When I started my business, I wanted to be the best Virtual Assistant on earth. I knew I was great at what I did AND I had the degrees and experience to back it up! So why did I never think my accomplishment were good enough and why did I always think I could do better? There have recently been articles on what we now know as impostor syndrome! In a nutshell, it means we feel like we aren’t good enough and that we’ll be “found out” and everyone in the world will realize we are an impostor!
In this blog, I’m not going to talk to you about impostor syndrome, you can easily google that. Instead, I’m going share with you what I did to reset the way I was thinking about myself and my business to realize I was not an impostor, I was great at my job and those feelings were the actual impostor. So without further ado…
Keep track of your accomplishments and celebrate the little wins
I’m sure you a have heard this before, but I’m bringing it up again because most of us fail to do it. As business owners, we tend to overlook all the little things that happen daily and monthly and only celebrate big wins. If you don’t celebrate the little things, you risk never feeling good enough about what you have accomplished. If my goal is to book 1 new client a month and I don’t get that client, I’ll see it as a failure. But what if I had 3 great consult calls, but the people just weren’t ready to sign up right now. Those 3 calls are a success and I celebrate them.
Here’s what to do
Start keeping track of your wins, big and small, whatever they look like to you. Start a journal or a word document. Tell your family and friends. Share your wins on social media!
If you get a new client, put it in your win bank. If you finish your blog, WIN BANK! If you make $2.00 over your monthly goal, you guessed it, win bank! You get the point, keep track of everything good that happens and allow yourself to feel joy. Your hard work made these things happen, nobody else did, YOU DID IT!
The more we celebrate our wins, big or small, the more confident we’ll become.
Remember where you started
Again, this is simple, but I want to you to remember the day you decided to start your own business. I bet you were nervous and told yourself you had a lot to learn. After the initial excitement, you probably thought “what have I just done”. Now I want you to think of everything you have learned since your first day. I don’t care if it’s only been one day, you have learned something you didn’t know before and that means you are officially getting better.
Every few months, take time to remember where you started and see where you are now. Look at your journal of wins! You may not always see a huge difference, maybe you didn’t get a new client in 3 months, but I bet you learned a few new skills. Every single day you wake up and show up, you are growing, and you know more than you did the day before.
Stop comparing yourself to others in or out of your field
This one is still a struggle for me, I admit it. We all know the world is flooded with other people in our field claiming to be experts, and a lot of them are! The problem is when we start comparing ourselves, we can always find areas where we feel insecure. Maybe another Virtual Assistant is mentioning how she booked 5 clients this month, and I only booked 3. Maybe another Virtual Assistant is offering more services than I am, and I think I need to offer everything to compete.
This line of thinking sent me down a lot of rabbit holes and I found that I was wasting my time and watering down what I did best when I tried to do everything. I had to realize that when I started my company, I chose the services I would offer for a reason. Have I added more since I started, of course, that’s just the natural progression of a business, but I stopped actively searching for more services to add and let them flow naturally.
The point of all this rambling is that when I stopped comparing myself and trying to compete, I gained more confidence and realized what I was offering was all I needed to be offering. I was an expert at what I did and while I could learn from other Virtual Assistants, they were not my competition. I also harnessed the power of having a great network of other experts to brainstorm with and share knowledge. That network I once viewed as competition has helped me gain more confidence every day, and with confidence comes success!
Shout out Time
Finally, I want to give a few shout outs to some women who certainly have reason to celebrate because they are experts at what they do! They are successfully running a business and gaining confidence each day. Each one of these beautiful woman have inspired me and helped me along my path to success.
Elise Campbell owns Fitness and Nutrition by Elise and is an expert in her field as a registered dietitian nutritionist and personal trainer.
Ashley Moore owns ACM Digital Design and is an expert in all things design. She does responsive website design (including maintenance) and logo design.
Alycia Chere owns CreativePlanHer and is an expert in Social Media Management and Project Coordination.
Marilee Haynes owns 5H Copywriting and Digital Marketing and is an expert in Pinterest Management and Strategy.
Dru Pape owns The Intuitive Body and is an Expert John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Therapist and Occupational Therapist.
The point is that we are our worst critics and often forget to give ourselves credit when we deserve it. Every time you start to doubt yourself, remember, people won’t know you’re doubting yourself if you don’t show them. While I don’t think we should ever fake our expertise, I certainly believe we can hide our insecurities and put on a confident face.