Episode 161. When You Don’t Feel Qualified in Your Business: 3 Mindset Shifts to Rebuild Confidence

You’ve bought countless courses on personal branding for entrepreneurs and other business coaching programs… But you don’t feel qualified or ready to build thought leadership.

In This Episode:

Listen on Apple Podcast | Spotify | YouTube | Any Player

When You Don’t Feel Qualified to Build Thought Leadership 

Prefer to listen to this episode on YouTube?

Let’s talk about how to go about your work, your business, and your content when you don’t feel qualified enough.

Because let’s be honest, we are all so accustomed to hearing marketing experts and business coaches talk about, “BE AN AUTHORITY”, “BE AN EXPERT”, do this and do that, in order to sell your program.

Honestly, I myself have a lot of sh*t that goes through my mind on the daily. My brain is ferocious in telling me reasons why I’m not qualified to do what I do.

So I want to unpack a bit of that in this episode, and to anyone who may be navigating your own thoughts about why you’re not qualified enough or not XYZ enough to do what you do, especially within the context of your business.

I hope that this episode will be able to offer you a different perspective.

My fears around being “qualified” to teach thought leadership

If I’m going to be brutally honest, something I navigate is the thought of, “I’m not qualified to teach thought leadership because I don’t have any prestigious tertiary degrees, credible professional experience, awards or features or accolades.

So who am I to sell a program called Thought Leader Club? Who am I to call my podcast “The Thought Leader Club Podcast”? Am I REALLY qualified to teach and talk about the concept of thought leadership?”

I still compare myself a lot.

I compare myself to entrepreneurs who are doing similar work as me. I compare myself to entrepreneurs who are not doing similar work as me.

I even find myself comparing myself to non-entrepreneurs who are in traditional career paths.

And the common thread among these comparisons usually contains a flavor of “They’re more successful than me”, “They’re better than me” or “They’re doing something more legit than I am”.

That also leads me to think a lot about going to get a master degree. Should I go get a job just to have more of a credible work history? Maybe if I get a degree or job, that will bolster my credibility and make me more legit and hence, more qualified as an entrepreneur? 

What about the people I know who DO have these degrees or fancy work experiences? What do they think when I show up on their LinkedIn feeds? What do strangers on the Internet think? Am I going to become a topic of heated discussion on a Reddit thread? Are people going to call me out for being a fraud? 

For every single fear or self doubt I have about “Who am I to teach thought leadership”, that is precisely the reason why I do the work that I do.

It is exactly why I teach what I teach inside my program, The Thought Leader Club. It is also why this podcast, The Thought Leader Club, exists.

And the thing is, leaders go first. Thought leaders go first.

So I constantly have to ask myself, what would it look like for Cheryl to go first? What are my reasons for choosing to do this work ,despite all of the negative self-talk, self-criticism and self-judgment that my brain constantly feeds me?

Mindset Shift 1: Doing this work because it matters to you

First, I continuously choose to do this work and stay committed to doing this work because this work matters so much to me.

To really set the stage for this conversation, I want to share a few more details about my journey. 

  • In 2018, my decision to quit was a topic of gossip among my old law school classmates. My parents were absolutely furious and very, very disappointed in my decision to quit law school. My relationship with my dad especially was at an all time low.
  • At that point in time, I didn’t know what the hell to do with my career or life after quitting law school. So I did whatever jobs I could get. I applied to over 20 research assistant jobs, ultimately got 2 interviews and in the end, one job offer. On top of that full-time role, I also tried out different gigs like teaching English at a local school and worked as an assistant to a local executive coach.
  • In late 2018, I started creating content online but literally got a hate comment on the very first YouTube video I ever posted. Since starting my online coaching business in 2019, I silently dealt with harassment/cyberbullying from a past acquaintance. Perhaps I will share more about this in the future. But in a nutshell, for the first 2 years of my business, I struggled with showing up online because I was always fearful of this particular person. I feared for my own privacy and safety. But for those who followed me over the years, you’d have seen me show up nonetheless.
  • Fast forward a few years, in 2022, when I shared my story on the local news, there were countless not-so-nice comments in the Facebook comments, many of which made baseless assumptions about me, my parents, my background, etc.
  • I’m also sure that throughout the years, there were silent judgments from strangers online who came across my story.
  • Honestly, to this day, there are still times when I want to shrivel up in a ball when I see that my old classmates viewed my Instagram stories because I’m freaking out about what they think of the current version of me and what I’m doing.

Why do I still continue to  show up online and talk about building thought leadership and building a body of work? Even when there’ve been many instances where people online would make completely false assumptions or judgments about me?

Why do I continue to be visible on the Internet, even though I had my own lived experience of harassment/cyberbullying for a few years?

