Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Imposter syndrome,
it is that voice in your head
that whispers, you're not ready,you don't know enough, you suck,
who do you think you are?
It's something that almost everyonline business manager and
service support professionalexperiences at some point.
And here is the most frustratingpart, is that it doesn't go
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away, trust me, because you gainexperience.
In fact, the more you grow, themore imposter syndrome can creep
in.
So maybe you have landed biggerclients and raised your rates
and really you know you'reconfident that you feel that
you've stepped into a leadershiprole and then suddenly this
self-doubt voice inside of yourhead is louder than ever I
(00:44):
remember my first few monthsstepping into the OBM space I
had years of experience runningteams and setting up systems and
managing businesses because Ihad had a landscaping company
and you know I managed the salesand all of the customer support
I didn't physically do the workbut I managed all of the
operations I still really feltwho am I to be doing this and
(01:07):
what if they figure out that I'mnot actually all that good and I
see this with my students insideof OBM school all the time even
those like myself who have yearsand years and years of
experience and even some ofthose who really hesitate to
even call themselves an OBM orcharge what they are worth but
(01:28):
here's what I want you to knowtoday that imposter syndrome is
not truth.
It is a conditioned responsebuilt on limiting beliefs and
outdated survival instincts.
And when you understand where itcomes from, you can really stop
letting it run the show.
So today on the episode, I wantto talk about and I want to
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unpack where imposter syndromecomes from, the physical and the
psychological reasons we staystuck.
And then I want to share withyou my five most powerful
strategies should really breakfree from it and step into
confidence.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to the OBM Show, thepodcast that pulls back the
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curtain on what it really takesto thrive as an online business
manager and help businessesscale without burning out.
I'm your host, Sarah Noked,agency owner, OBM mentor, and
founder of OBM School.
I've been working in the backend of online businesses since
2009, building systems, managingremote teams, and mentoring OBMs
(02:35):
who make businesses run likeclockwork.
Now, I've seen what works, whatdoesn't, and the messy middle
that no one talks about.
Here, we get real about thetools, strategies, and stories
that drive sustainable success,plus the tech mishaps, growing
pains, and lessons learned alongthe way.
(02:56):
If you're ready to stop spinningyour wheels, step into your
leadership role, and see whatactually happens behind the
scenes of thriving businesses,you're in the right place.
Let's get started.
Let's get started.
So as I mentioned, Impostersyndrome is sneaky.
It makes you believe that you'rethe only one who doesn't have it
all figured out.
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And it convinces you thateveryone else is thriving
effortlessly while you are justgetting by.
And for OBMs and serviceproviders, it often looks like
feeling like you need moreexperience before you can
confidently charge higher rates.
It might also look likeundercharging because you really
unfortunately doubt the valuethat you bring.
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And it might lead you to avoidleadership opportunities because
you assume that others are morequalified and can do the job
better.
And it often shows up as workingfor free to gain experience or
get testimonials, even whenyou're already delivering high
(04:01):
value work.
And I know this to be truebecause unfortunately, when I
first started off, I worked forfree to get testimonials.
And it is just not the thingthat I recommend that you guys
do.
So let's look at where thisreally comes from.
Because imposter syndrome ismore than just our thoughts,
right?
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Like I actually, when I feel it,it's very physical for me.
It's almost like a physicalresponse that I have.
And when you step outside ofyour comfort zone, your brain
literally interprets it as athreat.
And this activates your fight orflight response.
So you might notice that whenyou are feeling this, you have a
racing heart.
heart maybe you have sometightness in your chest or
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sweaty palms or maybe you've gotlike a lump in your throat this
is your body trying to keepyourself safe from rejection
embarrassment or failure becausethe truth is is that your brain
doesn't know the differencebetween a real threat like a car
that's about to hit you speedingat 100 miles an hour or a
perceived threat like raisingyour rates okay or having a
(05:08):
difficult conversation with aclient it reacts the same way.
