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Designers & Imposter Syndrome: Why It Hits Hard & How to Push Past It
110 Plays7 months ago
Cass & Amanda chat about the realities of feeling like an imposter as a freelance designer and business owner and share some key ways to push past your insecurities and feel more confident in your skills and services.
Resources mentioned:
All of our courses & resources for designers → FoxtrotBranding.com/education
Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(1:30) What’s the tea at Foxtrot
(2:50) What is imposter syndrome
(9:10) How we’ve experienced imposter syndrome over the years
(21:36) Common triggers for imposter syndrome
(32:04) Key ways to push past imposter syndrome
(46:20) A new community membership for designers
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Transcript
The Value of Believing in Your Offerings
00:00:00
Speaker
But I think at the heart of things, if you don't believe what you offer is valuable and is worth people investing money in and is truly helping people, if you don't believe that, everything else in your business is not going to work.
Meet Cass and Amanda: Foxtrot Branding Founders
00:00:20
Speaker
Welcome to Spill the Tea. We are Cass and Amanda. We are the co-founders of the creative studio, Foxtrot Branding. And in these episodes, we share about navigating our lives as designers and business owners and the challenges and rewards that come up along the way. So in today's episode, we're going to be discussing designers and imposter syndrome, why it hits hard and how to push past it.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, this is something that we've consistently experienced ourselves and like also talked with other designers about um for the entire existence of our business. It's just something that like doesn't go away and I think is especially prevalent for newer designers. For sure, yeah. And I think it's something that keeps popping up in just new ways over time.
00:01:02
Speaker
And so that's definitely something we can talk about today. Like how does it impact you when you're a brand new designer and how does it impact you as you're, you know, making new moves or leveling up in different ways in your business.
Imposter Syndrome Among Designers
00:01:14
Speaker
Before we dive in, if you've enjoyed this podcast, we'd love if you could leave us a rating or review on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening to this podcast, because that really does help us out. If you're watching on YouTube, you can give this video a like and also leave us a comment.
00:01:28
Speaker
We appreciate it. Okay. So what's the tea at Foxtrotcast? What's going on lately for us? What is going on? What isn't going on? What isn't going on? um It's been fairly busy as we're trying to just kind of like get back to our normal routine still since we, you know, I was out a little bit um earlier this year. I mean, it is still early in the year, but yeah, just. It feels like it's been a whole year already. Yeah, it really does. So much has happened. The months have been intense. Yeah.
00:01:58
Speaker
A lot of sales calls. um ah yeah The economy is really scary and interesting right now. So I think we're definitely seeing that like affect bookings and just how ready, you know, clients are to book and move forward with things. So just navigating that and then also trying to knock out some internal work stuff. I don't know. It's kind of boring, but just some things on our list that we've been meaning to do. And we're just trying to like get a system to do that and also make sure we're showing showing up on social platforms. So don't know, nothing crazy interesting, I feel like. Yeah. Yeah. It's just kind of just trying to stay like above the water and get things done. um
00:02:38
Speaker
And we have a lot of things that we're really excited about, which we will be sharing some new updates for designers at the end of this episode. So definitely stay tuned for that um or check the show notes if you' you want to skip ahead and see what's up.
00:02:51
Speaker
Okay, so let's dive into our topic and talk about imposter syndrome.
Challenges for Young Designers
00:02:56
Speaker
and first off, start ah talking about just like, you know what defined it? What is imposter syndrome? I think to define it specifically for designers and like freelance designers and business owners, I think it's that persistent feeling that you're not really qualified or like talented or good enough to be doing the work that you're doing.
00:03:13
Speaker
Even if you have the experience, even if you have the skill or like the proof, you know, to back it up that you are. It's kind of like like inner nagging voice that's always been like, actually, ah what if you're not good enough to do this? You know, or like the the anxieties, I think, too, of the what ifs.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yeah. And I think like this comes up in so many different ways, too. And it can be kind of sneaky. Like, what is that feeling? Like, is that valid or is that just me being anxious and having that imposter syndrome? And I don't know if other people are like me, too, but I feel like I tend to feel tired of like hearing about the idea of imposter syndrome, but we, we notice we keep getting asked about it in our audience too. And noticing that it's something that we are still feeling, even if we're like, it's not always the most fun thing to, to think about and talk about, like our audience is still feeling it. We still feel it in different ways. Like it is just something that
00:04:07
Speaker
everyone faces. So even if like imposter syndrome was like a really hot topic, maybe a few months or years ago, it's still such a relevant thing that we're all facing.
00:04:18
Speaker
um So today, like we were, you know, thinking about this concept and writing down our notes, and there are just so many examples of of how this can come up. And Like Cass said, you know, it's like the feelings of like, am I faking it or like something that we faced when we were newer and just starting, we were really young. Like we were just like in college or fresh out of college.
00:04:38
Speaker
And one of the the ways that I really felt imposter syndrome was just like all of our clients are older than us. And so even if they weren't the designer and like they had no experience in design,
00:04:50
Speaker
I would tend to kind of like trust them more as like the leader in the project, which is like not good for running a project, running your own business. If you're consistently like letting your client be the the guide there.
