How to Stop Imposter Syndrome in It's Tracks

I get it, you are a good person who wants to do a good job for your clients, (which is amazing, as integrity is always the vibe round here), but what happens when the fear of disappointing others, or being seen as a fraud in your business, stops you from moving forwards, or charging a meaningful price for your services? 

Answer – you follow these simple steps and remind yourself that everyone wins when you do!

Step 1 – Identify where the fear is coming from

A lot of the time ‘Imposter Syndrome’, where you fear being found out to be a fraud, despite having achieved success for yourself or your clients, is masking an underlying fear of something bigger. Are you afraid of being seen and judged? Has this ever happened to you before? Healing or forgiveness work can be very beneficial if so. Are you worried that you wont be able to deliver on promised results for your clients? Have you ever been overly punished for getting something wrong in the past? Are you worried that people will reject you, if you become successful? If so, more work around your beliefs about money can be super helpful, so that you can step into your full financial potential. My Wealth Activation course is a perfect tool for this. Just being able to pinpoint the exact fear that is being triggered by your imposter syndrome is a powerful way to start to create radical self-awareness. It’s this awareness that will allow you to challenge these fears, and ask yourself if they are they actually likely to come true, or if are you replaying trauma from the past, that needs to be healed. This will help you to reclaim the power that these fears have over you.

Step 2 – What is the secondary gain?

One of the modalities that I love to use with my clients is Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), which is a powerful tool for changing the way your brain currently thinks and behaves, into more positive ways that will serve you. At the moment, you are receiving a positive outcome from staying stuck in your business. It could be that not putting yourself fully ‘out there’ means that you aren’t being exposed to potential failure or judgement from others. Not helpful when you have bills to pay, and unfulfilled potential to tap into, but a positive, nonetheless. It’s a self-preservation mechanism that believes that it is keeping you safe from perceived danger. A simple journal prompt is to ask yourself, ‘What part of me does not want to be successful?’ and see what feedback comes from your subconscious mind.

Step 3 – Take the pressure off

You only need to be two steps ahead of anyone else, in order to add value to that person. You don’t need to be the best Social Media Manager of all time, because perhaps to your potential client who is just starting out, the fact that you understand the Instagram algorithm is a bonus already. There is a client for every price point and market, and there is enough clients for all of us. There are trillions of dollars in the global economy on any day of the week, and you just need a small percentage of that income to have a pretty epic life and business. Your success does not detract from anyone else’s. Money is not going to change you as a person, it’s a just to tool to amplify who you are already are at your very core. You are not in competition with anyone else, only the version of you that you were yesterday.

Step 4 – Remind yourself what a badass you are

I used to really struggle with feeling ‘accomplished enough’ when I first started out as a Business Mentor in the online space, even though I had an incredible track record of success within my own offline businesses. I often wondered, who would want to work with me, when they could work with other big named coaches that had seemingly created more success for themselves and their clients?? The answer to this was threefold:

1 – Don’t believe everything you see on social media, I met and worked for a lot of big named coaches who were not actually successful behind the scenes, or were only successful because they had huge teams of experts or ads spend. This meant that although they were making incredible incomes by working only a few hours a day, their results couldn’t be replicated by the average person. This meant that the results of the majority of the people in their programs were not as great as they claimed, this fuelled me to want to help those people that were getting left behind even more.  

2 – Not everyone’s version of success is the same. I have clients who want to work with me because they want to increase their income, some who want to launch new passion projects and some who just want more time freedom and love the fact that I have a large family, and that my business doesn’t take over my life. This means don’t assume your clients all want the big, tangible results that other big names shout about. For some, they just want a meaningful connection with someone who can help them. They don’t want to be lost in big group programs. They don’t want to be a number. They want to be seen, held and supported by something who is values aligned. That person could be you.

3 – It’s easy to forget what you do bring to the table as a Mentor or service provider, so now is a good time to remind yourself! How much time and money have you spent honing your craft and learning your skills? How much adversity or challenges have you overcome, and lessons have you learned, which could shortcut someone else’s journey? How many wins do you have under your belt, that all add to your credibility? How many transferrable skills do you have, that make you the perfect person to support the right client?

Step 5 – It’s not about you!

Selling is serving, and someone out there needs your help right now. If you are a Social Media Manager, what is it costing the small business owner that is winging it with their online presence? Social media is the front-end lifeblood of any business, as it introduces you to new clients, presents a professional feel for prospective clients and instils confidence with current clients. When it’s done badly it can actually cost you money in the long run. Whenever you feel the need to be perfect and ready, creeping in, remember that someone out there is struggling in this moment and that you have the power to make their life better. Ego will tell you that you need to better, taller, slicker and more accomplished, but your ideal client will not care about any of those things!  

Step 6 – What can you get behind?

I once had a business mentor tell me to triple my prices. Was it because he saw the value in my work? No – it was because he knew that I could (based on market trends), and that people would pay it. Did I feel good about increasing my prices, ‘just because?’ No! Could I have sold my programs at those increased prices, in good faith, with full conviction? No! So I didn’t, because I knew it would be counterproductive and wouldn’t lead to a higher income anyway. Instead, I have always based my pricing on the following things:

• The value that I bring to the table as a Mentor, based on my expertise and years of experience
• The results of my clients and the return on their investments into our work together
• An amount that I could get behind and felt easy to sell at that price point.

Here’s the thing, your clients are buying your conviction and confidence into the results or outcomes that they can achieve. If you show up unsure, they will feel that self-doubt at an unconscious level and believe that they are incapable of achieving the results that they desire too.

Imposter syndrome is a self-sabotaging behaviour that is designed to keep you safe. The only way to overcome it, is by cultivating radical self-awareness and eliminating it’s power over you by following the steps above.

Let me know in the comments below, your go to tools and methods for keeping you visible and serving at your highest level!