Gain Confidence To Start A Business Or A New Task

I didn’t think I had imposter syndrome—until SEO exposed my fears. This post shares how I finally confronted what I’d been avoiding, the surprising psychology behind self-doubt, and why progress matters more than perfection.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: most people wouldn’t peg me as someone with imposter syndrome. On the surface, I show up. I do the work. I even talk to other people about their fears, doubts, and the monsters under their beds. When I took an assessment recently, the results were noncommittal. A soft “maybe.” Apparently, not boasting about your accomplishments might be a red flag. Who knew?

But I’ll tell you what did me in - SEO.

Yes, Search Engine Optimization — the magical art of making Google recognize and recommend your website. Since I started this business, I avoid it like a politician avoiding a straight answer. Why? Because I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know what to do. And deep down, I wasn’t sure if anything I could do would even matter.

So I avoided it.

I busied myself with other “important” things. Meanwhile, the fear — that sneaky voice of inadequacy — whispered things like, “What if you do all this work and nothing happens?” and “Everyone else is doing it better anyway.”

Sound familiar?

The Truth About Imposter Syndrome (and Comparison Traps)

Here’s the thing. Most of us, at some point, wrestle with the fear that we’re not enough. That we don’t know enough. That we don’t belong in the rooms we’ve worked our butts off to enter.

And that’s normal. It's human.

Social psychologist Leon Festinger nailed this back in 1954 with Social Comparison Theory. Basically, when we don’t have an objective measure for success, we look to others. We size ourselves up. Are we doing better, worse, or about the same?

Festinger breaks it down into:

• Upward comparisons (AKA Instagram envy),

• Downward comparisons (hello, ego boost), and

• Lateral comparisons (AKA. “I think I’m on par with that person, right?”).

But here’s the kicker: who you compare yourself to shapes how you feel about yourself. Compare up too often, and you risk spiraling into self-doubt. And thanks to social media, where everyone’s highlight reel is curated within an inch of its life, those upward comparisons are constant.

I fell into that trap hard. I envied other people’s search rankings. I longed for their engagement metrics. I thought their social media posts were better. I hoped things would change, but wasn’t doing diddly squat about it. I even noticed that Google thought I was a life coach, not an entrepreneur and emerging leader coach. I was clearly doing something wrong, but delay and defer were my go-to solutions.

But as I’ve said before (and I’ll keep saying it), hope is not a strategy.

From Avoidance to Action

Eventually, I called myself out. Enough was enough. SEO is important, and my fear of doing it wrong was keeping me stuck. So I named what was really happening: imposter syndrome.

Once I recognized that, I found a way to reframe the story. Instead of “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I told myself: “I can learn this. I’ve learned harder things before. And there are resources to help me.”

Enter SCORE — an SBA-funded organization where I volunteer as a mentor. They have a treasure trove of tools, webinars, and info for small businesses. So I dove in. I watched a webinar, made a few changes to my website, and even wrote this blog post using the recommendations from the webinar. (Hi!)

Why? Because I reminded myself that the more I understand SEO, the more I can help my clients succeed. And suddenly, the benefit outweighed the insecurity.

Will any of this move the needle? No clue. But that’s not the point.

The point is I stopped letting fear drive the car. I took the wheel, even if I’m still learning to navigate the map. If this round doesn’t work, I’ll try something else. That’s what having a learning mindset is all about. Progress over perfection.

So go do the thing. Progress over perfection. Learning mindset

Final Thoughts: Say Hello to Ellen

Imposter syndrome is sneaky. It can stop us from doing the very things that might be fun, helpful, or essential to our success.

The first step is naming it.

So I’ve named mine: Ellen. (Yes, after my childhood idol, my Aunt Ellen. She was graceful, elegant, and a ballerina. Basically everything five-year-old me aspired to be. I was comparing myself upward at an early age. I even changed my name in Kindergarten to Ellen. Boy were my teachers confused.)

Now, when that critical inner voice pipes up, I say, “Thanks, Ellen, but I’ve got this.”

The second step is to reframe it.

Because reframing that inner dialogue matters. It creates space for action. And when you act — even imperfectly — you start to change the story.

The third step is to just start.

You might not nail it the first time. That’s okay. Try again. Learn. Keep going. Because if you don’t try, you’ll never know what could’ve been possible.

What Are You Afraid Of and Avoiding?

Are you afraid to start your own business?

Do you think you can't generate good ideas for a business?

Are you afraid to ask for that promotion?

Well then imposter syndrome may be your devil too.

Takeaway

Imposter syndrome is real. It’s annoying. And sometimes it sounds a lot like your worst enemy. But when you recognize it, name it, and reframe it, you take the first steps toward whatever it is you’ve been avoiding — whether that’s SEO or something else entirely.

So go do the thing. Progress over perfection. Learning mindset.

I’ve used this quote before and I will use it again as I think it speaks to the heart of it all.