MBA1386 How to Fight and Beat Your Impostor Syndrome

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They don't make it because the business owner, the business builder, feels at some level that they shouldn't be doing this, that they don't deserve it. They feel like a phony. They feel like a fake. In reality, imposter syndrome is really your brain and your emotions battling it out. And when your emotions win out, that's when you fail. That's when imposter syndrome takes over. When that voice tells you you're not good enough. What are you trying to do here? You're not some big time entrepreneur. Stop now before you embarrass yourself. I'm sure you've heard the advice, fake it till you make it and all that kind of stuff. I'm here to tell you no. That is horrible advice. I'm going to give you some practical strategies to fight your internal imposter syndrome. I'm going to give you some things to write down and read back to yourself when you're feeling that insecurity, to overcome it, to beat it. Because the only thing that's holding you back is yourself. Let's get out of our own way. I'm going to show you how. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Let's talk about why this happens. Imposter syndrome. And this happens at many levels of the game. It's not just when you first start out. It's whenever you're feeling challenged. It's when you feel like you're trying to achieve things you've never achieved before. You're trying to do things you've never done before. You might be a successful solopreneur making $10,000 a month, but you want to take it to the next level. You want to start building out a team. And you might be telling yourself, well, who am I to build out a team? Or I'm no leader. I want to start with a bit of reality here. The reality is most people that are successful, the people that we look up to, started where you're starting from nothing. I remember hearing Tim Ferriss, the New York Times best selling author and the host of the Tim Ferriss show, talk about his number one question. A lot of people say, hey, how did you grow your email list? It's easy for you to have a great business. You have a million subscribers. Tim would say, I started with zero, just like everybody else. I had zero subscribers. I wasn't born a New York Times bestseller. Everybody starts somewhere. If you're starting somewhere out right now and you haven't had any success and you're trying something new, understand this is where everybody starts, okay? You have to start somewhere. If everybody said to themselves, I'm not good enough to be X, Y or Z, then we wouldn't have the inspirational people we look up to in any field. We wouldn't have the Michael Jordans or the Oprah Winfrey's or the Jerry Seinfelds or whatever. Everybody started from scratch. No one was given the skills. No one was given the opportunities they had to earn it. For the most part, you know, we're not talking people that have inherited wealth, but for the most part, the people that we admire, the people that we look up to, especially in business, built it from scratch. So the first thing I want you to recognize and remember when you're feeling like a fraud, when you're feeling like an imposter, is you have to start from somewhere, you got to start here. The next thing is, is that you only will feel like an imposter if you're trying to be something you're not. Don't try to be Tony Robbins, you know, the biggest motivational speaker in the world. If you're in the, you know, personal help space or the personal coaching space, as soon as you start out, you're not going to be Tony Robbins. Sorry, that's just the reality. Just be yourself. Be where you are. It's even okay to be a curator, where you curate great information from the experts and present it to your audience. Just to get started, start where you are. It's okay for you to say in your first webinar, this is my first webinar. It's okay to say to your email list that this is your first product launch. People really respect transparency these days. It's okay to be a beginner. It's okay to say you're a beginner. And here's the reality. People can smell BS a mile away. So if you're trying to fake it, people can smell it, they can feel it. So just be who you are and just embrace the challenge, embrace the journey, embrace being a beginner. It's okay. We all start there, like we said, and you don't have to be something you're not. A lot of people say, well, I'm in the client business. I do client work. How do I, you know, gain credibility without trying to bolster myself and, you know, present myself as something bigger than I am, especially when I'm starting and I don't have a lot of clients? Well, guess what? It's gonna take some hustle. It's gonna take some time for you to take on some clients, low paying clients, maybe even some free clients in the beginning, just to build your portfolio. I did this when I started out. Back in the day, I had a business consulting firm where I built websites for my clients. My first few clients, I built websites, full fledged websites for like $500. Like absolute chump change. Just to get my bearings, just to get some experience, just to get some testimonials, just to get some portfolio items. Start where you are. Don't jump steps, okay? Now the third thing I want you to keep in mind and even write down is that you can't progress in life. You can't change in life, you can't improve in life if you don't try something new, if you don't do things differently. And this is when imposter syndrome kicks in, when you Start doing things differently. You start trying new things and you start telling yourself, what am I doing here? This is not me. All that kind of chatter. Well, guess what? That's what happens when you try something new. You can't change and you can't improve if you don't. That's a logical statement. You need to tell yourself when you're feeling those emotions. Let's say, for example, I want to pick up billiards. I want to be the world's best billiards player. I want to be the champion. In order for me to do that, I gotta start playing billiards, Okay? I can't just say, oh, I can't start playing billiards. Who do you think I am? Well, then why are you going out for it? You either want it or you don't. And that's why I always say successful entrepreneurs, their main ingredient that they have is that they want it bad. They may not have all the skills, they may not have all the experience, but. But they get those skills and those experiences because they're hungry. So if you want to accomplish things, you want to start doing things, start doing them. Start doing the things that the people that you admire do. The next tip is huge, and it's your environment. You have to surround yourself with people that are doing the things that you want to do, doing similar things, going after their dreams, going after their, you