And because discomfort feelsreal and it is a real
physiological feeling, many ofus retreat.
We don't send that email.
We lower our rates.
We stay small.
And what if instead of seeingfear as a stop sign, you saw it
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as a green light, a sign thatthat you are growing, right?
So we lovingly call this growingpains, right?
So I want you to really, whenyou're feeling like this, one of
the things that I really love todo is I have like an affirmation
that fear is not a warning sign.
It's proof that I'm expandingbeyond my comfort zone.
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Now, I want to share with yousome of the strategies that I
have honed over the years that Ifeel like have really, really
helped me break free fromimposter syndrome.
So the first strategy for mereally comes about from owning
your expertise.
And this is owning yourexpertise without waiting for
more credentials, right?
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We have many students like this,but there's one in particular
that I remember and her name isEmily.
And Emily came into ouraccreditation program with 10
plus years of experiencemanaging operations, leading
teams and running entirebusinesses behind the scenes.
You know, I remember at onepoint she said to me, you know,
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I've managed a budget of$3million for marketing.
And I like my, my job droppedbecause when it came time to
call herself an online businessmanager, she completely froze.
And she was like, you know,maybe I need to do the PMP
certification, you know, thenI'll feel ready.
But here is the absolute truth.
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No amount of training will makeyou feel ready.
Okay.
If you don't already believe inyour skills and the thing that I
know to be true in the OBM spaceis there are a ton of
transferable skills from day today life, nine to fives,
corporate jobs, being a parent,surviving in the world that we
live in that really marry overnicely in to OBM work.
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But if you're already working asa service support professional
or as an online businessmanager, I want you to write
down five ways that you'vealready provided value in your
OBM work and then look at thatlist When your doubt creeps in,
an affirmation that I like tosort of couple with this or
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something that I often tellmyself is, and I mean, I've been
doing this for more than adecade.
And I still, before I startworking with any client, I say
to myself, I already haveeverything that I need to
succeed.
I trust my experience becauseI'll say it again.
Confidence comes from doing.
(07:57):
Okay, which leads me to my nextstrategy.
So maybe some of you haven'tworked as an OBM before and
you're thinking to yourself,Sarah, that's great for people
who have worked as an OBM, but Ihave never worked as an OBM.
If you're just getting started,my best recommendation, my best
strategy for you is to create awin file because your brain
needs proof, right?
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Your brain needs proof.
It's very simple.
Your brain naturally focuses onwhat went wrong more than what
went right, unfortunately.
So this is why I tell all mystudents to create a win file.
Now what's in it?
So every time a client praisesyour work or a team member or
you feel like you've donesomething really good, write it
down.
Take some screenshots.
You know, maybe take ascreenshot of that email that
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your client wrote to you andthey were like, wow, you saved
me.
You made that launch so easy.
I could actually sleep atnighttime.
Wow, what peace of mind.
Screenshot that.
Put it in a folder, okay?
You know, if you have notes thatyou took from projects that went
really well, write it down.
Like maybe you were able to turnaround a law that was like
really going sideways.
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And in the end, it was reallysuccessful.
Write that down.
And if you know OBM School andyou've been in some of our
programs, you know that this iswhat also can create a great
foundation for making it easyfor you to craft testimonials
that your clients can approvefor you to use in your marketing
collateral.
We recently had a student insideof our OBM School who on a hot
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seat coaching call with ouraccreditation students, I was
speaking with one of our OBMsand she said, I feel like I'm
not good at managing launches.
And so I asked her, have youever managed a launch before
that went smoothly?
And she said, yes, I've donefive of them.
Again, it doesn't matter howmuch experience you have.
You need to start your win filetoday so that when self-doubt
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creeps in and you have all ofthis negativity boiling up in
your brain, you can read throughit.
And so for her, it would havebeen something along the lines
of, I have a proven track recordof success and I'm capable of
managing successful launches.
launches.
