Unlock Your Expert Power: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Own Your Expertise
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What if I told you that the secret to standing out in your industry is already within you? The power to position yourself as the go-to expert doesn’t lie in how many years of experience you have or the endless certifications. It’s your ability to claim your expertise and showcase that confidently.
Today, I’m sharing how to position yourself as the authority in your field, how to overcome imposter syndrome, and how to truly elevate your visibility so you can start owning your space in the entrepreneurial world.
My Journey with Imposter Syndrome
When I first started out in digital marketing, I didn’t always feel confident about sharing what I knew. Back then, I ran a small business and used social media to scale it—successfully, I might add. But even though other women entrepreneurs began asking me to share my strategies, I couldn’t help but second-guess myself.
A friend, who owned a traditional marketing agency, made a comment that stuck with me: “As long as you continue to play on social media, no one will take you seriously.” Ouch, right? His words echoed in my head and fed my imposter syndrome. Who was I to teach others about digital marketing when I didn’t even have a degree in it? But the truth is, my experience was valuable, and I had insights that he didn’t.
That’s when I realized—being an expert isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about mastering your niche, owning your knowledge, and confidently sharing your expertise.
How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Position Yourself as the Expert
The first step to overcoming imposter syndrome is recognizing that everyone experiences it. The little voice in your head that says, “You’re not enough” or “Who are you to call yourself an expert?”—we all have it. But the key to success is learning to reframe those thoughts. Here’s how:
- Reframe Your Failures
Failures are just stepping stones to success. Rather than feeding your imposter syndrome with thoughts like “I didn’t get enough sign-ups for my course, so I must not be good enough,” look at what you can learn from it. Did your marketing strategy need tweaking? Did your audience engage with your content? Use your failures as opportunities to improve, not as reasons to stop. - Focus on What Others Say
Instead of letting negative self-talk control your narrative, pay attention to the feedback you’re receiving from others. When someone sends an email saying, “That tip really helped my business,” believe them. Focus on the positive impact you’re already making, and use that to reframe how you see your expertise. - Recognize That You Don’t Need to Know Everything
Being an expert doesn’t mean knowing everything about your industry—it means knowing your niche and owning that knowledge. You only need to know a little more than most people in your space to provide value. No one else has your unique combination of experience, insights, and perspective, so use that to your advantage.
How to Show (Not Just Tell) That You’re an Expert
It’s not enough to simply say you’re an expert. You need to demonstrate your expertise. Here are some ways you can show up confidently and claim your authority:
- Speaking Engagements: Look for opportunities to speak at local events, your chamber of commerce, or even national conferences. If public speaking isn’t your thing, consider starting smaller with webinars or live Q&As.
- Guest Posts and Blogging: Share your knowledge through blog posts or guest posts on other platforms. Writing allows you to present your expertise in a way that feels comfortable, especially if speaking is intimidating.
- Social Proof: Leverage testimonials and reviews to show that your knowledge has helped others. Social proof, like Google reviews, LinkedIn recommendations, or even emails from clients, is a powerful way to demonstrate your value to new audiences.
Consistency is Key to Building Credibility
One of the biggest trust-builders in any industry is consistency. When you consistently show up, provide value, and share your expertise, you build trust with your audience. And trust equals credibility.
Whether it’s through social media, email marketing, blogging, or podcasting, pick one platform where you can show up consistently. Then, when you’ve got a rhythm going, repurpose that content across other platforms to save time and energy. Remember, most people won’t see everything as soon as it’s posted, so repurposing is a huge time-saver.
Take Action: Start Positioning Yourself as the Expert
So, how do you start positioning yourself as the go-to expert in your field? Here’s a simple challenge to get you moving:
- Write Down 3 Things That Make You Different
What unique experiences or insights set you apart from others in your industry? When you know what makes you different, your confidence will naturally start to grow. - Decide How You’re Going to Show Up
Will you blog? Be a guest on a podcast? Host a webinar? Choose one method to demonstrate your expertise and take action. - Stay Consistent
Choose one content platform—whether it’s a blog, social media, email marketing, or podcasting—and show up consistently. Once you get the hang of it, repurpose your content to maximize your reach.
Final Thoughts: Why Not You?
Remember, the only thing standing between you and success is your willingness to show up and share your unique expertise. There are countless people in your industry who are successful, so why not you? You already have everything you need within you to succeed. Now it’s time to own your expertise and step into your power.