know, their goals and their business. Be around people that are on the journey, okay? Because they're going to confirm that you're not crazy, that they're all doing it too. They're all trying too. They're all supporting each other. And today we're so lucky. This was so hard when I was coming up. I don't want to sound like a grandpa here, but it's true. You know, today you can spend $300 a month and be part of a co working space. You can have like a hot desk at a co working space for $300 a month. That's chump change. There's nothing to have that kind of community around you, to have that network, to have those friends, to be part of those workshops they offer and the parties and all that kind of stuff. You're creating an incredible environment around you of support that endorses your challenge. It endorses you going after it. That is such a small amount of money to invest to get that in return. Especially when you're starting out, when you need that support. It's not going to feel like you're trying something weird or fake when everybody else is doing it, right? One of the reasons why many people move to New York City is because everybody there is going after. Everybody's going after their dreams. They. They're going for the challenge or trying something. You don't go there to go on vacation. A long period of time, right? You're there for a week to see the sights and that's it. It's too hectic. People are going after their dreams in New York and that's why people go there, right? It's that environment, that energy, right? Well, now you have that in entrepreneurial hubs with these coworking spaces. That same energy in that building will be surrounding you. So that's a huge, huge hack that you can definitely take on. Even if you don't go every day, if you go twice a week, three times a week, it's supportive and you'll meet great friends and you'll build that network. Another reason why people feel like an imposter is when they fail, when they lose, when they don't do as well as they thought they would. They feel like, see, this proves my emotions. This proves me saying to myself, you know, I'm not cut out for this. No, it's the opposite, actually. Failure is a rite of passage. Write that down, put it on a post it note, put it on your monitor, put it on your bathroom mirror, whatever it takes. But failure is a rite of passage for every entrepreneur. If you read any biography, any story, any backstory from any entrepreneur, any interview, right. Of a founder story, it's riddled with failure. I mentioned this book all the time. Shoe Dog. It's the autobiography of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. 20 years of failure after failure, challenge after challenge, before he started to get some wins. And this is a company all about winning, right? And being motivational. So when you fail, this is normal. It's a rite of passage. You have to go through these failures. And by the way, it doesn't go away. The more you challenge yourself, the more you make mistakes, the more failure is just around the corner. It's okay to fail. You learn from it, you move on, and you keep going. Isn't it Wayne Gretzky that says you miss 100% of the shots you don't take? Right? So you have to take them right. You, if you don't take any shots, then you're missing out. As it is, some of them you win, some of them you lose. It's okay. The reason why this is so unfamiliar for a lot of new entrepreneurs is because business and entrepreneurship is totally different from having a role in a company and being an employee. That environment, that experience is different. The number of failures that you will endure as an employee are minimal. Okay? You're protected by the company, by your role, by your responsibilities, by the team. But when you start a company, you're ultimately, ultimately responsible, Right? So when things go wrong, it's always your fault. Okay? So the chances of you failing are quite high. And that's okay. That's just the nature of being an entrepreneur. When this happens to you, you should say, yep, this is what it's supposed to happen. Yep, this is what all entrepreneurs do. All the my heroes, all the heroes that I look up to in business, they went through this. I'm amongst the giants, right? I'm amongst the legends. I'm on the same path. So don't take failure. And as you shouldn't be doing this or something like that, a lot of people just read into things that don't exist. Oh, this is a sign. Well, I believe that you need to really evaluate what you want in life. If you really want this business, if you really want to be an entrepreneur, then I'm telling you, it's going to take some failures. And not every time you fail, it means you should quit. It just means you have to learn something from this and move on. My last piece of advice when it comes to overcoming and beating your imposter syndrome is to remind yourself regularly to look back and acknowledge your accomplishments. I was at a conference one time, and I remember I was speaking to one of the speakers that has a very successful business online. And they were really nervous about getting on stage. They were like, I can't believe I'm doing this. What am I doing here? I'm not a good speaker. Who am I to tell them, you know, what I think is right and wrong? And I told the person, hey, what are you talking about? You have such a successful business, you have a great brand online. I read your blog. It's incredible. You, you have plenty to offer. I want to see you on stage, right? I want to see what you got, because I'm sure it's going to be valuable. And the reason why I said those things is because sometimes we don't remind ourselves of our accomplishments. So we feel down. We don't feel confident. Even if you're just starting out and you've transitioned from a job to working on your business, that's an accomplishment. A lot of people don't go for it. They twiddle around and they think about this business and they say, one day. And they never take the leap. They never actually build it, even as a side hustle. So that's an accomplishment. You have a website, that's an accomplishment. You have a brand, you got a business, you got a URL, you made a buck. You actually made a sale. You're way ahead. A lot of people that haven't even tried reflect back, look backwards, look in the rearview mirror and say, hey, I've done a lot of interesting and cool things. I should be proud. I can continue to do things like that. I can continue to improve. I have some wins. I can get some more. So don't forget to take a timeout from your busy schedule and just take a minute and say, hey, you know what? I've done all right so far. I've done a few cool things and I can keep doing them. I can keep improving, and those things can get bigger and better. So don't forget to reflect and give yourself that opportunity to appreciate what you've done.