Why do I still keep doing what I do when I still, to this day, struggle with fear of judgment every now and then? 

I can certainly tell you that it’s not because I’m seeking attention. Especially because I’m subjecting myself to judgment and unkind comments on the Internet from peeps who may not necessarily relate to my point of view. NOT. FUN. 

Instead, it’s because I believe that all of us are searching far and wide for the belief that what we *really* want to do in this life, is possible.

We all have an idea of who our “future self” is. A version of us who is sparkling. But we also want the audacity to believe in our dreams in the first place and the courage to actually do something about it.

For myself, because I’ve already taken the step forward and paved my own path, I was able to change the trajectory of my life. I think it goes without saying that I want to help others change their life as well. 

Also, others have taken the step before I did. They showed me how they paved their own path. Because of others, I was able to build my own belief and hence take action. 

Everything I’ve built thus far was only possible for me because others were willing to share their story, experiences, and perspectives openly and transparently.

Back in 2018, when I quit law school, I was really confused, lost, unsure of myself. Unsure of my decision to quit law school. Unsure of what to do next.

Interestingly, around that same time, I came across an instagram post on my discovery feed on Instagram. In particular, it was the caption of that post that really spoke to me, and prompted me to learn more about who the heck the person was who wrote this post and what her story and journey was.

Her name is Vanessa Lau, and at the time, she recently quit her corporate job to start her own business. I continued to follow her journey, her story, and her work closely since then. 

But that one particular post that started it all, for some reason, had a really profound impact on me. It was exactly what I needed to see at that particular juncture of my life.

And because I came across this post during that time, by chance, I was able to find a bit more hope and courage during a time when I didn’t really have much courage or hope, let alone belief in myself.

Long story short: I was able to find so much comfort, so much hope, so much help, simply from a stranger’s story. It was at that moment when I realized that our own story, our own lived experiences, our own perspectives on the world, can help others too. 

Because Vanessa, who was a complete stranger to me at that time, was willing to have the audacity to believe in herself and literally sparkle, I started to believe in myself, and slowly but surely started to sparkle, in my own way.

This is why I believe so much in the concept of thought leadership.

As thought leaders, we have a responsibility to show our people what is possible. Our story, our thoughts, our ideas, all of that, together, can help others build their own belief.

I sincerely hope that you can see that you, too, hold something that is not only helpful to you, but it also helps others. You, too, have your own unique set of thought leadership that helps people.

There’s people out there who will be able to change their life because of you showing up and sharing your story, ideas, and perspectives.

Your thought leadership will play a small role in helping them hold the belief for themselves. Your thought leadership will help them see what they may not be able to see, right now.

Your thought leadership will be the impetus for them to take action towards their goals and dreams. Because you had the audacity to believe and sparkle, others can now also have the audacity to believe and sparkle too.

And this leads me to the second point.

Mindset Shift 2: You got people to help, you got work to do

I’ve realized that unless I’ve helped every single person on this planet who has a deep desire to become known for their unique thought leadership, their story, and how amazing they are at what they do, then my job still isn’t complete. I got peeps to help and I got work to do.

Because as much as my brain wants to convince me that the market is too saturated and thus there’s no room for me. Or maybe it’s telling me to take it easy after an exhausting or stressful day, rather than talking about my work with my audience. Or it’s telling me that I’m totally not qualified to talk about the concept of building thought leadership… 

I know that this is work I want to do. This is why I continuously ground back to why I care so much about helping others to build a body of work and develop their own unique thought leadership.

Because yes, this work matters to me.

Also, I know it matters to you too.

You see, I used to believe that we need a prestigious degree, fancy job experiences, and a super long CV in order to be “good enough” or be seen as an emerging leader in your field. 

But what I’ve learned is that for many of us, our goals are not traditional. If anything, they’re exceptional!

So why subscribe to traditional and sterile metrics of “success” when I can instead pave my own definition of a successful life, career, and business?

For myself, through building my own body of work and becoming known for my own thought leadership, I’ve been able to create opportunities that 20 year old Cheryl could only dream about.

Since 2018, I’ve quit two prestigious career paths (law school and PhD/academia) to pave my own entrepreneurial career. I literally went from being the Asian parent’s dream child to their biggest disappointment.

But since starting my business and brand in 2019 and consistently building my body of work and thought leadership, I’ve forged a new path and created a business and career that not only makes me proud, but also makes my parents proud.

In just a few years, I’ve also been featured on the local newspaper and radio in Singapore, and have held workshops for the University of Toronto – Victoria College and other local non profits.

My podcast, The Side Hustle Club (Now known as The Thought Leader Club), was also the recipient of the 2023 Golden Crane Award (from the Asian American Podcasters Association).

