The ways you're making your imposter syndrome worse as an entrepreneur

I'll get straight to the point. If you feel like imposter syndrome has been kicking your butt lately, which I'm guessing there's a good chance of that because funnily enough, the most downloaded episode of the podcast is my episode on imposter syndrome that I did with my friend, Vince Warnock. So I thought you know what, it is time to revisit this. And I know the last episode was super helpful. I'll include a link to that as well in the show notes. But I want to get really practical with you today and talk about five things that you might be doing without realising that is actually making your imposter syndrome worse. If you want to know how you can reduce your imposter syndrome and try and prevent anything that is self inflicted, then this is the episode for you. Welcome to the Seen, Heard Paid Podcast, where we believe that success isn't just about what you need to do, it's about who you need to be. I'm your host, Kat Elizabeth. And each week, I'll be bringing you practical advice, honest stories and occasional dose of tough love to help you go from industry's best kept secret to in demand brand. So you're not only get paid to do what you love, but can build a platform that creates meaningful positive change, and inspires the people around you to do the same. Let's get into it. Welcome back to Seen Heard Paid, I'm really happy to be speaking with you today. This was not going to be the episode that I was recording today. I've got a whole bunch of episodes that had pre planned and I'm really just finding lately that I'm preferring to create content, based on the conversations that I'm having in the moment with my clients, with people who are following me, people that are signing up for the Position Yourself as an Expert Challenge. Side note, if you haven't signed up for it yet, there is still time well there's probably still time, depending on when you're listening to this. So head to personal branding project.co/challenge. And I'll include the link in the show notes as well. But essentially, I created the challenge for I mean, for a couple of reasons. But like the big thing was, I'm just noticing how many really skilled, experienced amazing purpose driven entrepreneurs that I that I work with, and that follow me get really just just stuck get stuck in the mud, right when they're wanting to sort of level up their brand, whether it's launching something for the first time, whether it's trying to take their visibility to the next level imposter syndrome comes back around and kicks you in the guts and makes you question everything that you're doing, and you're like, Why? Why am I putting myself through this? Do I actually have what it takes? Am I ever gonna stop having this battle in my head. And I mean, I guess the bad news is imposter syndrome, at least in my experience, and Vince's as well, from the last episode, it doesn't go away. But there are definitely things that we're doing that could be flaring it up. So which means there are things that we can do to reduce it as much as possible. And then the rest is obviously living with it. So the point of the challenge was to help everyone just kind of do a reset, come back to the basics. Because we do get get very caught up in all the things that we're supposed to be doing. And then our head start spinning and there's just like inaction, complete inaction. So what I wanted to do is like, let's go back to the beginning, let's just have a clean slate for ourselves. And let's get really clear on like, what are you actually doing? You know, what, why are you on this planet? What is the change that you want to make? And then let's really sort of build a case for ourselves, partially so we become magnetic to dream clients, but also just so we feel better in ourselves, to really see why we are the obvious choice for these clients who really need us. So this challenge is about really finding what's getting in your way, whether it's some overwhelm whether it's a lack of clarity, whether it's the imposter syndrome, or some you know, a mix of these things, and getting back to taking meaningful action. Because my big Why? And this is something I've been really sort of like exploring deeper and deeper lately, like trying to get to like what's the thing under the thing under the thing? My big Why is really wanting everyone that I work with, to realise their full potential to see their own brilliance, and to feel equipped to go out there and do it and not just do it, like do it at their highest level and get paid to do it. Like get paid to do what you're masterful at or at least that you're in the process of mastering. Because I really believe that if we stop settling, if we stopped just going, Oh, you know what, I probably don't have it in me maybe I should just take the safe choice. Maybe I should just keep the job. Maybe I should just lower my prices, you know all these different things like there's a ripple effect that happens both ways. I want everyone to step into their full potential, and actually create a business or a career based around the thing that they believe they were put on this planet to do. And imposter syndrome is one of the worst enemies of that, because it's going to tell you that you are not capable. But