Read on Twitter
I'll be coming up on my 1-year entrepreneurship anniversary in March, and January seems like a good time to reflect. This year has been a wild ride; it drastically changed the way that I live my life & transformed my ideas about my capabilities.
I was thrust into entrepreneurship involuntarily due to a Covid layoff. I’d freelanced as a writer/editor for 5+ years while working a part-time day job. I’d spent years fantasizing about building up my business but never felt ready to take the leap. 2020 didn’t care.
I spent the first month terrified. Thankfully, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit was instituted shortly thereafter & gave me some breathing room. I can’t imagine living through a similar experience in the US & am infuriated that Americans have been offered so little.
I had a few regular clients when the transition happened, clients that I’d worked with for years. So, I was already v v lucky. My luck multiplied when, within 4 months, I received 4 new referrals & signed 2 new clients on a monthly basis.
I’ve always suffered from imposter syndrome & vastly devalued my work. Prior to sending quotes to the new referrals, one of my clients advised me to triple my rates. So, I did. Sending out the newly-priced proposals was scary.
I expected scoffing. Maybe laughter. Maybe anger. Maybe indignation that I could ever feel I was worth that much. But I didn’t get that. I got “Yes, that sounds perfect!” or “Awesome, we’re so happy to work with you!”
Even now, these clients—who pay more than I ever thought I deserved—tell me I should raise my pricing. (Maybe it’s worth noting that I work almost exclusively with women & have never had a male client do this.)
If you think that you’re not good enough to do the thing that you’ve been dreaming of doing, stop for a second & examine that. Has anyone told you that you’re not good enough? Or does that come from within?
I have thought of myself as talentless garbage for as long as I can remember. But no one has ever accused me of that. That is all me. All of it. And that self-loathing directly contradicts the feedback that I DO get.
That internal poison is what stops you from asking for what you need or want. It stops you from taking the leap. And it’ll undermine every step that you do take, at first. But you CAN overcome it.
Now, I have no compunctions about sending out proposals that come a lot closer to asking for the true value of my work. You DO get over that fear, I promise you. Maybe not 100%, but enough to thrive.
I spent years toiling away in a job that didn’t respect/utilize my skills cos I was afraid of something that had no basis in reality. Something I made up in my own head. When I could have been making more money doing what I loved.
I’m not saying that it’ll be easy for everyone—like I said, I was lucky from the jump. And not everyone WILL succeed in following their dreams. But DO NOT let that poisonous voice keep you from trying. Imposter syndrome isn’t evidence. It’s a cruel phantom.
This advice isn’t worth much in the middle of a raging pandemic w/ the Damoclean threat of civil war making it impossible to focus or dream of better days. I get that. But maybe hold onto it. Post-vaccine, post-T*u*p, I want to see more of you living best lives. You deserve that.
I absolutely believe in your capability and talent. And let me be the first one to tell you—triple your rates.