00:05:03
Speaker
um But that's a really hard thing when you are like genuinely only like 22 years old and you're working with business owners who are like in their forties or fifties and they have the money and they have the experience like it's really hard to combat that feeling,
Freelancer Challenges
00:05:19
Speaker
you know? Whether you're like, you're feeling fresh and green because you're young, like we were, or you're feeling fresh and green because this is a new skill to you and a new service offering if you're like pivoting into a career. And I think it does hit specifically hard for freelancers
00:05:35
Speaker
and freelance designers. And there's like a few reasons for that. Number one it's all on you when you're first starting out. Typically, you're not going to have a team or anyone else to rely on or like a boss who's coaching you through this or, you know, somebody who is in it with you that has that extra level of experience. Because I mean, even though we're partners, we were at the same level pretty much of business and design experience. I mean, you had a little bit more design experience than me.
00:06:01
Speaker
But you had other like business experience. you had freelanced a little bit too. And and your skill set from school was different, but like it applied in different ways. So yeah, I mean, we both like, we're still both very new though to like being like, okay, we are founders now of a design studio. yeah Who are we to say that we can do this? You know, like.
00:06:20
Speaker
Oh, and it's also like design is... an incredible industry to get into because you can be self-taught, but it's also subjective. And there's like a huge range of the type of designer you can be, the type of services you can offer.
00:06:35
Speaker
So there is a lot of subjectivity in saying like, this is the type of design I do. This is how much I'm going to charge for it. You know, it can feel a little nebulous, I think. Because especially it's like other careers, like you get that like validation, like you go to school to become a doctor, you get that degree, you get like you go through the all the phases and you're like, great, now I'm a doctor. There's people saying I'm a doctor officially.
00:07:00
Speaker
And I even went to school for design. I have a degree in design, but I still kind of felt like, but who am I now to be a business owner to? Like I didn't go to business school. And so that's definitely like a really unique, weird thing to approach. Like, cause design is something that you can easily get into, but.
00:07:18
Speaker
Not everyone has like the business foundation or the skill set, but a lot of, I think it's something you can learn. Like if it's something you want to do, like I think everyone can learn it, but it is a better fit for different
Confidence and Experience in Client Interactions
00:07:30
Speaker
kinds of people too. Like it just kind of depends. But if if you're here and you're listening to this podcast, you're probably the kind of person who is like ready to start your business or already have.
00:07:39
Speaker
You're interested in that. You're the right kind of person for that. And you're trying to just figure out How do I grow past this like uncomfortable feeling of like not knowing, I don't know, just like how to get past the imposter syndrome? Like how do you push past it? It's it's tough. So we're going to talk about all of that today too.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah. It's something that is a universal feeling just as a human, but I think it does hit in some unique ways. as a designer, just especially being like going back to just it being you and being alone. It's hard and you can kind of become like, I think an echo chamber in your head of just like these anxieties bouncing around. And um i think sometimes...
00:08:19
Speaker
imposter syndrome is very subconscious. Like you're not even so sometimes acknowledging like, oh, I'm having an imposter syndrome thought right now. It's just something that feels like very normalized and programmed into your brain of just constantly feeling like so anxious and nervous about a project or doing a sales call or um putting yourself out there because what's really underlying those feelings is that I'm not good enough and like, I'm not going to be able to do this.
00:08:46
Speaker
And that can sneak up in little ways too, like even with your pricing, like if you're like really second guessing your pricing, like that could be another way that that's creeping up. Like why are you questioning your pricing so much? Why are you invalidating that so much? Like it's coming from that kind of sneaky self or sneaky imposter syndrome in the back end. So yeah.
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like we people might be curious to know how imposter syndrome has affected our business like early on and then also now. like Do we still still deal with it?
00:09:19
Speaker
um Amanda, do you feel like there are any areas early on that you specifically experienced imposter syndrome or just insecurities? I think when starting out for me, it was mostly just like the fact that we were so young. and yeah really just trying to figure things out. And we didn't really have a set process. And i think that's another way that imposter syndrome really sneaks up on you is like when you you don't have the experience and you you don't have um just like the knowledge to kind of back up like why you're running your project a certain way or the experience to back up why you price a certain way.
00:09:53
Speaker
um and does You just question so much because you're so new and you're learning so much. I think that's very reasonable. But yeah, what about you? like and And how do you feel like does it still impact you now that we're like seven years in?
Gender Dynamics in Business Confidence
00:10:07
Speaker
I think early on the the places I most felt it in our business was doing sales calls or sales meetings because sometimes we were doing them in person with local clients. And I had so much anxiety and imposter syndrome on those meetings. My stomach would be so upset before every call. Yeah.
00:10:24
Speaker
ah Yeah, it was intimidating for ah variety of factors. First of all, I think sales calls are just really uncomfortable if it's not something you have done a lot of before, like inherently that scenario of like, I am trying to pitch my services to this person and justify my prices to them. Like I think Early on, we had more of that mindset of like, I need to prove this is why my services are worth that price. Whereas now with more experience and understanding the value and just being further along, it's like, no, I'm not justifying my services to you. These are my services. Let me explain them.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah, we can talk about the specific ways that like they're going to benefit your business and answer your questions. But like, I don't have to justify it. But in the beginning, I think we definitely felt more that way with clients and um also just feeling like you're winging it because you're just trying out different things. Yeah. Like you're just seeing what questions work.
00:11:21
Speaker
For sure, not getting all the information we needed because we didn't have you know the proper list of questions or ah Amanda, you talk about one time a story where you were just like, yep, I got everything we needed like after a few questions.
00:11:35
Speaker
And i was like, actually, i think we need to get a couple more pieces of info. I was just like nervous and not thinking clearly. And and we weren't like preparing well either. And I think like that lack of preparedness and experience definitely contributes to the imposter syndrome feelings.