I know you are. So anyways, that was a very long intro, but to just really explain the importance of this. And now what I want to do is just dive in to five very specific things that I notice. And I've made some of these mistakes, I've got clients that are doing this, I'm seeing this happen over and over again. So I wanted to talk to the most, five most common things that are probably making your imposter syndrome worse. So you can just make some tweaks, nip them in the bud, and hopefully keep moving forward. So the first thing, and I think, I don't think there's many people on the planet who don't do this, at some point, many entrepreneurs, it's spending more time consuming than creating. Now, there is absolutely a time and a place for consuming content for learning for upskilling. But there's a big difference between sitting down and intentionally upskilling. Because you genuinely need to fill a gap. And sitting on Instagram scrolling and going holy crap, everyone is doing so much better than me. Oh my gosh, she's so good at sales. Oh, he's doing this and oh their feeds better? Why do they make this look so easy? They're making so much money? It's a very quick spiral. And, you know, yes, we can, you know, you might want to unfollow some people or mute some people who tend to trigger you. But there's an even better way of doing this. Because like, that's kind of running away from it. It's like, how about Instead, let's start the day, let's start by creating, let's start by showing up and being the the expert that I know that you are creating something, putting something out there serving your audience first. And then if you've got some time left over sure, like go have some fun on social media. But like also ask yourself, Is this fun? Is this actually filling me up? Is this is this what my soul needs right now? Or should I maybe go read a book, or listen to some music or go for a walk on the beach? Like, not a tonne of good stuff comes out of scrolling on Instagram, like really, I think the people I've seen make the most of social media are the ones who were just so intentional going this is the time during the day that I spend on social media, these are the activities that I've pre approved for myself, for instance, engaging with my audience, having actual, you know, contacts, having conversations with them. And obviously creating and sharing content, the actual scrolling tends not to do anything except send us into a mindset spiral. So your your check in really is to look at like what what's the balance right now? Are you more consumer? Or more, more creator? And how can you shift that balance? What's the change that you need to make in your day in your week, to make sure that creator comes first, and consumer comes second? I hope that's helpful. I know, it can, it can sting a little bit, I have to remind myself of this. But anytime I'm having a bad day, and I'm starting to just get really spinny you know, where the world is spinning, and you just feel like, oh, gosh, I don't even know what to do next. Usually, it's because I've spent too long on Instagram, looking at other people's stuff, or not even looking at anything, just getting stuck in a scroll hole. So I'm coaching myself through this while I'm coaching you. Okay, moving on to number two, misaligned pricing. I'm saying misaligned because there's not actually such thing as like, too expensive, too cheap. Like, it's not really about that, because think about it, depending on your offer. And depending on you and your level of experience, and depending on your audience and their expectations, and their you know how much money they even have available to them, you know, expensive, cheap is all relative. So I'm never going to say like, I'm not going to give you an actual gauge of like, well, this is what the right price and this is the wrong price. I mean, not without you know, sort of knowing you personally and working with you one on one. But misaligned pricing is when you have set a price that you pulled out of something whether it was like you just pulled it out of thin air, someone told you you should charge this you looked at someone else what they were charging you you just set that price based on that whether it's you set the same price or you deliberately went lower, deliberately went higher, but there was no actual connection to the price. You didn't attach that price and go Yeah, I believe that for the you know the value that I provide the transformation that the person is getting, and I believe if you know what I bring to the table and and you know what they're putting in and what they're going to get out like I believe this is an aligned price like this feels good in my in my brain, it feels good in my body. We have to feel like there is this energetic exchange that's happening that is equal. So whatever they're they're giving you like all they're doing is just investing in themselves, you know, you need to stop seeing it as like giving money away. It's like no, they're, they're actively investing in their own transformation or becoming some better version of themselves. And you're obviously then going to provide them with whatever you've decided they need to get there. So we just need to make sure that there is a match there where you feel like the money