Welcome to the Anything but Average Podcast where I will teach you how to create a coaching business one step at a time. I’m Lindsey Mango, a life coach passionate about helping you create the life of your wildest dreams by creating a coaching business. Let’s get started.
Hello and welcome back to another week and another episode of Anything but Average. Guys, before we jump into today’s episode, we are officially halfway through 15 Days to Your First or Next Client.
This is a bonus event that I do inside Anything but Average where I coach you for 15 days straight – weekdays. So three weeks of coaching every day during the week, Monday through Friday, on signing your first or your next client. You also get access to a virtual workbook, where I give you the action items to do every day, as well as the self-coaching and mindset you need in order to achieve this goal.
You can still join us and get access to the back half of this event. I only do it twice a year and you will have replays from the first seven days. This is something you can join at any time and decide to go all in for the next 15 days. Utilize the next eight days of Lives and then go all in on utilizing the replays from the first seven days to hit this goal.
Whatever’s keeping you from believing you’re going to sign that first or next client in the next 15 days is exactly why you need to be in there and getting coaching. I’m recording this episode on day one when we just got started. We already have people signing consults from going through the process on day one. Go to lindseymangocoaching.com/anythingbutaverage and I will see you on the inside.
So today what I wanted to talk to you guys about was imposter syndrome. This is something that gets thrown around a lot in the personal growth world and is something that I see so many people struggle with when it comes to wanting to start a coaching business and getting started and signing their first client.
The definition – this is how Google defines it is the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own effort or skills. How I like to define it is the belief that what you have to offer isn’t good enough, that what you have to offer isn’t enough for the job that you want to have.
Meaning, that you want to be a coach, you want to be a love coach, you want to be a money coach, you want to be whatever type of coach, but your brain immediately responds by saying who the heck are you to do that? Why would anybody hire you?
And when you even think about going out and doing that in the world, you feel like a poser. You feel like an imposter. You feel like you’re pretending and faking because deep down you don’t believe that you have the expertise or the chops to be able to offer that work in the world.
So today what we’re going to talk about is what this actually means, why imposter syndrome shows up, what to check in with, like are you actually being an imposter or not, and how to know the difference. And then what to do with it, how to approach it so you can start your coaching business and start changing people’s lives. Let’s jump in.
So the first thing that I want to offer is any time imposter syndrome shows up, any time you start to think, who am I to do this, I’m a fraud, nobody’s going to believe me, no one’s going to trust me, the thought that I have created that serves me so well and I teach this to my students is this is a sign I’m on the right track.
The only time that your brain brings this up is when you’re going to do something that’s going to stretch you, that’s going to push you to grow, that’s going to push you to a new level. Think about that. If you were doing something that you already know you can do, say you’re a teacher and you’ve taught for however long, you’re not going to have that thought.
You’re not going to think I’m an imposter because you’re like, I know how to teach math or whatever it is. The only reason this drama pops up is because you are about to push yourself to a new level, you are about to grow.
And so your brain brings this to the surface because it wants to keep you safe, it wants to protect you, it wants to make sure that you don’t fail. I think of it like – I’ve used this example in the past but any time you go to grow, it’s like having a glass with a bunch of crap on the bottom.
And as soon as you pour water in it, which is the growth, what happens is all that crap floats to the surface. That is the drama, that is the fear, that is the doubt, that is all the stuff you have to work on and grow through in order to get to that next place.
One of those things is oftentimes imposter syndrome. So all that it means is that you poured water into the glass, that you’re about to grow, that you’re about to do something different. So you could see this as an opportunity to witness that you are on the right track, that you are doing something scary, that you are headed in the right direction.
Instead, what most of us want to do is we experience imposter syndrome and we want to run the other direction. No, this is the pathway through. Now, the second thing I want to offer when it comes to imposter syndrome is to identify, are you actually being an imposter?
And I know that sounds kind of funny. Not a lot of people talk about that. But the first step of Anything but Average is to change your life so you develop a skillset and the result that you need in order to go out and help other people.
So there is a level of being an expert. Now, most of you guys, your brain believes that you have to be perfect and flawless and never have any drama or fail ever again. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about learning how to shift your thoughts to change your perspective about your life. It could be something as simple as taking the exact same life you have and changing your perspective on it and feeling completely different.