00:11:51
Speaker
Yeah. And so I think now that we're like further in our business, now like sales calls feel very natural to us. We know what to look out for. We know what to ask. We have our templates that we use every single time. Like we have a system and we have the confidence to know how to talk to people. And we also don't have the insecurity that we did as when we were first starting. Like now now we have the the confidence knowing that like we know we do good work.
00:12:13
Speaker
We know that our work is worth what we charge. Like you just build that confidence in yourself over time. um But sometimes, yeah, we might feel a little bit of imposter syndrome here and there. Like if we're pitching a really big project, um you know, there have been times in the in the recent years where we're like, oh, like, can we actually deliver on that, you know?
00:12:34
Speaker
on that proposal we're sending. And honestly, i think you probably should have some nervousness whenever you're pitching. If you have no nervousness, you might be a little too cocky. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Like, I think you might, like my therapist talks about good stress, which I hate that that exists.
00:12:50
Speaker
But apparently,
Coping with Imposter Syndrome
00:12:51
Speaker
you know, like eat you as a human being, like should feel some level of like stress and pressure in your life to do you complete your tasks well, you know, and make sure you're just, I don't know, being a good human basically. But yeah, I think when you are pitching, you know, a big project, yeah, it's natural to feel some nervousness because you're like, I want to follow through and do a good job for my client. And I think that makes you a good service provider.
00:13:17
Speaker
I don't think it should be the overwhelming feeling by at all. I think you like now it's more like, oh wow, like I'm a little nervous because, you know, I hope they book it and I hope it goes well.
00:13:27
Speaker
But ultimately I'm falling back on, I have a great system I've worked with a lot of clients and navigated, you know, some difficult situations. So no matter what happens and no matter what comes up, I know I'm going to be able to navigate this well and ultimately provide like an end result that I feel really good about and proud of. And I know is going to serve my client no matter what happens.
00:13:48
Speaker
um But yeah, you still feel a little bit of that or a little bit of nervousness, like jumping on ah sales call to, you know, talk to a business that you've never met, or, you know, if you're really wanting to book it, you know, there's still a little bit of that there.
00:14:01
Speaker
For sure. I would say it's definitely like, at least for me, I have less of a physical reaction now than I used to. Like I definitely would get like the upset stomach, feel really physically like I could feel the anxiety in my body.
00:14:12
Speaker
Nowadays, I don't really feel that on most calls. Occasionally I do if I'm just having like kind of a high anxiety day for some reason. um But I don't normally feel as like nervous or triggered by just calls in general, which is good. I feel like that's like a really great like progress that I've made over the years.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's super common too. like we you know When we talk to a lot of newer designers, a lot of designers will say, no, I don't have sales calls or um designers like hate having them at the beginning, which is very relatable.
00:14:44
Speaker
by But what do you feel like... has helped you overcome that the most? Do you feel like it's just like time and experience or i don't know, how is that like progression getting for you?
00:14:56
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like it's a combination of things and this is probably similar to most people's experience, but it's just like experience over time that compounds and your confidence grows with that. um Experience just in like growing older, but especially we're for the life phase that we've been in, like the difference from me at 22 versus 28 a very big difference. I just am more secure in myself as a person. Um, but not everyone may like experience that if you're starting in your forties or fifties, you may already feel very established and confident in who you are. So it's like, sure. We're having to push past that, like growing as a person plus growing as a business owner.
00:15:32
Speaker
um but yeah, overall I think it's just, yeah, just growing over time, having that experience. Um, but also like building the trust in myself to just knowing that like,
00:15:43
Speaker
I know that I can handle a call. I can talk to someone. I can talk to people, right? Like that's like some people just get really nervous about it. And I understand, but it's like the person on the other end of the Zoom call is just another person. They're just another business owner. They're also just trying to figure it out.
00:15:59
Speaker
And I think especially as we've grown, we've attracted like our ideal clients. And so... It feels more just like a casual chat with like a new potential friend than a sales call. You know, like it doesn't feel as intimidating, even though we are still like approaching it as a sales call. We are still being serious, but we're also being friendly and lighthearted. And like it just feels less scary.
00:16:21
Speaker
It's a lot different than, you know, maybe the business owners we were talking to when we first started. It was like local businesses or like and we would work with pretty much anyone. So like also working with um very established like male business owners. I don't know. felt really scary when you're like a 22 year old and you're talking to a man who owns a business and like.
00:16:40
Speaker
it it just feels a little more intimidating. Sure. Should we talk about how the patriarchy plays into imposter syndrome? i mean, absolutely. Like it definitely makes me feel like, I don't know, like like women are are less um less good at sales or less good at being business owners or whatever. And that's just kind of what we internalize over time. There's so many women and girls who are not like empowered from a young age and told that they can do whatever they want. I feel really lucky that I don't know what your family was like. I do know your family was very like entrepreneurial.
00:17:11
Speaker
um So you definitely had those influences. My family had a lot of entrepreneurs in the family too. And like my parents were always very supportive of me in the way that like, they're like, yeah, you can do anything you want. Like you're smart, you can figure it out. And I think that definitely impacted like my confidence as I was growing up and like felt like i can just try it. And if I fail, it's fine. I think ah they had a really good like approach to just like trying and failing and that being okay.
