How Impostor Syndrome (Almost) Stole My Dreams As a Visionary Mom Entrepreneur
Have you ever let impostor syndrome win or stop you from reaching out to someone who could change the trajectory of your business/life?
Years ago I attended Adweek in NYC…I already had my podcast and by then I had already snagged GaryVee and James Altucher as my guests. The way I boosted my confidence to pitch them and interview them was to have written 67K words on Medium.com. You can find my words still online…it took 100-days. Is that not crazy? What it took for me to feel like I earned the right to talk to these two men? Well, impostor syndrome is real….it makes us do bat sh*t crazy things sometimes.
At Adweek I saw Beth Comstock the former CMO of GE (like an icon beyond an icon)! At the time I was years out of a corporate career and I had never been allowed to breathe the same air as the Chairperson of a global organization known for leadership. Yet, I felt kind of competent, enough to ask her to be on my podcast. So I connected with her on LinkedIn and sent my “ask.” She said yes in what felt like milliseconds. She was on book tour.
However, here’s the thing: I didn’t expect her to say YES right away so I self-sabotaged like a pro and years went by before my second attempt. Years and I had even relocated to another country before my reattempt.
I attempted only because I was coaching a client who felt like an impostor and as I say “courage in company” is sometimes the only courage you can rely on if you suffer from impostor syndrome…so off my client went and so did I.
I asked Beth for the interview and told her how intimidated I was by her. I was embarrassed and bracing for “pain” i.e. a huge NO! Meanwhile, I had pitched Suzy Batiz sometime before my second Beth attempt. Suzy was a NO at first. She did say however, she’d be a guest if I interviewed someone else who is a big name. If you saw my book cover for Fertile Imagination then you know how the story goes. I showed Suzy my Beth interview and we conducted our interview at 2 am my time.
I too know what feeling intimidated by others feels like. I also know that finding a way to work with impostor syndrome whether through courage in company or other ways of using your Fertile Imagination is possible for me and I can guide you on how it can work for you too.
If you are a visionary mom entrepreneur who knows she has to step up her efforts so that she can make her income goals, get the contacts she needs to strike strategic relationships, or to muster the courage to sell herself more consistently or directly then let’s hop on a 15-minute Zoom. I opened my calendar 14-days. I have three sons so I’ll be limiting the openings to the first 10 visionary mom entrepreneurs who want solutions more than to keep self-sabotaging themselves (like I had).
-Melissa Llarena
I guide you, a visionary mom entrepreneur, on the use your Fertile Imagination ™ to establish, earn the trust and gain the support of the mentors, moguls or market movers in your space. The movers who can help you to take your business to the next level (without feeling awkward or pretending to be someone other than your playful self). A Fertile Imagination ™ has the ability to cast a big vision that they may not have seen done by a mom; the vision is energizing enough to fuel the mom as she executes on making it her reality.
P.S. Get in on this calendar ….. 14-days out….and for visionary mom entrepreneurs only.
Melissa Llarena
Bestselling Author of Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower for Maximum Impact
