Years ago, before Andersen Consulting rebranded as Accenture, I was chatting to the Australian CEO of a large multinational software company. Let’s call him Len.
I caught him at a vulnerable moment.
‘You know, Mark,’ Len said, ‘What keeps me up at night is the fear that one day, I’ll get found out.’
His internal dialogue told him, ‘fraud.’ Even though the Australian subsidiary was crazy successful, its CEO thought of himself as unworthy.
That was 20 years ago and his words still haunt me. How can someone so successful label himself as an imposter?
Why this matters to solopreneurs
If Len thinks he’s an imposter, how does an early-stage solopreneur like you feel about it? You’re days, weeks or months into a new journey. Maybe you haven’t even started yet. Some things you know, some things you don’t, and others you haven’t even realised yet.
The thought, always, is ‘do I even know enough to deserve a place in this market? Perhaps I don’t belong here.’
You are exactly where you need to be. There are advantages and disadvantages in being inexperienced and unknown (I’ll write about these sometime), so acknowledge your imposter thoughts and keep going regardless.
Why Imposter Syndrome isn’t a diagnosis
It’s a descriptor from a 1978 paper that caught on because it named something people recognised in themselves.
But it’s not measurable. It’s not even listed in the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ (DSM).
The obsession with imposter syndrome is built on psychological observations, not clinical research.
When someone says ‘imposter syndrome,’ what they really mean is an internal thought process which goes something like ‘When will they find me out?’ on repeat.
Cause and outcome
Many professionals, even high performers like Len, think of themselves as ‘someone who struggles with imposter syndrome.’ Labels offer comfort. They imply it’s something to name and manage, like it’s an ‘oh well, that’s just me’ thing.
It’s comforting there’s something tangible they can blame. They spend money on therapists, coaches, journaling and meditation, hoping to think themselves out of doubt through affirmations, yoga and ‘mindset work.’
But what if they just stopped listening to the feeling and shipped anyway? What if they worked on creating a track record that makes their internal doubt irrelevant?
The cause may be an uneasy feeling that they’re operating beyond their ability. The link breaks when they deliver beyond expectations, including their own.
But it may actually be true
Sometimes the feeling is accurate data, not a distortion.
You’re three months into a business. You have one client. You haven’t shipped under pressure. You haven’t recovered from a crisis. A million other urgent issues on your plate.
You should feel uncertain. Hanging the imposter syndrome label on genuine inexperience is simple self-justification that avoids the core issue: you ARE inexperienced. It’s a fact. And it’s something you can fix.
You fix it with a track record of success. You hustle and go find three more clients. You promise unreasonable delivery times, and then do better. You plan for contingencies so the crisis becomes barely a speed bump.
There’s another angle, and it’s harsh. Perhaps what you’re attempting is genuinely beyond you and always will be. If success lies beyond your personal limits, you have just three choices. First is to give up and do something else. Second is to adjust your expectations and chase success at a lower level. The third, which takes guts and resilience, is to grow beyond your limits and do whatever it takes to win.
Think back to your first prospect meeting. They ask a technical question you don’t know the answer to. Your chest tightens. You say ‘let me get back to you on that’ and you hate the sound of it.
That night you panic research. You over deliver on the next piece because you’re trying to prove something, to yourself and to your current and future clients. That’s growth, and it always gets better.
How to deal with Imposter Syndrome
You fix imposter syndrome by building evidence.
The process is simple but not easy. Find clients. Deliver. Repeat. Each cycle teaches you something the last one didn’t.
That first client teaches you something, and it’s painful. Your second client goes smoother because you know that one thing now. By the fourth client you’re annoyed because they ask something stupid.
By client eight you’re the expert in the room. It’s your new happy place. You’re a natural, in your element. That’s when the doubt leaves. Because the evidence built up faster than your fear.
After hundreds of client meetings and three years of repeat business, the feeling of being a fraud evaporates. It has no choice. The external evidence is undeniable.
But don’t overthink it. Self-help gurus sell you the opposite: fix your beliefs first, and the evidence will follow.
Nope. That’s backwards. Evidence comes first. Legitimacy builds confidence. Confidence annihilates imposter syndrome. It’s not the other way around.
You may not think you’re ready, but damn, you’ve shipped three times. You have three happy clients who are happy to leave a positive TrustPilot review. The doubt disappears when your track record drowns out your internal insecurity. Not before.