00:17:36
Speaker
Yeah. I think I always tried to like put out there that I was confident um and like have a ah confident front. And I feel similar in the way of like, well, I'm just going to try this thing. I'm just going to put myself out there. But there's definitely like – um, an authority dynamic that I was dealing with a lot more when I was younger, especially, you know, talking to men or just more experienced, like, uh,
Triggers of Imposter Syndrome
00:18:03
Speaker
confident business owners um who were like very assertive or, um yeah honestly to a level that was probably like rude or just not someone that I would want to work with, but I wasn't sure how to differentiate in that situation. is it them or is it me just because you always think it's you. You always think you're the problem.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah. When you're younger, you're like, I don't know. Like, are they being rude? I can't tell. Yeah. And it's hard to differentiate that until you've really had the experience to see the difference. But there are totally things I think we could have done to help us feel better.
00:18:40
Speaker
more confident and know the difference sooner. And I'm glad we did like invest in a business coach, you know, to have someone to like bounce ideas off of and be like, Hey, this is a situation that's happening. And then being like, actually, no, your client is being really rude and like trying to control this project, you know, just having somebody tell you that.
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah. Just like an outside perspective is so helpful when you're like really stuck in your head. I mean, I feel like that's what imposter syndrome kind of does to you is it's like, I think you can't always trust what those thoughts are telling you because they are kind of deceitful. They're not really giving you the full picture. And so that's why it is so nice to have like a mentor, a coach, a community, a friend, like someone you can bounce these like ideas off of or like um share these experiences or these feelings you're facing and have someone just remind you like, oh, no, like I don't think that other person's thinking that or i think you're doing a great job. Like
00:19:29
Speaker
Or yes, that email sounds correct. Like you're you're pitching the right price. You know, like just having that is so helpful. No, you you don't have to know how to fully code a website from scratch to be ah a good web designer. Like that's something I dealt with so much. Like, yes. Maybe not understanding like what level am I supposed to be at? Like maybe that's like a really hard thing too. Yeah, like how how wide does my skillset have to be for me to call myself a professional website designer? Because I'm teaching, I'm self-taught, you know, that's...
00:19:57
Speaker
ah the majority of designers in our community like art do not have design degrees. Some do, but most do not. um And that can be hard too when you're yourself taught to, you and especially in website design for me, that's such a like wide field with so many specializations. And like, I would talk to local like developer bros and stuff and they'd be like, you know, throwing around these terms and concepts that like I didn't know and ah Gender roles definitely plays in there, too, with, like, developer bros is is what I call them. Kind of a different culture.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. And it's just was worried that I was going to get talked down to or be seen as, like, dumb or basically what I was. Sometimes we were. mean, honestly, sometimes we were very much talked down to.
00:20:44
Speaker
It just depends on the person that I was. I would say so. Or like, oh, you don't know how to do this or you don't design on WordPress or you design on Squarespace. Like thinking that they know better. And then when you're not sure about – when you don't have that self-assurance and confidence, you're like, well, maybe they are right.
00:21:00
Speaker
And sometimes maybe they could be right, but it does it it's not always. Like you shouldn't always put your – um put your like validation and trust like into other people and like what they're saying like it really should come from you first but I understand that that's hard when you're new to something so that's why it's so important to have like those positive outside voices versus the negative like you kind of need that to help combat the outside forces you know like Yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, you definitely do. So those are some of our personal experiences with imposter syndrome and kind of like how it still affects us today. But there's a lot of other common, I think, like triggers for imposter syndrome that a lot of other designers and ourselves included also deal with. I think one of the top ones like we have to talk about is just comparison.
00:21:49
Speaker
yeah So especially when you're, i mean, it's it's true whether you're newer or established, but just following other more seasoned and established designers on Instagram and like being thrown, you know, their work or ah these metrics that they have or all the success. And then immediately comparing that to yourself and being like, well,
00:22:10
Speaker
that That's gorgeous. And all feeling like um all my work like sucks in comparison to that. Or I've never hit that but that number of monthly income. Or man, they've worked with so many clients. Just like all those different metrics that immediately...
00:22:25
Speaker
make you feel so down on yourself and like devalue everything that you've worked for in your business or done so far. Yeah. You definitely have to be careful about that because it's like following other designers is really great for getting inspiration. But like if you're um finding yourself like, like inspiration as far as I mean, like their, their business, how they run things like,
00:22:47
Speaker
Um, but yeah, if you're, if you're constantly comparing yourself though, you're really going to be setting yourself behind. Cause like you, you're not going to be at the same place as a business who's been doing it for like, you know, three years, five years, seven years, whatever, like you're going to be at a different place. So it really isn't helpful to compare yourself. Um, that's definitely something to be careful about.
Overcoming Public Perception Fears
00:23:09
Speaker
And I think it's like in moderation, it's it's important to stay in design communities and see what other people are doing. But when you're constantly hit with it all the time, it can really have a negative effect, I think, because it's just making you do like I said, devalue everything that you've done because you're just constantly, you're getting this inaccurate perception of like everyone else is so successful. Everyone else is creating like a hundred million beautiful brands and websites, but you are seeing so many posts from so many different businesses and like you don't know what's going on behind the scenes of them. It's just not an accurate picture. So I think it's important to like
00:23:52
Speaker
curate your feed so that if there's stuff that's triggering to you, you try to see less of it, but also incorporating different types of like media and art and creators to really help balance it out for yourself so that it's not all just content that's going to trigger you to compare yourself and immediately feel like you're not good enough.