All of this was only possible because I’m now known for my unique thought leadership, I’ve built a body of work that compels best-fit clients to work with me, and ultimately built a business and career that I’m so, so proud of.

I’ve also seen how other people’s body of work and thought leadership have profoundly impacted my life or offered me a different perspective when I needed it.

This is why I’m committed to helping the folks who genuinely have that innate spark in them to become recognized for their work to have the audacity to start sparkling both online and offline.

Ultimately, entrepreneurs and thought leaders – they help people.

And guess what, you don’t need to be “good enough or qualified” to help someone. Even if you think you’re absolutely trash at something, you can still help someone, in some way.

This is also exactly what I see thought leadership to be: It is using the thoughts already inside your head, and using it to do something good in this world. It is leading with your thoughts to create change and impact for others.

Thought leadership, in my eyes, isn’t predicated on the quantity or prestige of your credentials.

It’s about whether you build a compelling body of work with the brilliant thoughts, ideas, stories, knowledge, opinions, perspectives, and so on that are inside of your head. And actually turning everything inside your head into some sort of output that can benefit others.

It is leading with your thoughts to create change and impact for others. It is being willing to go first and share what you believe in, what you know, sharing your lessons and insights. Not because you want to gain popularity or garner respect, but because it matters to you to share it. 

I hope you will continue to look at your work as an entrepreneur and as a thought leader through the lens of “ I’m doing this to help someone”.

Be committed to helping people through the work you do and through the body of work you’re building.

If you care about what you do,then let’s stay committed and focused. Let’s keep it light and keep it moving.

We got peeps to help and we aren’t going to slow down anytime soon.

And this leads me to my third and final point, which is being willing to start first and go first, even before you feel qualified.

Mindset Shift 3: Be willing to go first, even before you feel qualified

But here’s the thing, for many, even if they know that they *can* help others, they still choose not to show up and share their thought leadership because they are scared of what people will think or say about them. That’s completely valid and understandable 

Sometimes, when you look around at your immediate circles in real life, it feels like they won’t support the work you do in your business, or maybe you feel like they simply don’t get this thought leader career you’re building. 

Maybe your colleagues at work were talking shit about an influencer they follow and think he’s “too much”.

Maybe your friends were judging another mutual friend who recently started their YouTube channel and think she shouldn’t be sharing her channel so often on Instagram.

Maybe your partner was bashing an online entrepreneur that popped up on their LinkedIn feed.

Because of these voices around you, you’re questioning whether you even know what you really want. That dream to be a speaker, podcaster, author, workshop facilitator, entrepreneur, coach and/or thought leader? You’re questioning whether that’s even what you want.

When you add on that thought of, “Am I even qualified to do this?”, you’ve got a formula for immense self doubt and inaction.

So you keep waiting and waiting for the people around you to change their minds about thought leaders and entrepreneurs. You keep waiting for the validation that what you want to build is important and valid. You keep waiting for the evidence that you’re ready and qualified enough to do the work you want to do.

But here’s the thing: Thought leaders don’t wait.

Leaders don’t wait.

They don’t wait for people around them to “get it” before they start sharing their story and perspectives.

Thought leaders don’t wait to start leading by example and are willing to go first.

Thought leaders don’t wait to start doing things and saying things that others are afraid to do or say.

Thought leaders don’t wait before they start building their body of work.

And most importantly, thought leaders don’t wait to start helping people.

Here’s a scenario I invite you to consider. Two options: 

  • Option 1: Focusing on whether or not you’re qualified to do what you want to do, talk about what you want to talk about and try really hard to convince yourself that you are qualified enough.
  • Option 2: Focusing on building a strong body of work, becoming known for your story and opinions, communicating your ideas in a structured yet compelling way, and continuing to hone your craft and skill sets. And keep in mind you’re focused on building your body of work, “being qualified enough” is a natural byproduct of those efforts.

Here’s the question: If both option 1 and 2 require equal amounts of cognitive effort as well as intentional action-taking, which option will you choose? I’ll let you decide.

This journey requires both internal and external work

As you continue to move forward in your journey of building your business and brand, of building thought leadership and a body of work that showcases that thought leadership, I sincerely hope that you’ll continue to take steps forward and make bounds and leaps of growth no matter how lacking you feel on the inside.

Because on one hand, yes, take action despite the fear. The more action you take and thus become more competent, the more confident you’ll feel.

But on the other hand, remember to also continuously grounding back to why this work matters to you.

For example, the beliefs that are tremendously grounding for me and never fail to help me recommit to my work include:

1)  I am doing this work because it matters to me

2) I haven’t helped everyone I can possibly help yet. That means that I got people to help, I got work to do.

3) I am capable of starting and going first, even before I feel fully qualified.  

There is both internal work and external work involved in this journey.