that you are receiving, is going to just feel good in relation to the value that then you're providing. And so that's why it's not down to like, Oh, you've overpriced, you've underpriced, it's like you just have to feel really good about this. And obviously, we do want to look at the market, we need to make sure your audience is able to pay the price, you know, because some people are just not going to have the money if you want to, like dramatically increase your prices so that feels really good but your audience is like, well, no, I don't have that money or I don't want to spend that money on this thing. Well, then we've got some, you know, adjustments we need to make. Also, underpricing can also change people's perception of the value of what you do. But all of this aside, because I could talk about pricing for days, you know, there's so much that goes into it. Ultimately, that one question you need to ask yourself is like when I when I show up, and I say this is what I'm offering you and here's how much it costs. How does that sit for you? How do you feel saying that number? Because if that doesn't feel good, then there is a really good chance imposter syndrome can kick in now I see imposter syndrome kicking in a lot more when you overprice when you jump straight to a really high price because you'd like just charge your worth. And it's like, well, you can never charge your worth because you're priceless. Okay, but it's like, you know, if you're just learning your first couple of clients, you're already charging as if you've been doing this for a really long time, part of you is gonna be freaking out going, Oh my gosh, am I up to this? Like, are my clients going to be happy with this? You know, I want you to just like feel good about that. So, you know, that's where imposter syndrome is extra bad. If you've underpriced, it kind of tells me that you let imposter syndrome determine your price. So you've already had that like that run around with imposter syndrome, and you just gave into it and went, Okay, I just like, I don't want to freak out about selling. So I'm just gonna like, I'm just going to do something stupid shape for everyone. And that's going to make me feel better. But it's actually not because here is how undercharging is going to make it worse, chances are number one, you're going to, you're going to have the wrong kinds of people signing up like your dream clients and not signing up. When you undercharged, you're attracting a whole different kind of audience, which is already going to feel gross. Also, there's a really good chance that if if they have to do any sort of, you know, work, if there is anything any like level of commitment they have to make to see the transformation, when people under pay, they often don't show up in the way they need to, to transform their lives in some way. So then you're not going to get the results. And then you're going to think you suck that you're a failure because people don't get results when they work with you. And then the imposter syndrome gets worse. So this was a very long winded way of saying that, like we can't, we can't just charge random prices and expect that it's just going to go well, okay, I want you to really put some, some thinking into your pricing. Alright, enough on pricing. Because as I said, I can joke all day. But we need to move on to number three, which is building your offers from the wrong place. Now that sounds a bit weird. So let me explain. So a little bit like pricing, I have noticed that it's a really common thing for people to, especially newer entrepreneurs, but even I mean, I sometimes feel guilty to this, where I'm really tempted to just create an offer that just like looks like what someone else is doing. So I'm like they make it look so easy. Like they make it look so appealing, I should do that. So for instance, you may have seen someone just suddenly start offering VIP days and you're like, oh, I should just do VIP days that's the hot thing right now. But you don't really know why you're doing them? Do they really support the transformation you're trying to provide? You know, does your audience like does your ideal client actually want a VIP day from you? Do you know how to run them in a way that you know is going to guarantee results? You know, there's so many questions to this. So when we just pick a random offer, as in like packaging up our expertise in some way. And this can even be like building a course. But before you've been working with one on one clients for a while, you know, there is going to be this, it's like outside in offer creation where you're just kind of like building this random structure. I'm going to just throw my stuff in into that and let's hope that works. Like I want this kind of to come from the inside out where you're really thinking about how am I best going to show up in this offer? How can I best serve my audience? What's going to get them the most incredible results? You know, what do they need from me? And really starting to like starting from that place of I guess it's like reverse engineering. Okay, so this is the transformation. Let's think about what are the things that need to be involved for them to go from A to B, where we want them to be. And you may not find someone doing exactly what you do, which