00:24:12
Speaker
Mm hmm. um Another common trigger, I think, is definitely whenever you're having like a bad experience with a client or if you make a mistake and just overly criticizing yourself for it. I think that we both tend to have kind of like just different natural reactions. But overall, I think what is best for us in our experience is like, okay, even if we do make a mistake, it doesn't really – help anyone to like keep beating yourself up over it it's better to just like we are so good um as teammates and as a business at just like learning and adapting and changing for the future because that's just the only the best way to go like forward and um make positive improvements in your business is just be like oh yeah i really screwed that up and here's how i'm not going to do that again and that helps
00:24:58
Speaker
Yeah, and be like honest and upfront with a client if it's a situation where you need to address it um and figure out, yeah, like where – how can I avoid that happening next time? Like you have different – And also allowing mistakes to happen sometimes. like Yeah. Or accepting them or admitting them. I think some people get kind of in the weeds a little bit if they're like feeling kind of imposter-y and – they don't want to admit that they made a mistake and they want to hide it. But if it's something that does need to be approached, like just confidently say like, Hey, that was my bad. I missed that message or I missed this task on our proposal list or whatever whatever it is. Like we've missed things before. And we just say like, hey I'm so sorry. I dropped the ball on that. I'm going to get this done by this date. Like have a plan for it, you know, apologize, have a plan and move on. Like it doesn't have to be the end of the world.
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah. I think My natural reaction in some of the situations, especially bigger ones where ah client is feeling very emotional and upset about something is to question like,
00:25:57
Speaker
everything else that I'm doing in addition to that mistake I made because I get so upset that like I made a mistake. It's it's hard for me to just be like, oh it was just this one thing and then move on. I get really fixated on it and I start like overanalyzing lot of other things that really aren't even related to it.
00:26:15
Speaker
And so that's where it is really nice to have ah partner who's like, hey, actually, that doesn't really have anything to do with it. We probably shouldn't question our whole pricing model because of this one little thing that wasn't even and having anything to do with that. Yeah, it's hard because it's like you it's almost like, you know, I can see sometimes we have this stuff in our brains that like you're maybe even subconsciously trying to prove to yourself like, oh, yeah, that is why I'm wrong.
00:26:39
Speaker
you know, or that is why I'm not getting clients. And you try to prove that to yourself and you don't even realize you're doing it by like finding other problems to validate this truth that you feel like you have about yourself or about your ability. Yeah, that's a good point. So it's a very like emotional thing.
00:26:56
Speaker
Definitely good to have therapy, have support to work through those things if they're
Believing in Your Value
00:27:00
Speaker
consistently coming up. Because like I think at the root of imposter syndrome, it's just like insecurity. And so sometimes those insecurities could be like, based in reality of like, yeah, I may be insecure because I am inexperienced. But the solution there is not to continue to worry about it and stress about it. It's to get the experience. It's to take the action like that is the solution there.
00:27:21
Speaker
Um, so I think as long as you're like being aware of yourself and like what you need, like, and not getting caught up in your head all the time and like actually taking action forward, that's how you're going to move through these feelings. And that's how you're going to like struggle less because you're going take the action, which gives you the experience, which gives you the confidence. Like it's all connected and yeah that's just the healthiest way to go about all of that.
00:27:44
Speaker
I think also another common trigger for imposter syndrome is people's perception of you and like really worrying about that and overanalyzing it. Whether it's um because you're young and putting yourself out there for the first time or even if you're not young and just being worried about like people that know you and their perception of that, that's really hard to push through. We see so many designers get stuck and they're like, yeah, I've, um, I'm, I'm ready to to go basically and to put my business out there, but I'm scared. I haven't posted yet, or I haven't showed my face or everything.
00:28:20
Speaker
They haven't put any of them themselves online because they're so nervous about how people are going to perceive it, which is understandable. Like it it can feel cringy. It just, That's just part of it. Or maybe you are like transitioning careers and there's been ah skill or a role that you've been really ah excellent at and like really developed that profession. And now you're switching roles and having to kind of start back over with something that can also be hard to like,
00:28:48
Speaker
not fully feel confident in your expertise and your skills in the way that you did in another role. So I think worrying about people's perception of putting yourself out there um can really make you question yourself and just make you feel focused more on like how you're not an expert or i don't know just just feel like you're faking it when when you're not faking it you're just new to it and right yeah and it does yeah it does feel like faking it like I mean I think to some extent at least with like filming content to post online it does kind of feel like you're faking it it definitely felt very weird for me and it still does I still don't love making content it doesn't always feel natural to me but like yeah
00:29:31
Speaker
It definitely felt scarier, though, to me when we were first starting. Like, I was just, almost felt, like, embarrassing. Like, almost felt, like, embarrassed. I know that's maybe not the right word. is a little embarrassing. kind of it felt, like, the cringy, embarrassing. Like, yeah it feels embarrassing to have to, like, film a story, especially when we first started. the Stories were, like, a new thing, too, I feel like, at that time.
00:29:50
Speaker
So, it just felt kind of weird to have to, like, get out there and to film yourself and have to talk and something that I've explained to my friends, they're, they're usually asked me cause they know me and they're like, how do you like, how are you just like posting online all the time? Like, how does that feel? Like, is that weird? Like I could never imagine myself posting online for a business like that. And I'm like, well, I just kind of have to, but like, I kind of like in my brain, I kind of separate like myself who I am as like a whole person is like separate from me making content for my business. If that makes sense. Like that's kind of how I like
00:30:23
Speaker
make that mental separation and protect myself in a way it's like, I mean, it is me, but it's just like, it's the, the one sliver of, of me as a person, as Amanda, the business owner creating the content.