Quite recently, a client inside the current cohort of TLC wrote to me, “Kudos to you and the program Cheryl. You’ve gotten me from stage fright to enjoying making content for others”

For this awesome peep inside TLC, we are helping him start and grow his body of work and online presence from scratch to set him up for a great start in his business. We’ve also been thinking about how to leverage his expertise (ex: He has a PhD in English).

But just like every other brand new entrepreneur, this client has his fair share of very, very unhelpful and critical self talk. His brain, like mine, loves to come up with all the reasons why he’s not qualified enough, how he’s still lacking in XYZ areas, and why his business vision is going to fail.

What I do at the very beginning of this current TLC cohort is create a custom coaching plan for each member inside the room.

In my custom plan for this particular client, our first areas of coaching include:

  1. Confidence – The confidence to show up online, confidence to talk about your work, confidence to share your ideas and story, and so on. This one thing (i.e. confidence) alone will create huge ripples for months and years to come. We will also coach on creating a sense of safety and calmness as you start showing up online.
  2. Start building a body of work that will position you to sign your first clients – This includes making decisions on who you want to speak to, creating a weekly/monthly plan, intentionally showcasing your expertise in storytelling, etc.
  3. Telling your story – Your people would love to know who you are (in addition to the skills and expertise you bring), so let’s start by identifying the pieces of your story that you’d love to be known for and share it in a highly compelling and engaging way for your audience.

This is the potency of the work that we do inside The Thought Leader Club.

Yes, we work on the practicality and strategy of building your body of work and defining your unique thought leadership  (Ex: We coach on developing an acute understanding of what your voice is, and start to build the muscle of identifying when you’re speaking from someone else’s voice).

But also, a part of the work that we do is supporting you to step into your Thought Leader Identity. For example, we coach on learning to unwind and unbind from what you think you *should* be doing in your business and brand, and redefine what thought leadership and success in your life and business is.

As you can see, inside TLC, we place equal emphasis on both the internal and external work. A big reason why TLC has been game-changing for our clients inside is because we are focused on the implementation and repeated practice of the information, tools, and strategies so we can grow both inside and out.

It’s also a curated room where everyone else has their head and heart in the game. We are committed to doing the work alongside one another. This is a long game and our TLC peeps are committed to starting their journey right now, for the long term.

I know you already have the work ethic, brilliance, and capability to hone in on the skills you need to make your 1-3 year dreams happen.

But right now, the skills required of you are out of your comfort zone. And of course! Your goals and dreams are not traditional – They are exceptional! So of course this will require you to step out of your comfort zone.

Even though you have a track record of being great at getting things done or maybe you’ve achieved a  number of traditional markers of success, this time, no one will tell you what to do.

More often than not, you won’t know if you’re doing something right, you’ll constantly feel unqualified and not legit or not good enough, and you’ll continue to second-guess yourself. This is what will slow you down.

The question right now is not about whether or not you’re able to learn these skills or reach your goals – You ARE able to. 

Instead, it’s the sh*t you’re telling yourself → Which eventually will lead you to give up too early.

In entrepreneurship, no one will be there to tell you that you’re doing things right. Nobody is giving you a gold star. 

What TLC CAN give you is the tools that have worked for me and my clients.

TLC is also here to hold a safe space for you to practice your reps. We are here to give you feedback on your work and give you a different perspective when things feel complicated, overwhelming, or just damn hard.

That’s why if this is work you’re committed to doing, I want you to consider joining TLC. This is the work we do here.

Your next step is to book a discovery call. We will get crystal clear on whether coaching together is the next best move for you.

The discovery call is where we will have a conversation about

1) What are your dreams in the next 1-3 years,

2) The coaching, skills, and actions you need to make these dreams happen, and

3) How either coaching will support and guide you with all the above

You can schedule a discovery call here.

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode, and I’ll see you in the next one.

Sounds good? Awesome. Let’s get to work.

Listen to the Episode

Additional Resources

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP STRATEGY AUDIT

– Audit the 9 parts of your thought leadership strategy

– Identify the specific areas you can improve on to build a substantial and compelling body of work

Get the free audit: https://cheryltheory.com/audit 

Other Episodes You’ll Enjoy

Episode 159. Growing Your Business as a High Achieving Entrepreneur Who Feels Average and NOT Good Enough

Episode 157. Thought Leadership is NOT Just for the Top 1%: The Mindset & Identity You Need to Build Your Personal Brand & Business

Episode 144. The Audacity to Believe and Sparkle: The First Step to Becoming a Successful Content Creator 

SOUNDS GOOD? AWESOME. LET'S GET TO WORK

LET’S GET TO WORK

HOME

ABOUT

COACHING

PODCAST

SPEAKING

JOIN The Wholesome Vibes Newsletter

NEWSLETTER