From The Desk of Abdoulaye
New York City
22:28
Dear friend,
Every started working on a new passion of yours. Then after a while you start getting really good. You get so good, you feel it’s time to start charging people for what you do. But as you think about what you’re going to charge, thoughts of you being an imposter start flooding into your brain. My friend, that’s what we call imposter syndrome. And in this post I’ll show you why you need to drop it. Unless you’re a real imposter.
Why Do We Feel Like Imposters
There are mainly two reason we feel like an imposter once we start charging money for something.
If you’re actually an imposter and you suck at what you do, your brain will let you know you’re in imposter.
If you suck as a copywriter and you know it, yet you’re charging people to write their copy without you being able to deliver results, you’re an imposter. There is no way around the truth.
Since you’re an imposter you won’t listen to this anyways so keep doing what you’re doing. You’re going to crash and burn. On top of that the clients you fuck over will end up spreading the word about you and you will sleeping in the bed you made. Nobody gets away with anything in life. So watch what you do carefully. You’re going to pay for it all, the good and the bad.
If you’re an imposter, the best thing you can do for yourself is start by being honest.
Back to the copywriter example. Instead of charing people when you have no skills and can’t provide a result. Learn first, learn how to provide results with your copy. Learn how to sell yourself with your copy. Once you’ve done that and are 100% sure you can provide whatever client you get with the results you’re looking for, then go out and get clients.
Once you start being honest, don’t sprinkle some lies in there either. Don’t say you have work experience when you don’t, don’t make claims you cannot keep and don’t promise anything you can’t deliver.
Once you do that, you’ll be able to break out of your imposters syndrome and actually deliver on your promise.
Let’s say you’ve gotten into photography. You’ve honed your skills to the point where people actually look at your photos and say things like “wow you’ve got such a good camera”, “can you come and shoot my event for me”, “come hang out with us, also don’t forget to bring your camera”.
At that point, you know there is interest in your photography and you figure might as well start charging.
Now once you start charging, you decide on a simple rate of $200 per hour.
You look on instagram, and you see lots of great other photographers. A lot of them with better images than you, a lot of them with more followers and likes than you. All of a sudden, you start feeling inadequate. What if i’m not cut out for this? I can’t be charging people 200$ an hour when there are better people than me charging for much less. You start feeling like an imposter.
These are actually good feelings because it shows that you truly care about your clients. It shows that you’re not out here to rob people of their money. It shows that you take yourself seriously and want to provide the best experience you can for your clients.
To cure your feelings of being an imposter, you have to start by trusting yourself. You’ve got the skills to deliver quality results to your clients. You’ve got the right mindset of wanting to give a lot of value without ripping people off.
Charge whatever you feel comfortable with. How to price yourself is an article for another day. If you’re still feeling like an imposter, start off at a low price point then work your way up as you build your confidence.
To recap. There are generally two types of people that feel like imposters when they start charging for something. The sleaze-bag who’s out to make mullah and who ever falls a victim during his rampage is just part of the game. And the righteous-assassin who feels like an imposter because they are way too critical of themselves.
As long as your product or service provides value to your ideal client, you’re doing the right thing by selling it to them. So go out there and get the moolah.
Until Next time
Your man who used to feel like an imposter for writing a self-development blog but doesn’t anymore
Abdoulaye