Now, my next tip or my nextstrategy is stop using free work
as a confidence crutch.
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This is so common.
I did it myself.
As I confessed, many new OBMsbelieve that they need to work
for free before they can earnthe right to charge.
But free work doesn't buildconfidence.
It only builds resentment, myfriends.
Now, as I mentioned in myself, Idid this at the beginning.
Instead of charging for myservices, I took I would say the
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lazy route.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm going to work with thisclient for free.
She's going to create atestimonial for me and it's
going to be amazing.
And I can tell youwholeheartedly that this, it
absolutely sabotaged myrelationship with this client.
It set bad expectations so thateven though I did have quite a
long working relationship withthat client, I never really felt
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that she appreciated what I wasdoing for her.
I always felt resentful a littlebit and I certainly felt
undervalued It really set thewrong expectation.
So if you're doing free work, atthe very least, now set a date
for when it ends.
And even if it's a discountedrate, it's still better than
free.
But if you are discounting yourrates, here's an affirmation for
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you.
I am worthy of being paid for myexpertise and time.
I am worthy, right?
And my next strategy is allabout the fear surrounding time.
imposter syndrome, right?
So when you reframe your fear,you recognize that confidence
really comes from taking action.
So confidence isn't justsomething that you get before
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you act.
It's truly something that youbuild by taking action, right?
When I launched my OBM business,I had no idea if it would work,
okay?
But I just made the decision.
I was going to take actionbefore I felt ready.
And that's really what changedeverything for me.
I want you to think right now,what's a small action that you
can take today that feelsslightly outside of your comfort
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zone and then do it, okay?
Maybe it's attending an event, aconference.
Maybe it's reaching out tosomebody from your past that has
a business and it's just aboutasking them, you know, what
they're doing, learning a littlebit more about them.
The truth is, is that actioncreates confidence.
And I love the mantra of, youknow, I move forward even when I
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feel fear.
Because I do, I move forwardeven when I feel fear.
Obviously, and I feel like thisgoes without saying, but my
fifth and probably one of themost important ones is surround
yourself with people who believein you.
Imposter syndrome truly, truly,truly thrives in isolation.
And this is why mentorship andpeer support are truly game
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changers.
So you get to borrow theirbelief, right?
Until you build it yourself.
So I really want you to find amentor, join a mastermind and
get into a room where people cansee your potential and start
saying to yourself, I amsurrounded by people who see my
strength and remind me of myvalue and know that community is
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where it's at.
That leads me to let you guysknow that we have an amazing
opportunity.
We are running our live OBMweek.
This is a completely free eventhappening March 25th to the
27th.
You can RSVP for free atobmschool.com forward slash OBM
dash week.
And this is really anopportunity to surround yourself
with like-minded individuals whoare also leveling up, putting
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themselves outside of theircomfort zone, battling imposter
syndrome head on, enduring a Weare going to be covering a lot
of things to do with being anonline business manager,
starting from mindset tolearning the skills to landing
the right kind of clients.
And I want to extend a warmwelcome to invite you there.
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Again, you can learn more atobmschool.com forward slash
obm-week.
Thank you for tuning in.
If you want to take one thingaway from today's episode, it is
that you are already morecapable than you think.
Imposter syndrome doesn't meanyou're not ready.
It just means you're steppinginto something bigger.
And the best way to silenceself-doubt is by taking action
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before you feel ready.
And if you are ready to besurrounded by people who see
your potential and want to helpyou step into leadership, join
me for OBM Week.
It's happening March 25th to the27th, and I would love to see
you there.
You can sign up at obmschool.comforward slash obm-week.
Until next time, keep going,keep growing, and remember,
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leadership starts with thedecision to show up.
I hope I see you guys during OBMweek live.
We will have crazy giveaways andamazing tips.
So be sure to sign up RSVP andbook it in your calendar so that
you can attend OBM week live.