could freak you out. But that could be a really good thing as well. But just know that when it comes to building out your offers, whether it's you know, done for you done with you do it yourself. There aren't many rules, like the main role is, can this offer help someone solve a problem? And are you clear on what that problem is? Okay, great. Like, that's where we need to start the actual rules of how you package it up. Like, there, there aren't really any, like, there's so many people out there doing it so many different ways. So rather than kind of latching on to someone else's confidence in their offer and thinking, Okay, well, if, if I just had an offer exactly like that, I'd feel more confident in what I'm doing. Instead, try and get get back to how you want to show up how you want to serve your audience and what's going to really, you know, bring out the best, you know, make it a win win for everybody. And then then do that, knowing that you don't just have to have the one. Yeah, you know, if you're like, oh, but but you know, the way I serve people right now doesn't allow me to serve this audience, like that doesn't have as much money, like, I've been through that before, where I was almost like trying to pack everything that I do into one little offer. And I was trying to have the price as low as possible, because I was so worried about leaving out a section of my audience who doesn't have the budget yet. And, you know, my solution was, like, I'll try and make this offer to appeal to everybody, instead of thinking, Okay, what if this offer is for one person, and then for that person who's, who doesn't have the budget yet, you know, maybe there's a different way I can serve them, like, what's the budget friendly version of this, you know, so don't think that you have to offer anything in any particular way, the main thing is, it feels good to you. And you know, you can get those results. And the other thing is, you know, it can change, you're allowed to change it, you know, if something starts to not fit, you know, if you're starting to resent it, or you know, dread it, then it's a sign that you probably need to make a change, and that's okay. So again, just like a little bit like pricing, let's make sure that we're not just being influenced about everyone around us and building something based on what someone else did. Because as soon as you show up in that, you know, way in that container that you created, that's just feels weird and doesn't fit, imposter syndrome will probably kick in. And kind of related to this, this is like point, that was point A, and this is point B. The same thing with trying to prematurely launch something like a new offer before you actually feel ready. And this is, especially in the coaching space. So I'm noticing a lot of people going straight from like, for instance, working in corporate or just doing something completely unrelated. And one day, wake up, put on the coach hat and say, I coach in this thing. Now, you may have like, you may have been, you know, studying it for a little bit, or you have a huge passion for it, it's interested you for a while. But if you are brand new to it, and you just throw together this coaching package, and you slap a high price on it, like I'm ready to do this, like let's go, but you haven't lived it. You know, if you haven't practised if you haven't had any experience helping any other clients, and you haven't even done it for yourself, if everything that you've got right now is just theory, imposter syndrome can be terrible then to like, the fear starts to kick in of like, what if I work with people, and then they don't get results, or I don't know how to help them. So just be aware of that danger zone of also just launching offers that just come almost like a huge pivot from where, whatever you were doing before. Because that can be very, it can be very triggering to put yourself out there in that way, if you're not actually ready there, there are ways of kind of easing your way into it. You don't have to sort of like have a baptism of fire, if that makes sense. Okay, so that's three so far. So I'll quickly review where we've gone. So we we said number one is spending more time consuming than creating. The next one was about missaligned pricing. And now we just talked about building offers from the wrong place, or potentially too soon. Number four, is forcing your visibility. And this is a big one for personal brands, because we're just so vulnerable we're so exposed, like we're not hiding behind a business brand a company you know, company logo, we're just all out there. And it can feel like we just have to be out there we have to be seen. And so we're you know, we're just trying to show up all the time so that we're not invisible, we're not forgotten. But if you start showing up in a way, like especially if it's feels like you have to show up so consistently, but your natural style isn't to show up every single day. Like for instance, I'm actually I'm not someone who enjoys showing up fresh every day, I don't love constantly being on stories and sharing every moment of my life. And, and often I start to go oh, no, but I should, I should be doing that, because that's how you get seen. And that's how you become successful because so many of people I