That is something to offer people. So it doesn’t have to be this long drawn out process, but you do have to check in with yourself and ask yourself why you’re starting this business. Are you starting it because you just want to escape your life? Or are you starting it from a place of I have something really valuable to offer?
Inside my program, I teach you how to create that value as a coach. Now, the only reason that we do that, that we want to skip over that process, and in turn – again, I don’t even like to use that word, but be imposters in our business is usually twofold.
One, we pick something that we think will make us money. So I see this sometimes, people pick business coaching even though they have no experience in business because they think only people will pay for business coaching.
So that’s coming from a lack of belief or doubt in the skills and the value you do have. And so in turn, you pick something that you don’t have experience or skills or knowledge in, or results in, and you really are faking it because you haven’t created those outcomes in your life.
The other reason is that we’re in a rush. I kind of mentioned this earlier, to start our businesses so we can get out of our lives. I actually wrote a piece of content on this the other day, that you want to know what a big flashing red sign that says you’re not ready to coach people that tells the world is by hating your life so much that you’re in such a rush to start a coaching business and sign clients so you can get out of your life.
You’re not doing your own work. You’re trying to escape the feelings by changing your circumstances, which is ultimately what we do as coaches is help people learn how to take ownership and responsibility over their life and their feelings and no matter the circumstance learn how to feel the way that they want and in turn create the life that they want.
So if you’re doing one of those two things, join Anything but Average, start on the first step of the process so that you can become a living, breathing example, a walking billboard of your work as a coach.
Now again, for all of you guys listening, that is a constant process is doing your own work. Coaching yourself, learning how to shift your perspective, learning how to create new results. So this is a never-ending process but there is some element at the start of your business where you need to create your own value. And that’s what I teach you in the program. And you brush up on that if you already have done that, even if you’ve already started your business.
Number three, the third thing you need to do when you have imposter syndrome pop up is you have to take the focus off why you’re not the person to teach this. Our brains want to focus on what we don’t know, what we don’t have to offer, why we’re not good enough to offer this thing. It’s totally normal.
But think about it. Any time you focus on those things, you’re never going to feel like an expert, you’re never going to feel like you have something valuable to offer. So you have to take your focus off of all these reasons why you’re not the perfect person to offer this, which leads me to the last piece of this.
You have to spend all your time and energy focused on why you are the perfect person to offer what you want to offer people in coaching, what you do have to offer, what perspective shifts you have created and the results you have created in your own life, why your story is unique, why you’re an expert on this specific topic and picking something that you have mastered.
That’s how you get past it. Again, I think it’s important to note that this is a totally normal process of the brain to focus on what we don’t know instead of what we do. But in order to build the confidence you need to start your coaching business and put yourself out into the world, you have to stop thinking you’re an imposter. You have to start focusing on what you have to offer and selling yourself for that.
Again, it would be like if I wanted to – I’m just thinking of a random example, but if I wanted to teach people about how to work through failure, if I spent all day thinking about my own failure and why it’s so terrible and why it’s the worst and why it shouldn’t be happening, I’m never going to feel confident to go out and help people with that.
Versus, realizing like, hey, I did learn how to change my perspective on it, I have learned how to actually put myself out there and take action and start evolving through failure. I’m not perfect, there is no perfection. You never are going to get to this place in your journey where you’re just done growing and that’s it and there’s nothing else wrong and you have no more drama.
You will always have that, which is why it’s so important to spend all of your time focused on what you have to offer, what you do know, what value you do bring to the table so you can have the confidence to start your business and put it out into the world. That’s it. That’s imposter syndrome for you.
I love you guys. If you found this episode valuable, share it on social media, share it with someone you know that is struggling with this because it’s such a simple shift, but imposter syndrome will ultimately hold you back from putting your work out in the world and learning how to make this shift to focusing on what you do have to offer will help you build the confidence to finally chase your dream and do what you’re meant to do.
I love you guys. If you’re ready to take this work deeper, go to lindseymangocoaching.com/anythingbutaverage where I teach you how to become a great coach, launch your coaching business, and start signing your first clients. I love you guys. I will talk to you next week. Bye.
If you’re ready to take this work deeper and create your own coaching business, join us in Anything but Average, where I will walk you through the step-by-step process to become a coach, start your coaching business, and start signing clients. Go to lindseymangocoaching.com/anythingbutaverage and I will see you on the inside.
