How Self-Employed Professionals Can Defeat the “Fraud Factor”
Copyright 2006 Donna Gunter
In my experience, there is almost always something that
holds an independent service professional back from either
getting his/her business started or ramping it up to full
capacity and keeping it there. I call it the “Fraud
Factor”. Until you no longer feel like a fraud, any
investment you make in marketing your business will be
diminished because these unresolved issues are draining all
of your marketing efforts. After all, if you don’t believe
in yourself, why will anyone else believe in you?
What is the “Fraud Factor?” It’s a great sense of
insecurity that overwhelms you any time you attempt to talk
about or market your business in some way. Below is a list
of 6 statements that business owners suffering from the
Fraud Factor Syndrome often tell themselves. Do you
resemble any of these remarks?:
“I have no idea what I’m doing here — why would my client
trust me?”
“I don’t have any experience in working with clients as a
(fill in the blank here with your profession) — the people
I talk to about my business are going to see right through
me.”
“I can’t charge this much money for what I do — I’m not an
expert in this field.”
“I don’t have enough information to work with clients — I
need to get more training.”
“I’ll bend the rules just once for this client. After all,
I’m a newbie, and I need to do anything I can to get a
client.”
“I don’t have all of my marketing materials completed — no
one will ever believe I’m a business owner, so I can’t
start until everything is perfect.”
I would be lying to you if I told you that every single one
of these thoughts didn’t flutter through my head on at
least one occasion in the start-up phase of my business.
One or two of these come back and visit me on a regular
basis, even though I’ve been a successful business owner
now for 7 years and counting. It’s very natural to be
visited occasionally by your own IBSC (Itty Bitty Sh**ty
Committee).
What distinguishes happy, successful, confident, and
fulfilled self-employed business owners from the
unsuccessful ones are how they handle problems and
challenges and deal with their self-doubt and
self-confidence issues. I’m of the opinion that life is
comprised of mountains (places and times when you’re at
your best), valleys (when you don’t think can take another
minute) and missiles (unexpected events that take you off
track). If you were to ask 20 very self-confident people
about the low points and high points in their lives, every
single one of these people would tell you that his/her life
has never been all mountains — that they have all seen
their fair share of valleys and missiles just like the rest
of us.
However, the difference is that these self-confident
business owners realize it’s a phase and it will pass. The
IBSC (also known as the little voices you hear in your
head), will rule your life and your business if you let it.
None of you fell off the turnip truck yesterday, to borrow
a phrase from my growing-up years out in the country. Every
single one of you brings into your business a unique set of
skills and experiences that no one else has and no one else
can duplicate.
So, if you feel yourself to be a fraud, for whatever
reason, you need to learn to “act as if”, or “fake it ’till
you make it” — pretend as though you’re a wildly
successful business owner until you truly believe that you
are. If you need help, get it — from a good friend, a
business colleague, your spouse, a coach — whatever works
for you.
People with high self-esteem who handle problems and
challenges well understand that the only people who don’t
have mountain, valleys, and missiles in their lives are
lying in the cemetery. So, fake it until you make it, act
as if, and suck it up and get over yourself. Mark Twain
says it best, “Whether you believe you can or you believe
you can’t, you’re right.”
—————————————————-
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach
Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals
learn how to get more clients online at
http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com . To sign up for
more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift,
TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site
at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com . Read about running
an online biz at our blog,
http://www.getmoreclientsonlineblog.com
