The Crafters Guide To Managing Imposter Syndrome

When you’re a crafty person trying to determine if you should be a Craftpreneur several questions immediately run through your mind. They’re all centered around doubt and that doubt is from imposter syndrome! Will someone buy what I’ve made? How will I get people to my shop? Can you actually make money from your handmade crafts? Does anyone actually succeed selling handmade products? What happens if I get no sales? What happens if I get too many sales?

I’ll be completely honest with you being a Craftpreneur is hard. When you start its usually a one crafter show and you are in charge of the product idea, the making, the promoting, the buying, selling and shipping! You must manage social media, finding trade shows, and the finances! But, here’s a little secret IT CAN ALL BE DONE, and you can be a profitable Craftpreneur with a five, six or even a seven-figure business if you know the proper framework and structure that’s needed.

The first thing that I want you to know is a little thing called imposter syndrome. Craftpreneurs, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between are all affected by imposter syndrome. All those questions around doubt – yeah, they all stem from imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being not good enough. Even if they’re wildly successful and have evidence of their competence, they remain convinced that they do not deserve what they’ve achieved, and it was just a fluke or luck. I’ve personally experienced imposter syndrome in every business that I’ve built, but now I have the ability to recognize the signs and have the ability to take a step back realize that the business was built on a framework and release some of the “guilt” that comes with being successful.

Let’s talk about 6 techniques that you can implement today to help you defeat imposter syndrome.

Change Your Self-Perception To Defeat Imposter Syndrome

We all know that subtle voice in our head that whispers (or yells) things like “I’m not good enough”, “It was just luck” or “Anyone can do that” and how it sends us in a spiraling road of self-doubt. These automatic negative thoughts are the ANTs of our mind! ANTs are automatic negative thoughts and they’re subconscious thoughts that most of us don’t notice until they’ve swarmed our mind and taken over!

When you start to allow the voice to speak louder and you start to repeat that whisper that you’re not good enough – your thoughts begin to reflect that same tone. If you allow negativity in your life you will start performing in a way that reflects the negative atmosphere and hinder your own growth and career. That hinderance will then start building more into the illusions that you’re failing.

Instead of thinking, speaking and allowing those negative thoughts and ANTs into your life try and find positive thoughts and reinforce them by looking at the things that you’ve accomplished in your hobby, life or business. Sounds simple and stupid right? But I promise, it works. When you start cherishing your own achievements, thanking those around you that are positive and celebrating your wins. This one simple behavior change will change your attitude and you’ll soon be able to identify the ANTs in your life and quickly smash them out of your mind, business and life.

Know That You’re Not The Only One With ANTs.

No matter how successful someone appears or the ego that they boast on social media we have all experienced imposter syndrome. Everyone has a case of feeling like they didn’t deserve something, that it was just luck, or that it’ll be gone in an instant from time to time. Like you they look around and see all these other people celebrating their wins and feel like they’re not doing enough, that they’ll never be enough or that they’ll never catch up. Often leaders hide these feelings because they feel like being vulnerable will lessen their credibility or that admitting that they’ve had these thoughts will validate that they’re a fraud.

Hi, I’m Damon Oates the owner of a successful seven figure business and I have moments of imposter syndrome. At this moment, standing on stage – in front of hundreds of people that I already knew – know, liked, and trusted me – I still had a moment where I didn’t feel worthy of the achievement. You are not alone on this journey.

However, knowing that you’re not alone on the journey will make it so much easier to walk the path. I quickly glanced out into the audience and saw people that I knew and remembered their stories, I remembered their wins and I remembered why I was standing there. This leads into the next topic of owning our achievements.

But before we move on let’s realize that in order to achieve great things and to meet goals that are important to you, you must step into a new world and do things that you’ve never done before. Taking a risk is frightening even if you’re already successful. Fear is fine, just don’t let it block you from being amazing and your impact on the world.

Own Your Achievements & Build Your Swipe File To Defeat Imposter Syndrome.

