Ep 2. The fear of showing up and not feeling “expert” enough

Ep 2. The fear of showing up and not feeling “expert” enough

 [00:00:00] 

Hello and welcome back to Quiet Confidence with myself, Anita Popat.

Today we’re gonna be diving into a feeling I know a lot of us share, myself included, which is the fear of showing up when you just don’t feel like an expert.

Firstly, let me tell you that you are an expert.

So you all have those moments when you sit down to write a post or you hit record and then you think, who the hell am I to say this? or is this even useful?

I’ve been scrolling my feed and she’s already said this before, or I’ve already seen a version of this like 10 million times and it’s so much better than I could say it. So what’s the point? what’s the point in me even posting about it?

I’m just gonna keep scrolling because you know, there’s no point in me saying the same thing as everyone else.

Does that sound familiar? 

So what I want you to know is that this doubt doesn’t mean that you’re not ready to post or that you’re making excuses to show up to me.

I think it’s that you genuinely care. You genuinely care about your audience and giving them the best experience when it comes to the content that they consume from you.

And we can use this attention to detail and this care to our advantage. As I said in episode one, caring and leading with empathy is one of our biggest superpowers, so we’re gonna make sure we use it for us, not against us.

So I wanted to share five ways that you can get over that fear of showing up or not feeling expert enough.

And I hope you keep these in your back pocket on those days where, you’re just like, oh, I cannot be bothered to show up.

Just pick one of these and see how your mindset changes. So let’s get into them.

The first one is to create what I call a SMILE file.

Now I have a file on my desktop and it’s got all of my screenshots, all of the nice messages from clients, all the lovely dms I’ve had, and just anything that anyone sent to me, any achievements, certificates, anything that I’ve had that makes me feel proud.

And [00:02:00] you know when you read them and you’re just like, oh my God, that’s so amazing. Like it makes my heart sing. Those kind of things.

So on the days that you’re feeling, meh, when your brain’s just like. Computer says no. I want you to go into this file and just look at how amazing you are and the lives that you changed with your work. It’s no one else’s.

And these people, I’m guessing you haven’t held a gun to their head to tell them to write the things , and that makes it even better.

So use those messages and use the smile file to put a smile on your face and give you that energy boost that you need, so that you can show up.

Not only does that smile file give you confidence, more often than not when I go into it, it gives me content ideas as well, because you’re often getting reactions to things that you’ve helped people with, so you can use them with clients’ stories on your socials as well.

The second thing is to just document your week. The amount of times someone said, I just dunno what to post, or my mind’s gone blank.

No matter how many times I’ve given like content ideas, content prompts or whatever, sometimes your mind just goes blank, and in those times or other times when you’re just really busy and you are out and about, the best kind of content to create is just you doing your everyday stuff.

Just document your week.

So instead of creating, just capture what you’re doing, and that makes really good content because without you feeling like you’re putting extra thought into it.

You might be sharing something that came up in a client conversation or you might be showing like how you do a particular part of your work.

And although it might not feel like the polished content, I’m doing air quotes here, it still gives your audience a flavor into who you are as a person and how you do your work.

The third thing is to focus on your unique perspective. 

So yes, someone might have already talked about the topic before, but they’re not gonna say it in the way you say it. They’re not gonna use your own words.

All of us have a different lens through which we see the world we might experience the same things, but I’m gonna react to it differently than you [00:04:00] are because I’m gonna have different experiences, different stories, different beliefs, and all of that matters.

So whenever you think, oh, that’s already been said before, or I can’t say it like that because they’ve done it now just say it.

Just say it in your own way and don’t hold yourself back. It might feel like you’re adding to an echo chamber, but the people who need to hear it the way you’ve said it will resonate and they’ll get in touch with you.

The fourth thing is to just reframe the word “expert”.

If it feels icky to show up as an expert or a thought leader in your field, just don’t give yourself that title. I personally don’t give myself that title because it feels icky to me. 

I’ve been in marketing what, over 15 years now, and I’ve learned a lot of stuff. I’ve worked with a lot of clients. So I’m just here sharing my experience, my expertise from what I’ve learned, my stories, and just knowledge I’ve gained.

Sometimes people feel like, oh, I don’t wanna be an expert ’cause I don’t know everything. And the truth is that you don’t need to know everything. You just need to be expert enough for your clients so don’t let that hold you back and everyone’s learning all the time.

So as long as your clients think you’re an expert in the thing that they want help with, who are you to say, no, no, don’t come to me. I dunno everything. Because to them you are an expert and that’s enough.

We’re always constantly learning, and especially marketing like, I’ll never say that I know everything. The pace at which it all changes is mad, and my clients understand that.

So as long as you’re truthful about it and you don’t try and sell yourself as something that you’re not, it’s all good. And we’re not here to be perfect. We’re just here to serve.

And more often than not, we normally work with clients who are a couple of steps behind us, so the advantage of that is that you’ve probably already walked the path they’re going on now anyway. So you’re gonna be able to resonate with the things that come up from the mindset and the knowledge level as well. 

And the fifth thing is you just have to start like, this is literally what I’m doing with the podcast. We have to have, the done is better than perfect, and this is all a big experiment mindset, especially with marketing.

[00:06:00] If I didn’t accept that I’m a beginner in this podcasting journey, I just would never have started it because I would’ve just put myself down and thought, no, I’m not as good as Fearne Cotton or Mel Robbins or Davina McCall or Diary of the CEO.

And yeah, they’re all like people to aspire to. But to be honest, I just want a chilled conversation with you. And if it helps just one person change their mindset or inspire them to do something, then my job here is done.

Just start small with whatever step that feels comfortable for you, and then like everything, the more you do of it, the more it becomes second nature. 

So they’re the five ways that I push through the free of showing up. And I hope they help you too.

But remember, your voice matters.

People need your way of doing and seeing things, and if you don’t share that, they’re not gonna know what that is.

You don’t have to be the most polished version of yourself. You just need to be the most present one online so that people can see you and buy from you. 

Remember, you’re building your quiet confidence one post at a time.

I hope that helps. Please do subscribe, follow, share, and DM me with anything that comes up and I will see you on the next one. Thank you so much.