Imposter syndrome: before & after you start your business
Yesterday I had huge imposter syndrome… It got me thinking about the different imposter feelings you get before and after you start your business
I missed a client appointment yesterday and I felt awful. It’s so unlike me to do that and I pride myself on my organisation, attention to detail and professionalism. I’ve been beating myself up about it since and feeling imposter syndrome for the first time in a while. I know it’s normal, so today I am sharing my experiences for you.
In particular, the imposter syndrome feels different before you start your business, compared to the imposter syndrome when you’re running your business day to day. I wanted to explore these differences with you today…
Imposter Syndrome before you start your business
When I didn’t have a business and was back in corporate I had so many imposter thoughts about starting a business:
Who am I to start a business?
What if it fails? (I hadn’t event tried yet!)
What if my friends think I’m crazy?
What if my family don’t approve?
What would I even start a business in?
How would I pay the bills?
Am I too old to start a business? - I was only 30 back then, what a crazy thought!
As you can hopefully see, although these are thoughts I’m sure many people have, most of them are not valid. Honestly, I did have friends and family who didn’t approve, but was it right to let them stop me from building the life I want? Ultimately, I am in control of my life and responsible for paying my bills, looking after my family, etc, therefore I get to make the choices.
The ‘I’m too old one’ makes me laugh now. Back when I was 30, I was about to start my second business (this business) and I was worried I was too old to build a personal brand on instagram as a business coach. This probably says a lot about social media portraying that perfect life and business coaches who were ‘smashing it’. But again, I shouldn’t allow what other people are doing to stop me going for my dreams.
If you haven’t yet started a business and are feeling that imposter syndrome, I totally get it. Or if you have started your business, rewind to a time when you were ‘thinking about it’ and remember those thoughts you may have had. It’s actually beautiful to see how far you’ve come.
Imposter Syndrome after you’ve started your business
Post business launch, when you are up and running, the imposter syndrome certainly shifts. And I find that is comes and goes. When you are in momentum and things are going great, you forget all about it, but sometimes it rears its head when you are least expecting it.
That’s the experience I had this week. This month has been amazing for me in my business, I’ve spoke at multiple events, guested on a podcast, held my own event, onboarded new clients and have multiple calls booked in with people wanting to work with me. However, yesterday I managed to miss one of my client check in appointments. I was so gutted and disappointed in myself. It shifted my whole day and I felt that imposter syndrome creeping in. To be clear, this isn’t something I do on the regular, I pride myself on being organised and planned, but something yesterday just went wrong. We all make mistakes and I know my client is totally fine and smashing it (we’ve rescheduled and I have apologised).
How else does imposter syndrome show up when you’ve running your business?
Getting a new incredible client, but then feeling like they are ‘too good for you’ - I know other coaches also feel like this at times
Being about to speak at an event and freaking out that there are other really incredible people int he audience that make you nervous and panicking
Knowing you are doing the work and trying to hold your nerve that the sales / enquires are going to come in
These are some of the things I know me and other coaches have experienced. I think imposter syndrome is fascinating, and getting out of your head and finding that confidence is a skill in itself (I feel this will be another blog post!).
“Imposter Syndrome is a totally normal feeling both before and after you start a business, but those feelings do evolve. Being open and honest with yourself when you are feeling those things can really help you work through it. Take the time to journal it out and coach yourself through it. Remember you are in control of your life and decisions and you get the privilidge to decide what you give your energy to.”
Final thoughts
I’d love to hear your experience of imposter syndrome, whether it’s before you launch or after you have your business. Please message me @jenlisterstrategy on Insta or LinkedIn or email me jennie@jenlister.com with your thoughts.
If you are thinking of starting your business or want to work with me to grow your business then I’d love to chat - you can book a free 30 min chat with me here on Calendly or send me a message on socials @jenlisterstrategy to chat over DMs.