00:30:36
Speaker
And that just feels a little bit easier, I guess. Cause it's like, it makes you feel a little bit, um, distance from, people's perceptions a little bit. You're not putting yourself out there as you, the full human and friend and family member. I don't know that everyone else knows. like You're putting yourself out there as you, the business owner. and like It does feel awkward, but that awkward phase passes. like and It passes relatively quick, honestly. like Once you kind of like go through those feelings of like this is embarrassing that so-and-so is seeing it,
00:31:08
Speaker
I look really awkward. I look cringy. But like, honestly, I feel like after probably the first month of doing it, you stop feeling that way. You just like have to get through it. And you're going to probably look, that content is going to be really cringy to you forever, like while you're getting your feet under you. But It's just something you have to go through and you have to push through at the beginning. i think it's also helpful to think about how do you view other people who are doing the same thing? Because like I never think that their content is cringey. I just think my own is cringey because it's like it just feels weird. It's weird to be a human who makes...
00:31:39
Speaker
TikToks and reels. And to have to perceive yourself all time. unnatural. Yes. It's so unnatural. But it's like something you just kind of have to do in like the the age we live in now. Yeah. Like to run an online business, like you just have to do it. And yeah.
00:31:55
Speaker
I don't know. That's my advice is you just got to do It's ideal. you'll move through it. You'll move past it. You'll get over it. You know, it's hard though. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about like how to actually move through and overcome imposter syndrome.
00:32:10
Speaker
Um, I think like what we've mentioned already is just like the importance of understanding the value you bring is really helpful. Um, and just like truly believing that what you offer like is valuable. it is helpful to your clients. Like they're obviously seeking you out for a reason,
00:32:25
Speaker
They can't do or don't want to do the design themselves. So even if you are a newer designer and maybe you don't have a ton of time experience like under your belt, you still have, you know, I would assume for most people like you still have some level of education in this, whether it's self-educated or you went to school, like you do have some basis of knowledge.
00:32:45
Speaker
And you have this design skill set. And so you're able to offer like an end product that should be reimbursed well for like you should be paid well for that. um So I think that's something that again, just like comes with time. But it's also important to do some practices for yourself. Maybe it's journaling, maybe it's like,
00:33:04
Speaker
making a Google doc and just really like looking at like, what all do I offer? What are my strong suits? Like, can like writing it out, I think is really helpful and seeing visually like a long list of like everything you do, every experience you have under your belt. Like it just helps make it a little more tangible for you. So instead of just having these floating thoughts in your mind of like,
00:33:26
Speaker
I'm faking it. i don't know what I'm doing. I'm new to this. You can see like, okay, but here tangibly are my skills and my offerings and why what I do is valuable. And like fully believing it for yourself. Like I think that really is at that. ah That is the root of overcoming imposter syndrome and like the key thing. And we'll we'll talk about a lot of other things that support it.
00:33:48
Speaker
But I think at the heart of things, if you don't believe what you offer is valuable, and is worth people investing money in and is truly helping people, if you don't believe that, everything else in your business is not going to work because you're going you're not going to feel confident putting yourself out there on social media like we talked about. You're not going to feel confident on sales calls, selling your services to clients, and you're going to crumble under any pressure or um
00:34:22
Speaker
in in projects when, i don't know, you're trying to like keep things moving along or things get a little bit tough. Like you don't have that foundation of believing in yourself. And yes, it does come with time, but there's, like you said, Amanda, like you need to do that mindset work at the very beginning, which is why we have like a module in our pro design business course at the very beginning about doing mindset work. And we have like um a mindset work worksheet for you to go through with some prompts to like journal about and think about because you have to do that work up front to make sure that you're actually believing in yourself and the value that you provide or else nothing else is going to work.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah. And it's something that you can't just do once and then be like completely healed. like so You may have to keep revisiting this. And because sometimes it can be hard to like, you can't just say like, I believe it and then believe it. Sometimes you really do have to work on these things. And that's why I think it is helpful to do those journal prompts and just list things out.
00:35:17
Speaker
Give yourself a visual example, like whatever clicks for your brain, but just like give yourself the proof you need to believe what's true about your own self and your abilities as a business owner and as a designer.
Combatting Imposter Syndrome Effectively
00:35:29
Speaker
I think most people skip that starting a business because we just get into the practicalities of it and all these tasks I need to do to set up. But really, if you don't think that through, you're you're missing a step and you you need to go back and do that to make that the foundation of your business.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Having confidence in yourself is like definitely a foundational need as a business owner. Like you just, you just can't succeed without the confidence because the confidence, it just trickles into everything that you do.
00:35:58
Speaker
and not saying that you have to have perfect confidence to even be able to start, but like you do need to have the confidence to start. Right. And like, if you're not even getting to that point, you have a little more work to do.
00:36:10
Speaker
and something to come back to when these imposter syndrome thoughts keep popping up, because they are going to keep popping up. So do you have something there to remind yourself to combat those every single time? Like I wish...
00:36:23
Speaker
Somebody had given me a sheet of these prompts to work through when we were first starting out so that I could have gone back. And every time I had a thought of like, oh, this person made me feel like I didn't know what I was doing, but I can go back to the sheet and be like, no, like I do have X amount of experience and I'm talented and gifted in this way, you know, so this is why I'm doing what I'm doing and why I'm valid in charging this and doing this.
00:36:46
Speaker
And over time, I think you like need that less. Cause like now you do have the actual like lived experience. And so nowadays it's like, it, it takes something a little bit big for us to be very phased by. and like yeah project with a client, like I feel like we can handle pretty much any situation that comes up, like just because we faced a lot of situations and we've just built the trust that like, we can always figure it out, you know?
