn't even require a website. Right. So what is the quickest, easiest way for me to make money so that I can now focus on building an opt in that goes to the easiest possible thing that creates new audience. Because we all know that without audience there is zero money. Even if you've built the most beautiful website, even if you've spent the last five years creating a life changing product, if there is no one to pitch it to, you have a failing product or a failing course or a failing business. So I do think it's in terms of get the money in if that's your number one. Number two is lead magnet or an opt in or something that starts building your list even more. And then number three is these other things that don't make the money right away, but that you do need fundamentally for your business. So it's knowing what like comes first. Right. You know Lauren, like with all of our stuff it's kind of like it almost starts to show itself, like what is the most important and when I know that you do some different Things with timeline. Is there anything that pops out for you that helps you decipher where your energy should go every week?

Oh, and it always shifts. So that's a good thing that you brought all this up. Like focus where your biggest priority is if you need the money or the audience. But know that it will keep shifting over time and focusing. Like you said, the path of least resistance. But one thing always leads to another and they're going to keep shifting. So I think it is helpful to write everything out and like put it in a visual bird's eye view that you map out like from today through maybe the next couple of months and see what your biggest focus is. But then see like, okay, once I hit this milestone, how does it trigger this other lever and how does that trigger this other thing? So you're kind of moving different needles at the same time with each other and finding a system that works for you, whether you're just writing on a piece of paper or you're putting it in some type of Gantt charts tracker thing that you see however you see visually best. But I would say don't just get stuck in one thing because you're going to want to grow your money, but you're going to want to grow your audience at the same time. So you're going to have to keep a close eye and see what's working for you to build your audience and what's not. So maybe your other priority is something else that helps you grow your audience that you need to shift your focus to.

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You know something that I watch you do really well is in other teams that we're working with too because obviously we have to all figure out how to work together and stay on a timeline is just that, like create timelines for things like, okay, if we're going to, you know, have this website built, it's going to be built by this day and get this, all of the milestones plugged in for everything that you need along the way, as much as you can possibly plan out, meaning there's going to be a lot of unforeseen things that come up, but you just plan those as you go. Like, yes, there's going to be problems, there's going to be things that you didn't expect, but those just get worked in as they pop up. But trying to plan as much as you can for the first project, like the priority project, and then also looking at what is next and what else is important. So let's say you want to grow your website or not grow your website, sorry, Build your website, get that all plugged in, get those important dates plugged in by when do you want something done? By when do you need these things by when are you going to have this executed and this content for it done? So get it all plugged in and now you know how much bandwidth you have next or left for another project. So then maybe you want to be texting your text list every single day. So how do you plan in, you know, weekly content to create these texts for every single day and then how are they going to get out and then who's going to respond to them? So start plugging in all of these things and that's going to be your first sign of can you do this alone? And if you can't hire someone yet, you can't over schedule yourself. So that'll let you know how many projects you can take on in between all of the different things that you're doing. And it'll also let you know when you need to hire.

Yeah, it's going to shift your priority because if you're like, okay, I can't hire, I need more money to hire, then that's going to be your focus again. Like how do you get that money instantly? Maybe different too. That's not even based on this project. It could be completely different. Like a second little part time job or selling something or whatever it is to get that money to then go back to this chart. So yes, plugging in, reverse engineering and then seeing where you have the space, like once you hit this milestone, you'll have the space to add this thing in.

That's so awesome, Lauren. So it's never a, I don't know what to do or I can't go on. I'm kind of stuck. It's always, oh, I'm stuck, what do I need to do now? So it's never, this is an end point. Like, oh, I ran out of money, I can't hire people, I ran out of time to work. It's never that. It's always, okay, here's A stopping point. What do I need? And what does that look like? Do I need to hire someone? I don't have the money. Okay, where do you get the money from? If you don't know where to get the money, what are people doing for money right now? Just like you said, like, what are the side jobs? So for us, it's never a stop sign. It's never a stopping point. It's always, okay, well, what's another way? What's another path? What else do we need to do? Because when I look at everything, it never ends and it never goes away. It just shifts. Like, exactly like what you said, Lauren. Like, it's just shifting. And I think the best entrepreneurs are the people who shift the fastest and just pivot. Like, pivot as fast as you can and figure it out. And, you know, you don't even know what's going to work. Like, well, I feel like as an entrepreneur, you just throw Hail Mary's every single week. Like, I don't know, let's try it. Let's just, you know, what do we have to lose? We're already at the stopping point. So now, like, Hail Marys are the way to go. Like, just try everything. Just try new things. Try things that other people said don't work. If you think it's going to work for your business, like, you have to get really creative. So I hope this episode helped you guys. I hope that you also send in your questions. Lauren, where do they send their questions to?

So text the word light l I t e pink 2310496 just ask your question and we will shout you out on one of the upcoming episodes.

You guys are amazing. We are so grateful for you and we will see you on the next episode.

Bye, everyone.

Bye, Sam.