Listen, it is extremely hard to accept praise for accomplishments when you feel like you didn’t deserve it, and you were just the lucky one that day, or worse the dreaded little phrase that anyone could do exactly what you did. Y’all that’s some bullshit that the ANTs are telling you – listen – YOU did the task, YOU achieved the win, and YOU completed the task the only way that YOU could have done it. YOU applied your own unique knowledge and skills to the task, and YOU won. Claim that win. Celebrate it.

Challenge the ANTs by looking for evidence that proves the negative thoughts and whispers wrong. Start a “swipe” file of all your wins, happy moments, and praises. Each successful moment and win, no matter how big or small, is important and can help you beat imposter syndrome, when you start hearing it.

PS – I’m having imposter syndrome right now, as I write this article. “What gives me the right to tell you how to defeat imposter syndrome when I still have it?”, “What if no one reads this?”, and “I should just stop and go make something”. Yet, I also know that I have positively affected thousands of people and that shouldn’t be a responsibility that I take lightly. I owe it to myself and to others to write this article – even if it just helps ONE single person.

When you start to hear the ANTs look at your swipe file and start rattling off your accomplishments. Hearing proof of your own wins and how they have helped someone will help you look at your work as more than just work – and you’ll be able to focus on the impact you’re making in the world.

Also know that we can’t just accept our wins and that being wrong doesn’t make you fake. Losing is part of the game and you shouldn’t glorify loss, but don’t let it stop you from your next win either.

Know The Value You Provide & Focus On It.

It’s extremely hard to listen to the ANTs, and to feel discredited, when you know the impact that you make on someone’s life. Even if you think that you’re not worthy of someone’s admiration that isn’t how the person that you helped feels. It’s time to accept others praises about you and your work. What you consider as one small positive impact in another person’s life could be a moment that changed that person’s life forever. That positivity could have affected them in several ways beyond the smile you see on their face from receiving your creation or help and that simple smile should never be taken lightly.

I love hearing how something my team accomplished helped someone, even though at the time we usually feel anxious about doing it. I’ve learned that positive lessons in life, no matter how small they seem, somehow come back and can help you through imposter syndrome. Reflection and knowing your value can help keep you in the right head space and evict the ANTs.

Talk To A Positive Influence About It

There’s no shame in having imposter syndrome, as you can tell from this post you are indeed in good company. From industry leaders to hobbyist we all experience the self-doubt. However, the difference for most people is their ability to talk about the issue and face it head on. You don’t have to deal with imposter syndrome alone – find a group of friends, business besties, and even customers that appreciate you today. Just talk to someone that you trust, tell them what you’re feeling and have them remind you about your swipe file.

Follow my lead, don’t remain alone with your ANTs and reach out to others around you for help. If personally chatting through social media, in person with friends or family isn’t enough you can always find a career counselor or support group online to join. Exchanging ideas and talking to others in our same space usually helps us realize that the imposter syndrome feelings are more common than we think.

Stop Comparing Yourself To THAT Person

Finding other Craftpreneurs online in your same niche may leave you comparing your work to theirs or their success to your own. This comparison quickly leads to the ANTs chattering a little louder! But y’all, instead of letting that comparison make you feel bad about your own work or success use theirs to motivate you. Let their win work as motivation to be better, learn more, and to do more.

Lastly, take a minute to congratulate yourself. If you weren’t standing in a scary place it would mean that you weren’t growing. Without growth you’ll never be able to accomplish your dreams and impact the world with your time, creations and energy.

Imposter Syndrome: The Challenge

Action items –

1. Start building your swipe file TODAY by leaving a comment below about ONE positive moment in your business that made an impact on someone else’s life.
2. Leave a comment below about ONE lie that you’ve told yourself that has hindered your business growth. Remember the first step of defeating imposter syndrome is to admit that it’s just imposter syndrome      PS – If you’ve read this entire blog post and you’re saying, “but I’m not a business” that’s imposter syndrome and we both know what comment you need to post.

**Bonus Round**

Do something about the ANTs! If you’re looking for a guide you can download our workbook below for some quick actionable wins that can help you defeat imposter syndrome!

Looking for other creative friends to help you get through imposter syndrome? Find thousands of them to connect with in our Facebook Group by clicking here – How To Make Wreaths.

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