follow, that's what they do. But I'm, I'm a natural introvert, I have fairly kind of low, I'm a sprinter, I'm not a marathon runner. I mean, I'm neither this is a metaphor only. But if I do exercise, I'm going to run I sprint edge for short distances. That's how that's kind of how I like showing up in my business. But as soon as I try and be someone that I'm not, so be the person who is always on all the time, and who is trying to share parts of their life that they don't want to share, imposter syndrome is always going to kick in, because I just, it feels so unnatural. I feel like I suck at it. But it starts to make me think I suck at marketing in general, which is not the case, I'm actually I like to think I'm quite fantastic at marketing, when I'm doing it for the right reasons and in the right way. So you know, this, this is just going to be such a common thing, and it's probably not going to happen more and more, because, you know, the algorithm is demanding so much of us, like they want us to always be there, and they want us to be creating video and but if you just immediately take on these marketing practices, because like based out of fear, you know, like FOMO type of fear or just like oh my gosh, like, if I don't do this, my business is just going to crash and burn. The imposter syndrome is going to go hand in hand with that it's not going to feel good. You're not going to want to show up, you're going to question your ability, it's going to feel gross, you're probably not going to get great engagement like it feels wrong. I literally deleted a couple of stories that I just put up before on Instagram, because I turn on the camera and I started talking because I felt guilty that I that I hadn't shown up that day. I mean, I actually did I recorded a really quick reel it's my new thing of like, can I record this reel and post it in like two minutes. Because that's just my style. I'm realising I don't want to spend all day editing reels. So anyways, showing up and doing that reel felt easy, felt fun, felt good, you know, and out it went. But then it didn't feel like enough. So I thought I had to also go and do stories and do the classic like talk like other people do, and like what's behind the scenes and da ba ba ba. And it felt gross. And I felt yuck. And I could feel that the self doubt kicking in. And so I ended up deleting them and just going What are you doing? And I went back to basics was like, what should I do now? What should I do next? Like what's actually going to move, move the needle instead of you know, forcing something that doesn't feel good when, um, maybe you should record your podcast since it's already three days late. So that's just letting you I guess, inside my brain and how it works. But just to let you know that yeah, it's normal. We do not all need to show up in the same way. Okay. Again, there's no rules to marketing. There's just kind of the the foundations, there's the fundamentals of like, yes, we need to know who we're speaking to, we need to know what problem we're solving. And we need to know where we're taking them. Like, we have to have an idea of the journey that we're about to take them on. Okay, so like not just showing up for the sake of it, but going okay, so what does this actually leading to? Am I trying to grow my list? Am I trying to get a sale right now, you know, like there's, there are certain things, there's those fundamentals. But beyond that the way you show up in your marketing is actually up to you. And I know that feels even scarier sometimes because you're like, Okay, but how do I even do that? And like, Don't worry, I got you. I am currently reworking the Academy. So Seen, Heard Paid Academy, I'm building out. It's sort of the academy 2.0 I'm reworking the curriculum to simplify it even further, because I've had, I have had so many conversations over the last, you know, year since I was developing the first version of it and just saying that, yeah, what we really need is we need simple, we need to have permission to be able to just show up in a way that feels good. But we also need to know how to make that work, because like just throwing spaghetti at the wall is not how you're going to get results. So it's not about throwing our strategy out the window. It's developing a strategy that feels good for you. And so that you can show up as you without trying to be someone else. Because as soon as you try and be someone else, hello imposter syndrome. So anyways, the reason I'll just quickly before we get into our final point, the reason I'm also bringing this up is I'm going to be doing a early bird enrollment of the academy during the challenge next week. And it is going to be at a special price just as reward as a thank you for my inner circle and Okay, so this is not like a huge public launch, I'm only really like, inviting in people who are already sort of following me. So if you have been following me for a while, and you've been like wondering what's going on with the Academy, if you are kind of intrigued, well, Position Yourself as an Expert is the perfect way to number one, get a taste of what it's like working with me. Number two, like have some massive wins, get some clarity, build a toolkit against imposter syndrome. And then also, if you end up deciding that you