00:37:11
Speaker
yeah. So I think that just kind of naturally grows as well over time. Yeah. and Another big way to combat imposter syndrome is just acknowledging that there is no one right way to do things. I think that's a big question that we had and a lot of newer designers have is like, how should I price my services? What's the right way to structure my packages? What income number should I be aiming for it each month. And there's just not and one answer to all of those questions because the right way to do things for you is going to to depend on what you need and want in this current moment. And that's going to change
00:37:50
Speaker
for you year to year, but like that's going to depend on what your current goals are what your availability is, your schedule. Where you live even, you know, live. Yeah. Where your costs are in your life.
00:38:04
Speaker
If you're dealing with like um disabilities or um you have different life circumstances or, you know, there's, there's so many different factors that are going to play into that. But I think that's really empowering also to know that there is not one right way to do it.
00:38:21
Speaker
You're just going to have to figure out the formula that works for you right now, which can kind of go into like specifically like how to price your services. um And also i think plays into making sure that you're you're feeling valid in what you're offering and what you're charging because you are accurately pricing and like setting up your offerings in a way that makes sense for what you bring to the table right now.
00:38:50
Speaker
h Yeah, because like what you're charging when you're first starting your business is probably going to be a lot lower than what you're charging years in. and that's like pretty standard. Like you you do kind of want to be fair to like what your current experience is and also the level of clients you're trying to work with and like what level of packages you're trying to deliver.
00:39:09
Speaker
So all that may change over time, you know, so it's important to just like be flexible with that as that changes. But I think like along with what Cass is saying is like there's so many things that can come up. um and like affect like your pricing, but there's a lot of tools that you can follow to really help you figure out like, what can I confidently price my projects at right now?
00:39:29
Speaker
One of our best tools that we have available for designers is our project pricing um spreadsheet. It helps you like calculate what you need. You can test different numbers based on you know, your availability for projects throughout the year based on different income goals, you can play around with that. And that's a great free tool that we have. And you can find that on our website. We'll have everything like in the show notes, but.
00:39:52
Speaker
that is such a great tool to just like give you somewhere to start, you know? Yeah. And that, that, that will give you your base price, which we have a base price that tells you like, okay, based on your income goals and how many projects you want to take on each year, also factoring like some tax stuff into there, this is the minimum you need to be charging per project. And then there's some other factors you want to consider too, like,
00:40:14
Speaker
The going right for things, um your skill, your experience, and um the value of the project to your client, that can also be a factor. In our Pro Design Business course, we have like a lot of lessons on pricing and formulating your offerings because there is a lot of detail and factors that go into that.
00:40:33
Speaker
But... I think it's important to feel like you've come up with a number that makes sense for the value that you bring right now because you you need to feel confident in that to in order to not constantly be questioning yourself and letting all these imposter syndrome feelings come up so that when they do come up, it's like, am I good enough to charge this? You can be like you can shut it down and be like, yes, I am. like This is fair. I did the math. number I looked through the numbers. I did the math. I know what other people are charging and this is absolutely fair for what I'm providing and it makes sense is a good exchange of someone's money for this service that I'm providing.
00:41:09
Speaker
I think like the last recommendation we have for really helping you like move past the imposter syndrome is really clarifying your project processes, which also contributes to like the value of what you're doing, um which and also can there really help your confidence in like not feeling so lost. Because I think there's a lot of designers, especially if you're new to this, and um like a lot of designers in our community, I know they don't really have set projects. Like they're kind of like making up the project process for every new client or they kind of customize every single package that they're doing. and And as you learn and grow, I think it's like, that's just really not the most feasible thing to do
00:41:49
Speaker
It's so much easier on you and it helps make your job just, it helps make it easier for you to like price your services and book projects and pitch your services on a sales call. If you have like set and established project packages with set timelines and set prices.
00:42:07
Speaker
outside of, you know, you may still have some kind of custom package option and that could be like your higher ticket option if you want. um But we've just found like really clarifying what your process is and having like those set timelines, set prices is so helpful, not only when like doing your sales, but also just with like scheduling things on your calendar, um knowing like what project spots you have available. So then you know, like what to market um about on your social media and to your email list, like All of these things are connected. And that's something we really help with a lot in pro design business as well, is walking you through like different options for how to set up your packages, um different things that you might want to include in those, different um ways you might want to consider pricing them and pitching them, explaining them to clients. So that is super helpful. I think if you're like at a point in your business where things are not super solidified, that is going to help get rid of that imposter syndrome a little bit more.
00:43:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's going to help you feel more confident selling but your packages because you're going to, even if you haven't done it a ton, you can at least be like, yeah, this is what happens at this point of the project, this, this, and this, you know, promise all these deliverables and timelines, which is going to help you and the client feel more comfortable. And then once you're actually in the project as well, it's going to help you feel more confident and get rid of those questions of like, am I at the point in the project I need to be? Am I behind?
00:43:33
Speaker
How long is this going to go on How long is the client going to take to give me feedback? It eliminates all of those questions because you already have it
Pro Design Business Course Introduction
00:43:41
Speaker
mapped out. And even if you you're going to evolve it, even if you like set out a package based on like how it goes and how you want to tweak it and change it.
00:43:49
Speaker
But I would really recommend, when even when you're first starting out, map out this full project for yourself. And for every client that you take on, make sure you have a start and an end date that you're at least planning on going with.