Okay? Does this happen to anybody else? You sit down with a juicy QPC, some McNuggets, and those golden fries from McDonald's. Then you take a long sip of your Sprite because you can still hear your mama saying, don't fill up on that drink before you eat your food. But you're grown now, so you do what you want.

Share and share alike with the 20 piece McNuggets from McDonald's for just $6, limited time only. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer.

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Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part, they accept Discover. Except Discover in a little place like this. I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah. Huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report. To wrap up today's lesson, I've given you some tips, some reminders, some things to refer back to when you're feeling like an imposter. But here's one that I want you to really think about. This is not a choice. You have to believe in yourself. You must believe in yourself if you want this. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, this is a must. So you have to start believing in yourself. Why? Because if you don't believe in yourself, no one will. No one will believe in you or your products or your services. If you don't believe it, you're not going to really have any conviction in any of your copy, in any of your product demos, or any of your conversations with relationships with people you're trying to build. It's just not going to happen. So the foundation's got to be there. You have to start believing in yourself and take on the advice I just gave you today because it's pivotal to your success. You got this. We all start from somewhere. Don't let that inner voice telling you that you can't do it or you shouldn't do it or what are you doing? Stop you from where you want to go. Fight it, beat it. You can do it. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 NBA show. If you love what you hear, leave us an iTunes rating and review. We'd love to hear what you think of the show. Also, don't forget to hit subscribe and share the show with your friends. You can go ahead and share it on social if you like. It's the best compliment you can give us before I go on to leave you with this. This is as hard as it is. Competition, marketplace, economy, building the right team. You don't need to make it hard on yourself by negative chatter in your head. Build that environment around you. Remind yourselves of the wins. Remind you that you have to believe in yourself to make this happen. And don't try to be something you're not. Just be who you are, where you're at. Thank you so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. Free ride Friday. I'll see you then.

Okay. Does this happen to anybody else? You sit down with a juicy QPC, some McNuggets and those golden fries from McDonald's. Then you take a long sip of your Sprite because you can still hear your mama saying, don't fill up on that drink before you eat your food. But you're grown now so you do what you want.

Share and share alike with the 20 piece McNuggets from McDonald's for just $6 limited time only. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer.

Ba da ba ba ba.