How I Beat Impostor Syndrome and Made Money Teaching What I “Shouldn’t” Have
Three steps that unlocked me by revealing what I had to offer.
🤩 Hey! I’m Alberto. With my newsletter I want to help you reach your full potential and live your ideal life with a content-based business.
I talk about productivity, automation, strategy and mindset.
I don't want to brag, but I'm the world champion of Imposter Syndrome. There's no way you can convince me I am good at something.
Okay, I’m joking, but it's not too distant from the truth. That's why I'm still surprised I found the guts to start my first business, teaching something I started learning less than a year prior.
Fourteen years have passed. I reflected on this experience and extracted some useful lessons. Read carefully, because they'll show you how to escape imposter syndrome and finally do your thing.
My impostor business
If you have been following me for a while, you know that my first business was a blog about photography. I made a living publishing photography tutorials and selling my own guides and courses.
But here's the catch: I launched the site in October 2010. But do you know when I got my first camera? I received it as a wedding gift on December 27, 2009.
So, I started teaching photography less than a year after I got my hand on my first DSLR. And before that, I never took a shot.
How did I dare? Here are my answers.
Insatiable passion + fast learning
I am a disciplined and fast self-learner. When I received that camera, something clicked – not just the shutter. 😉
My first photos turned out pretty decent, but then I started learning more advanced techniques, and the creative potential in my hands excited like Christmas Eve. I was a black hole absorbing infinite information. I practiced whenever I could. I was obsessed.
I quickly moved past the beginner level stage. People around me started asking for prints of the shots I took of them. Even I liked some of the images I created. This rarely happens.
Even though I was new to photography, accelerated learning put me in a position where I had something to teach, at least to beginners.
Bypass resistance through great free content
When I started my blog, I would have never offered paid photography lessons. But publishing free tutorials created less resistance. Especially because I put a lot of effort into creating the clearest explanations.
After all, I was just sharing things that I knew worked and asking nothing in return. Readers could just bounce off my website after reading or leave an unsavory comment. Which almost never happened, by the way.
My pictures were giving me confidence. They showed how I solved the typical beginner photography problems.
Views grew quickly. Readers left grateful and excited comments. It was a growing mountain of evidence telling me after all I had something to teach. Even if I wasn’t a professional photographer.
But what about going paid?
Asking for money is a whole different story
I'm very careful with my money. I couldn’t stand the idea of disappointing my paying customers. I wanted to be sure to offer enough value for their hard-earned money.
Fortunately, I modeled my website after a huge blog led by an amateur photographer like me. His example showed me it could be done. But I still needed to lower the stakes.
What worked for me was lowering the price. My first guide was less than €10. My first video course was less than $50.
The guides were good, almost no one ever asked for a refund. I totally undersold myself. But at that time I just couldn't ask for more. I created the best guides I could and sold them for a very cheap price. This way, I was sure I was doing the best interests of my customers. I had no reason to feel guilty.
Of course, this isn't sustainable over the long term. But the alternative for many people is to never start seling. Never start a business. They’re just to afraid of asking for money.
So, decrease your price and increase your courage! You’ll get a double benefit:
you’ll break the resistance and start selling,
you’ll see that people actually like what you offer, despite your fear.
As you get used to selling and learn what people like, you can increase your prices.
Your gameplan
To beat impostor syndrome, follow these steps:
be an obsessed learner,
publish the most helpful articles you can,
offer underpriced products,
let the audience feedback increase your confidence.
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