want to keep working with me, then you've got the best possible price and early bird access into the Academy. So that's enough on that. Let's move on to point number five, not being able to explain what you do. Now, this I know, it's like, what do you even mean? But like, think about it? How? When someone asks you like, how do you help people like so what do you do? What is your initial reaction to that? Do you ever find it like throws you and then you start beating yourself up after you've explained yourself or tried to explain yourself? Whether it's, you know, a post that you're putting out there, like whether it's in your bio, whether it's when you're standing up to introduce yourself at a networking meeting, afterwards? Do you go Oh, yeah, nailed that. Or you go? Why did I say that? Oh, my gosh, does anyone even understand what I do? They're not going to see the value in what I do. How am I ever going to get any referrals? You know, what is that the, you know, the conversation going on in your mind? Not being able to fully articulate what you do, who you help, and really that value? Like, what is the value that you bring to the table? It does actually lead to imposter syndrome? Because then you kind of just start questioning yourself and going like, do I really know what I'm doing? Am I clear? Do I have a niche? Who do I help really? It's just funny how quickly we spiral if we, if we can't boil it down to like, what is that thing? So this is where I did a quick, I did a reel on this last week, I think it was where I was talking about one liners, the importance of the one liner and how it's not actually about having a one and sorry, when I say one liner, I mean, elevator pitch, you know, what is the I help statement, everyone's obsessed with them. And yes, they're actually fantastic. But a lot of the time, people think, oh, if I just have an I help statement, my business is going to turn around, suddenly, I'm going to make so much more money. But it's not actually from the I help statement itself. It is from the clarity that you've found in what you really do and why you do it, and how you help and who you help. The work that you have to do on that on your messaging in order to then be able to walk away with like a one sentence summary of what you do. That is the transformational piece in your business. That is the thing that's just going to help you go, okay, it's all clicked now. And then it's easier to explain it to other people. And that means for them, it's easier for them to explain it to other people that they know and send referrals your way. And it's just like this beautiful thing that keeps on going so, so it's again, like the not being able to explain what you do the imposter syndrome comes from just actually going, Oh my gosh, like, do I even know what I'm doing? Am I clear on what is my corner of of my industry? Like what makes me different to anybody else? What is my unique approach, like all of this is connected to that. So again, just one final plug for the Position Yourself as an Expert challenge, which is completely free. We are going to be diving into that we are going to really look at what makes you so credible. Why are you doing what you do? What is your mission? What is your vision? You know, what lights you up? And what do you want to be known for? We're gonna answer all those questions. Because, like I said, this is going to help you tackle imposter syndrome and remove a lot of that self doubt and the and the overwhelm. And in turn, like the byproduct of that is becoming so much more magnetic to ideal clients. You need to have those things in place. If you want to consistently attract people who get you who see your value who are ready to pay you. As long as all that stuff is murky and you're questioning your own value. You don't know what how to explain what you do, you're going to really struggle because you're just going to attract, you know, mishmash of people if you're attracting people at all, you know, because sometimes, if the imposter syndrome gets that bad, you're not going to even show up at all let alone consistently, let alone in a way that is magnetic because youare just so sure of your your mission, your purpose on this planet as an entrepreneur or service provider. So I hope I've made a good case for the challenge because it's my one chance to to invite you one more time before it actually kicks off. I would love to see you there. But if it's not for you, I completely understand we're all at different points in our in our business and our brand. And if you're like, oh, I've got this, I'm all good. That's great. Although I am guessing if you're listening to an episode on imposter syndrome, there's, there's something going on there. So, anyways, that is enough for me. personalbranding project.co/challenge if you want to sign up. And I mean, if you're listening to this in the future, I'll make sure it redirects to some other juicy freebie, because this won't be live forever. But thank you for listening. I hope this was helpful. If it were I'd love you to reach out and tell me if it did help in some way. And yeah, I hope to see some of you inside the challenge next week. But otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day. And I will be in your ear holes next week. Bye for now.