Customer Success Playbook Podcast S3 E59 - Kristen Nolan - Get Out There

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The Customer Success Playbook podcast delivers a thought-provoking exploration of confidence building in this captivating episode featuring Kristen Nolan of Interview Valet. Hosts Roman Trebon and Kevin Metzger guide a discussion that dives into overcoming self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Kristen shares her personal journey from questioning "who cares what I have to say?" to becoming a confident podcast guest who now coaches others. With refreshing honesty about her own struggles and triumphs, she reveals how facing fears head-on can lead to remarkable personal and professional growth.

Detailed Analysis

Building confidence isn't just a personal development goal—it's a critical professional skill, especially in customer success roles where relationships and credibility are paramount. This episode tackles the universal challenge of silencing the inner critic that so often holds professionals back from reaching their full potential.

Kristen Nolan's approach to confidence building centers on one powerful concept: taking action despite doubt. She candidly shares her own hesitation when first approached about being a podcast guest, revealing that her immediate reaction was, "Who cares what I have to say?" This transparent admission resonates because it reflects a common barrier many customer success professionals face—questioning their expertise or value.

What makes Kristen's perspective particularly valuable for the customer success playbook is her emphasis on how facing fears creates a feedback loop of growth. By "ripping the bandaid off" with her first podcast appearance (which she admits was "pretty terrible"), she developed skills and insights that now help her better serve clients. This practical example demonstrates how pushing through discomfort directly enhances client relationship capabilities.

The conversation takes an even more profound turn when Kristen addresses self-sabotage—identifying it as one of the most significant barriers to achievement. For customer success professionals, this insight is especially relevant, as hesitation in challenging client conversations or strategic recommendations can undermine effectiveness. Kristen's advice to visualize goals and map the path backward (her "Z to A thinking") offers a tactical approach to overcome this tendency.

Perhaps most powerfully, the discussion draws a connection to broader life satisfaction, referencing the common deathbed regret of "not having the courage to live authentically." This reminder elevates the conversation beyond mere professional development to touch on how building confidence impacts overall life fulfillment—a holistic perspective that aligns perfectly with the integrated work-life approach many customer success professionals strive to achieve.

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Episode Transcript

Kevin Metzger (00:05):
Customer success.
Welcome back to the CustomerSuccess Playbook podcast.
I'm Kevin Metzker here with myco-host Roman Trevon, and today
we're diving deep into mindsetwith Kristen Nolan, senior
client account manager atInterview Valet Roman.
We had a great show on Monday.

(00:25):
Excited to dive into today.

Roman Trebon (00:27):
I am excited.
I blocked my calendar for thisrecording, so we're good to go
there.
Right?
I listened to Monday's episodeand I use Kristen's advice, so
we're good here.
I got focused time, but kebefore we dive into today's one
big question, I think we shouldget to know Kristen a a little
bit better.
She's, uh, again, we, as wetouched on Monday, she has a lot
going on.
Uh, and I want our audience toget to know her a little bit

(00:48):
better.
So, uh, Kristen, you mentionedyour, your military family,
right?
You've lived all over the placewith your family.
Is there one place that you'vebeen that's really left a mark
on you or, or your family?

Kristen Nolan (00:59):
Yeah, so we have lived in a bunch of different
places.
Um, but I would say the one thatI enjoyed the most was, um,
Monterey, California.
Obviously it's got it'sbeautiful right on the coast.
Of California, the weather isperfect, 50 to 80 degrees year
round.
Um, and just a lot of reallygreat family time.
That was a point in my husband'scareer where he was in school,

(01:21):
had a very predictable schedule.
So we got in a lot of familytime.
We ended up purchasing a camperand we went camping in wine
country.
And so just a lot of fun, um, asa family and, and a lot of
really great memories together.

Kevin Metzger (01:34):
Can I ask, while you were there, did you, uh.
Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Kristen Nolan (01:40):
Mm-hmm.

Kevin Metzger (01:40):
As cool as it sounds.

