Are you good enough?

Worried you aren’t good enough?

You’ve finally identified your passion, your talent, your skill…

You know how you want to serve others

But…

What if you aren’t good enough?

What if you don’t know everything you need to know?

What if you need more training, degrees, certifications or experience?

I often hear this concern from clients that I am working with.  They just don’t feel they are ready and are afraid someone is going to recognize and call them on the fact that they are a newbie, a novice, a beginner.  They worry that they are an impostor…

Here’s the advice that a coach once told me when I felt the same way:  Lead from where you are.  There is always someone behind you who can benefit from your knowledge and experience.  Focus on who you can help more than what you lack.

Here are some examples:

Maybe you want to be a fitness coach but you haven’t yet finished all the necessary classes or certification process.  Who can you serve from the place that you are right now?  Women have created profitable businesses from hosting a fitness class in their home for stay at home moms.  Create a class that meets at a workplace or other environment.  Coach individuals training for a marathon or other event.

Maybe you want to be a web designer but you don’t have the credentials yet to put together a resume that will impress a major corporation. Begin with people you know who could use your help.  Offer a beginners basic class to help people who want to create their own websites. Help people who have tried to set up a website and failed.

Maybe you want to be a consultant or a trainer but you just don’t know where to start.  Start with what you know best; do you have experience in technology, human relations, business systems?  Begin by thinking about the difficulties that you have encountered and then use those as a foundation to survey the market.  What do people need to know?  What are the challenges and pain points that you could address? Contact people you already know who could benefit from your expertise. Your clients will be grateful for your attention and knowledge, not ask you where you got your training, experience or skill.

As Stephen Covey said you must always continue your own education and training. This is a given, but for most of the clients that I work with the bigger problem is taking action with the knowledge they already have, not moving forward with too little ability.

Recognize that fear is driving the bus, not a lack of knowledge. Confidence grows through commitment and action, not through accumulating more knowledge.  How many people do you know (maybe you are one of them) who is constantly taking one more class or attending one more seminar but never getting their idea off the ground?

Make a plan.

Set a date and take action.

Be the leader you already are.

Need a coach to help you set goals and follow through? Set up a complimentary coaching call here.

Lynne is one of my favorite people. She forced me to make some introspective decisions – when I least wanted to and changed the trajectory of my career. She is a professional coach, author and one of the coolest people I know. ~Betsy Mathews