00:44:02
Speaker
um And you can't really do that like as well on your own if you don't have some kind of guidance or like system from people who have done it before, which is ah why, you know, we invested in education early on and we always advise new designers to do that too. or if if you've been doing this a few years, but you're just feeling like I'm still, i still have so many questions and I don't really understand how to fully map out my process and my projects. Like outside perspective. Yeah. That's really what pro design business is for to help you get your business fully set up and established and map out your, your services and your projects and feel super confident in that.
00:44:40
Speaker
And also have community to help you um set up those things and also to give feedback on those things and answer questions when things come up. So that's a part of ProDesign Business 2. We have a community group. Amanda, if you want to talk a little bit more about that.
00:44:55
Speaker
Yeah, so um before we get into the community group, just like giving a little more background into ProDesign Business and exactly what that is. ProDesign Business is our most popular course. Right now it's a self-paced course, so you can go through and watch all the lessons you want. You can use the guided like worksheets and templates that we have along with the lessons.
00:45:17
Speaker
um And it's really best for business owners who are in their first like zero to three years. We have often had designers who are further along in their business as well, but it's definitely geared towards a newer designer who really is just feeling lost when it comes to like, how in the world do I even set up my business? How do I start marketing myself and my services?
00:45:38
Speaker
What the heck am I going to charge? What the heck are my packages? Like, how do you run a successful business and do it confidently? Because I think that's the thing that holds so many people back from even starting their business is that they don't have that confidence. They don't have the support. They don't have the guidance. And you really do need that. And that was so valuable for us starting out too. And I think that that is really what helped us reach the success that we're at now is just by not having to figure everything out on our own.
00:46:05
Speaker
That's like, I'm just so glad that we invested in our education. um So we're so glad that we can offer that too now to our our audience. And we've helped hundreds of designers over the years start and grow their design businesses.
00:46:18
Speaker
um So now along with the course, there has always been a community, but we've recently updated the community and are making it something new and even better improved is now called the designers den um which makes sense because we're foxtrot branding you can come join us in our cozy little den we want it to be a cozy online community space so that designers of any level and however many years you're in business you can join the designers den um But there are also private subgroups in this public group now for our community course members.
00:46:55
Speaker
So now it'll be, you know, even more people that you can connect with. There's chat rooms, so it can be casually. You can chat with people. You can also ask for advice. You can share your wins.
00:47:05
Speaker
um You can post your design work to get design feedback. So it's a really helpful group if you are, especially because most designers are not like us. They don't have a co-founder. They are doing this completely solo.
00:47:17
Speaker
And that can definitely get a little bit lonely sometimes and feeling like you're always having to figure everything out on your own. So yeah. We want to invite you to either join Pro Design Business and get free access to the Designers Den community.
00:47:29
Speaker
Or if you are not interested in any courses right now, you can join the Designers Den community on its own.
The Designers Den Community and Productivity Hacks
00:47:36
Speaker
um You just don't get access to those like private course member groups, the subgroups.
00:47:40
Speaker
So if you guys are interested in ProDesign Business, you can join today ProDesignBusiness.com. And if you want to join the Designer's Den, um you can go to FoxtrotBranding.com slash Designer's Den and you can join there.
00:47:51
Speaker
We'll do a listener question now. And our listener question this month is from Alyssa Ray, Alyssa Ree Studio. And they asked, what is your best productivity hack?
00:48:02
Speaker
The first thing, this is such like a vague question. So like my first like answer that popped in my mind was like, take a break. Like that's always my default is like, if I'm really struggling with being productive, I know that my brain just is, it's just tired and it needs a break.
00:48:17
Speaker
And especially being a creative person, I think that's like pretty common for most of us. Like sometimes you just can't do it all and you kind of just need to step away in it and give your brain a rest. And then you can come back to whatever you're working on and usually you'll have fresh ideas and, know,
00:48:32
Speaker
So, mean, that's my productivity hack. I don't know if you have another and another to offer us. Um, I guess we, me and Amanda both have ADHD, so we struggle with it, but being productive in our own ways.
00:48:45
Speaker
I guess I would say not overloading myself and making it clear, like what my tasks are that I actually need to get done and and prioritizing it. And like us talking about it and having meetings of like, all right, we're going to get this done this day. And just being realistic, I think about what you can achieve is the best way to feel productive because productivity is a subjective term, you know, I think that's going to mean different things. And I think the key is to make yourself feel productive. um buts This also ties back to the patriarchy. Sure. Everything ties back. Let's bring it back around. like
00:49:18
Speaker
Because most people, when they talk about productivity, it's very like um like corporate or – like factory based, output based kind of talk. It's like, it's not just being productive for the sake of producing something valuable. They're like, how how can we do like as much as possible? And that's just not the approach to productivity we have, which is why my answer was like, if you're not feeling productive, if you're struggling, like take a break.
00:49:44
Speaker
you know Or like Cass said, you know set intentions, set your like three main tasks, your three main goals for the day. And like let that be enough. like You don't have to like fill every minute or every hour with unlimited tasks. you know Okay, we will wrap it up there. Thank you guys so much for joining us and listening to this month's episode. We look forward to the next one. All the links that we mentioned for
Contact Information and Conclusion
00:50:09
Speaker
Pro Design Business and the Designer's Den are going to be in the show notes below.
00:50:13
Speaker
And if you have a listener question that you want us to answer on a future episode, you can leave it in a comment on the YouTube video or in a comment on the Spotify episode if you're listening there. Or send us a DM on Instagram. We're at Boxtrot Branding. But thank you guys so much for listening and we will see you next month.
00:50:28
Speaker
Bye. Thank you guys.