Kristen Nolan (01:43):
It is very cool.
I loved the aquarium.
We actually had a membership.
My kids were younger at thetime, so, um, anything to get
them outta the house and, youknow, out and about doing
things.
So it was super cool.
I actually, uh, worked part-timeat the hotel next door and it
was a really cool experience.
'cause, you know, people wouldcome and stay for the weekend
and just go to the aquarium likenothing else.

(02:05):
Um, a cool place to be close toand just, I mean, the water and
the views were just incredible,so,

Kevin Metzger (02:11):
yeah.
And so when you're not working,what's your go-to activity to
help you recharge if you're notgonna the aquarium?

Kristen Nolan (02:17):
Yeah.
I currently live in Tampa.
It is beach season, so Iactually have blocked off my
calendar on Friday, and I amgonna go to the beach for a
couple of hours by myself.
Without kids'cause they'll be atschool and I just take my book
and I just relax.
And so that gives me some timeto recharge and, you know,

(02:37):
ground myself as well and enjoya little bit of sunshine.
So who doesn't love sunshine?

Roman Trebon (02:43):
I am mad jealous.
Uh, I wish I was, uh, blockingsome time out to go to the beach
on Friday.
That sounds great.
Uh, Kristen, uh, alright, so ifKevin and I take a road trip to
Tampa, we're visiting Tampa,what's the, is, what's the place
we need to go see?
Or what's the place we need togo eat if we're traveling down
to Tampa?
I.

Kristen Nolan (03:00):
If you are in Tampa, I would say so there is
this amazing little restauranton the water.
It's called the Salt Shack.
Um, we, every time we havepeople come in to visit, um,
it's overlooking the bay on, um,the St.
Pete's side, but they have a lotof like, local seafood and it's
just a great ambiance.

(03:20):
Like I'll take people there kindof at sunset.
Um, usually there's a.
You know, hour plus weight.
So if that tells you anything,um, yeah, they have an
incredible pina colada if you'reinto that.
Um, but definitely just a great,a great place, uh, to take.
That's where we take everyone.
So,

Roman Trebon (03:38):
yeah, I've written it down.
And, and Kev, we need to puttogether, like, we have so many
great recommendation, uh, foodrecommendations from across all
our guests.
We gotta put together like a, a,if you're going to Austin,
Tampa, you name it, London,where, where to go eat at.
So, um, we got Nashville, we gotall kind.

Kristen Nolan (03:54):
Podcast field trip where you go to all these
places and you know, visit allthe, all the cool places
everyone's telling you about.

Roman Trebon (04:01):
That's exactly it.
Yeah.
Special episode.
We go to Nashville and try thehot chicken there or whatever,
so who knows.
All right, Kev, you ready forthe one big question

Kevin Metzger (04:08):
and today's one big question.
I.
How do you silence the innercritic and build real
confidence, especially in highpressure roles or environments?

Kristen Nolan (04:18):
So what I would say first is I would say rip the
bandaid off in doing this.
I'm a podcast guest right now,you know, and a group of us
were, um, approached atinterview LA and Tom said, Hey,
I, I think you guys would begreat guests.
And my first question was.
Who cares what I have to say,right?
I remember kind of likechuckling, right?
And I'm like, nobody cares whatI have to say.

(04:39):
But then I thought about it andI get to work with clients every
day.
I get to strategize with them.
And so one of the things that Ithink is so important and so
great is that we all havesomething to say and something
valid, um, and something thatwe're an expert at, as Tom
Schwab always says, you know,the world needs to hear you now
more than ever.
And so for me it was.

(04:59):
Sort of just getting myself outthere.
Um, my first interview was notmy best interview.
In fact, I sometimes will goback and listen to it.
It's pretty terrible.
But then I think about how Isort of rip that bandaid off and
I look at the growth that I'vehad coming from that first
interview to where I am today.
And.
It helps me coach my clients,right?

(05:20):
Like I have clients that havedifferent backgrounds.
Some of them have never done apodcast before.
Some of them have done many, andso I can sort of coach them
because I've seen, and I've beenin their shoes on where they are
in various stages of, you know,that journey.

