What's up brand builders! Stephen Houraghan here of BrandMasterAcademy.com and in
this video you're gonna learn how to overcome brand strategist imposter
syndrome so you can stop worrying about what your clients think of you and start
realizing that they are lucky to have you working on their business.
now if you're new to the channel and you want actionable brand strategy tips and
techniques that you can use to grow your business well then click on that
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now I'm not exactly sure when I started to call myself a brand strategist but I
do remember it was after I began developing strategies for my clients
because I shied away from that title for a while because I didn't feel I deserved
that I didn't feel adequate to match up to that title and I remember feeling
like an imposter and feeling like a bit of a fraud but over time and with
experience I had a few epiphanies and a few ideas and a few mental shifts that
made me realize that that was all in my head and I overcame that imposter
syndrome and I want to share those epiphanies and those mental shifts with
you in this video now just a quick disclaimer this video is not gonna give
you any skills that you don't already have it's not gonna make you better at
your job but what it will do hopefully if I do my job right it will give you a
different perspective and it will help you to look at yourself in a different
light and make you realize that you're not an imposter you're just somebody
with skills trying to help your clients the first psychological shift that I had
was that brand strategists are square pegs so what do I mean by that well when
I was feeling like a bit of an imposter I remember going online and trying to
search for education and qualifications that I could get under my belt so I
could be seen by my audience as a certified brand strategist somebody who
had the skills and had the documentation to say hey this guy is qualified but
I realized that there was no traditional educational route to become a brand
strategist yes there were marketing degrees and design degrees and
to some extent each of those pathways had an element of brand strategy to them
if you were lucky but for the most part brand strategists weren't coming out of
university ready to go into brand strategy roles they were coming out and
going into marketing roles or design roles and over time they built up the
experience and in a lot of cases they went on to create brand strategist roles
for themselves within the companies that they worked for so even the biggest
brand strategist working for the biggest companies in the world the fortune 500
companies in the world they didn't come out of university as a brand strategist
ready to go into those roles they went into a variety of different roles maybe
it was design maybe it was marketing maybe it was copywriting and over time
they built their experience and they went on to become brand strategist later on
so that was a big one for me realizing that there was no traditional
road to brand strategy and most brand strategists are square pegs the second
psychological shift that I had was that my clients were the beneficiaries of my
hard work so all of the work that I did leading to me becoming a brand
strategist transitioning into that role all the research I did all the books I
read all of the processes that I developed my clients were the
beneficiaries of all of that work so I knew that had they have met me three or
four years before I became a brand strategist then the work that I had
would have been able to do for their brand would not have been as good as
after that transition so it made me realize that it gave me that confidence
that yes I had done a lot of work yes I had read a lot of books and I developed
my processes and my clients were the beneficiaries of that work and I knew
also as well what the rest of the market was like all of those logo designers
offering those services the work they did compared to the work I did yes
my clients were the beneficiaries and they were lucky to have me on their team
psychological shift number three the imposter is in your head now I'm not
downplaying the existence of imposter syndrome I know it exists because I'm
speaking from experience and I used to struggle with it and I also speak to a
lot of people I speak to a lot of designers I speak to a lot of my
students who are also transitioning as well and I understand that a lot of
people struggle with this and in fact Albert Einstein of all
people used to struggle with it I think he called himself an involuntary
swindler or something like that and he couldn't believe why his work was
getting so much recognition so if Albert Einstein suffers from imposter syndrome
then you can give yourself a little bit of a break and when you realize that it
is in fact all in your head then you can overcome that you can stop creating
those stories in your head because that's all they are at the end of the
day they're just stories that only exist in your head so that imposter is only in
your head nobody else sees it except you psychological shift number four
discomfort equals growth so what does that mean well when you put yourself
outside your comfort zone and you feel that feeling of awkwardness and
discomfort it is a sign that you're growing because you're doing something
that you haven't done before and that is the only way you grow there's no easy
way to grow you can't just suddenly become confident doing something that
you haven't done before putting yourself out there in an environment of
discomfort is that sign of grow so really embrace that idea that if you're
feeling uncomfortable if you're feeling outside your comfort zone if you're
feeling that imposter syndrome it's a sign that you're growing now to give you
a bit of an example here when I'm on camera now I feel completely comfortable
and I know that my confidence has grown dramatically in the last six months
because I've done a lot of videos in the last six months and every video I get
that little bit better but when I started doing videos I was absolutely
awful I was I was really terrible I had no idea what I was doing I didn't know
who my audience was I didn't even know why I was doing it or what I was really
trying to do I just had this idea that I needed to start putting content out
there and I was terrible I was really bad I'll put a few outtakes if I can
yeah I was not great at all but I just kept at it I kept doing it I kept
showing up and over time I got better and better and better so just embrace
that idea that you might not have the confidence now but over time that grows
you just put yourself outside your comfort zone and embrace the idea that
if you're feeling that discomfort you are growing psychological shift
number five embrace who you are now overcoming imposter syndrome is not
about pretending it's not about pretending that you're better than you are
or you know trying to take on this persona that's not you it's about
realizing that you are not actually an imposter you need to realize that the
version of you today compared to the version of you a year ago is a lot
better there's a lot more value that you bring to the table today than you did a
year ago and there's gonna be a lot more value that you bring to the table in a
year's time so every year you're going to grow and you're going to bring more
and more value to the table so focus on that added value that you are now
bringing and take that value and compare that value to everything else that's out
there and realize that this added value that you're growing all of the time is
in fact really valuable to your clients so embrace who you are don't pretend
that you're someone that you're not and focus on the value that you bring
psychological shift number six visualise who you are becoming now in five years
time if you think about the person that you're becoming and you visualise who
you're going to be in five years time and think about how that person speaks
how they hold themselves how they speak to clients the value they bring the
confidence that they bring and think about how far they've come the journey
that they're on now think about that person visualise that person now realize
that that person is actually you you will not change in that time you will
still be the same person yes you will add feathers in your cap and strings to
your bow but you will still be the same person so every time you speak to a
client every time you jump on the phone with a
client realize that that is another piece of experience that you could put
on your belt another feather that you can add to your cap and realize that
every little bit of experience is leading you to who you are becoming now
this video is not to tell you to snap out of it you know it's all in your head
just forget about it just overcome and it's it's easy to do I know it's not
easy to do I know it's a process and if you don't have the confidence that it is
just a process and you will eventually overcome it then lean on my confidence
because I know that it's a process and I know that I've overcome it and think
about that person that you are becoming and think of when you get to that point
you'll look back on the journey that you've been on and you'll realize then
that a huge huge part of that journey was overcoming what's in here so you
could be what's in here I genuinely hope that you enjoy that video that you got
something from it if you did then please give this video a thumbs up hit that
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to grow if you want more tips and techniques like this well then head on
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free and I do keep some exclusive content for that list so get yourself
involved but I'd love to hand it over to you now I'd love to hear what your
experiences are what your challenges are when it comes to imposter syndrome are
you transitioning into a brand strategist role and if so are you
speaking with clients and are you feeling a little bit like an imposter
are you feeling that twinge and that anxiety when you get on the phone and is
that really holding you back or have you overcome that imposter syndrome is there
something that you've done that has really helped you I'd love to hear from
you if you've got any questions at all please let me know in the comments below
I'll do my best to answer all of those questions until next time brand like a
master and I will see you in the next video!