Roman Trebon (05:34):
It's sometimes it's overcoming that uneasiness,
right?
Like we feel it's easy to say noand not do something and, and
the first time you do it like.
Kristen.
To be honest, when Kevin uh,mentioned the podcast to me
years ago, I had the same thing.
I said, well, who's gonna hearus talk about anything?
Right?
Like, that was my firstreaction.
It's overcoming that, like myinitial critic, like, why would
I wanna do it?

(05:54):
And I'm glad I did because whatyou get out of it is, is
amazing, right?
Like it's now I'm not nervous.
We've connected with so manygreat people, like I got a whole
bunch of restaurantrecommendations.
There's so much positive thatcomes out of it, but.
It's overcoming that initialdoubt, and I think what you said
is, is, is, is spot on, right?
You gotta kind of push throughinitially.
And, and the more you do it,the, the easier it gets.

(06:15):
With some of this stuff,

Kristen Nolan (06:16):
I often, um, and I, I mean I see this with people
too, it's self-sabotage, right?
A lot of times the thing thatholds us back from achieving our
goals or achieving things thatwe could is ourselves.
And so if we're able to kind ofpush through that, then we can
accomplish so much more.
Um, had I said no, I wouldn't besitting here today, I wouldn't
be meeting new people.

(06:36):
I wouldn't be, um, you know,able to talk about the things
that I do.
I wouldn't be as good in my roleas a client account manager.
Because I wouldn't understandwhat it's like to be on the
other side of, of things as aguest.
And so, um, you know, in, insilencing, um, or, you know,
feeding into that and notputting ourselves out there,
we're just doing ourselves adisservice because we're not
reaching our full potential.

Kevin Metzger (06:57):
Yeah, I agree.
Have you had a scenario whereyou've had to kind of fight that
imposter syndrome?
I mean, I know you kind oftalked about it from the
interview itself, but whereyou're coming in or even, you
know, coming into a newsituation and you're like.
I'm just not the right person.

Kristen Nolan (07:15):
Yeah.
Well, and you know, there havebeen times where I've looked at
things or said, well, maybe I'mnot the right person for that.
I'm not the right, you know,it's just, and I think we all
have this right where we are,like, I'm not really sure that
that's the right fit for me.
And I think what happens is wejust have to then visualize what
that looks like.
Right?
Like, what does that.
How do we frame it out?

(07:36):
And I, it goes back to kind ofmy z to a thinking that I
mentioned, um, on Monday wheresometimes we just have to sit
down and say, what is our goaland how do we get to that goal?
And so I often will coachclients.
I have a client, you know, she,she prefers pre-calls.
She's very shy.
It's not a natural sort of thingfor her to be out there and, and

(07:56):
having conversations.
She's a natural introvert.
And so I tell her, I'm like,podcasts are a great avenue for
that because.
You don't have to be in a roomfull of thousands of people to
talk about what you have tooffer.
Podcasting offers you theopportunity to be, to talk
one-on-one or talk, talk in asmall, in a small group.
I always say the best podcastthat I listen to are the ones

(08:19):
where it sounds like you're,you're sitting in a coffee shop
and you're overhearing, twopeople have a conversation,
right?
You're being a little nosy andyou're learning some things.
That to me is pretty cool.

Roman Trebon (08:28):
It reminds me of, um.
I don't know if you ever heardthe quote.
There's, uh, from Bro Ware, shewas a, a pal.
She wrote a book.
She was a palliative care nursefor a long time, and so.
She wrote a book on like thefive regrets of the dying and,
and the number one thing is Iwish I had the courage to live a
life.
Right.
Which it kind of reminds me ofthat, right?
Which is a lot of what we'retalking about, right?
Like you so, so many people.
I think let that inner critickind of stifle them and paralyze

(08:51):
them where you really, like yousaid, you gotta set a goal and
push, push towards it.
So this is great stuff.
Alright, Kristen, you're comingback for Friday, right?
Yes.
I will be here.
Alright, so Friday we are goingto, uh, close out our three part
series with a discussion ontechnology and the human
connection, right?
How can AI help us buildstronger relationships?

(09:12):
So I'm excited Kristen to diveinto that with you, Kev, for our
audience, until next time, chiefon Player.