Ready to start showing up as the go-to expert? Get my Free Visibility Checklist to get started
Want to dive deeper into positioning yourself as an expert? Check out this episode from She is Unstoppable:
Episode 57: Building a Thriving Business Through Confidence and Visibility with Holly Brunelle
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Show Notes
[00:00:00.630] – Deanna Hinsz
What if I told you that the secret to standing out in your industry is already within you? The power to position yourself as the go-to expert doesn’t lie in how many years of experience you have or the endless certifications. It’s really your ability to claim your expertise and showcase that confidently. Today, I’m going to dive in on how you can position yourself as the authority and elevate your visibility.
[00:00:29.580] – Deanna Hinsz
I’m Deanna Hinsz, entrepreneur, digital marketing Ninja, and your guide to building the business and life you’ve been dreaming of. Years ago, as a divorced mom with two young boys, I took the leap into entrepreneurship, driven by the need to create the freedom to be present for all things that, well, really mattered. It wasn’t always easy, but every challenge brought me closer to the life I wanted. On She is Unstoppable, you’ll hear inspiring stories, real talk, and actionable tips, whether I’m flying solo or sitting down with incredible guests. My mission? To help you grow your business, find your freedom, and create a life that’s unapologetically yours. So let’s dive in and get you one step closer to becoming truly Unstoppable. What if I told you that the secret to standing out in your industry is already within you?
[00:01:26.530] – Deanna Hinsz
The power to position yourself as the go-to expert doesn’t in how many years of experience you have or the endless certifications. It’s really your ability to claim your expertise and showcase that confidently. Today, I’m going to dive in on how you can position yourself as the authority and elevate your visibility. Now, when I first started out in the digital marketing world, I was afraid to show what I know. I’m going to back it up just a little bit because before I was in digital marketing, I had a small business. Some of you may have heard the story before, and I used social media to scale that business. And in that process, I got a lot of popularity, where women entrepreneurs, mainly, were asking if I would sit with them and share with them what I did. Now, at that point in the game, I really wasn’t even sure if what I was doing was actually the right things that you should be doing. But what I did know is that it was working for me, and I had hoped that it would also work for them. But I couldn’t guarantee it at that point. I had somebody that I was friends with who did own a traditional marketing agency.
[00:02:40.030] – Deanna Hinsz
In fact, in the town that I lived, I can say that it was one of the bigger digital marketing agencies. Marketing agencies. It was not digital at that time. It was more traditional. So it did more print and billboards and things like that. Because digital marketing was still very, very new. And this A person who I had a tremendous amount of respect for made a comment to me and said that as long as I continue to play on social media, nobody would ever take me seriously. Now, at that point, I made the decision to transition into digital marketing and help other people. I felt like I knew something that this person didn’t know at that time. But But even though I took those steps and I could tell you that that was my gut feeling, I still replayed his words over and over in my head, that nobody would ever take me seriously if I stayed in digital marketing. The reason that I did that was because he was very well respected and he was very successful in what he did. He went to school for marketing. I didn’t. My degree was in psychology. I felt like he knew more than I did And it was intimidating.
[00:04:03.800] – Deanna Hinsz
So because of that, I wouldn’t always share what I knew for that reason. Now, it didn’t take real long before his traditional marketing agency transitioned to a now digital marketing agency. And he talks about all the same things that I talked about 15 years ago. But during that time, it was really intimidating. And I had imposter syndrome, not just with him. I have imposter syndrome a lot in the beginning because I talked about social media marketing and I understood its value, but there were so many other people that didn’t see it at that time. Things would creep into my head like, You don’t have enough education. You don’t know enough. You are a fraud. Just because it worked for you, what makes you think it’ll work for other people? All these things kept pouring into my head. And because of that, I was afraid to show up online. Well, today I’m talking about how you can position yourselves as the expert and you can overcome that. And imposter syndrome is just one thing I’m going to talk about, and I’ve talked about it before in my other episodes. But it’s so important because I see it all the time.
[00:05:23.770] – Deanna Hinsz
And so it doesn’t matter if you are just starting out in your business or you’ve been in business for years. You You want to make sure that you’re positioning yourself as the expert and you stand out because you deserve that visibility. I want to finish talking about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is that little voice in your head that says, You’re not enough. You don’t know what you’re really talking about. We’ve all heard that little voice at one time or another. Who are you to call yourself an expert? I’m over here on the podcast telling you, Listen, position as the expert. You might be thinking, Who am I to call myself an expert? That’s imposter syndrome, and it is more common than you think. You never get rid of imposter syndrome. I have it. Every time I’m about to level up or I challenge myself in some way, I hear those words in my head again, and I hear different comments that people have made over time pop up in my head. But how do you overcome that self-doubt? How do you convince yourself that you are the expert, that you do know more than you think you know?
[00:06:42.730] – Deanna Hinsz
The first thing that I do is I reframe those. So yes, there are times where I have failed. I have done a product launch or a course launch, and I didn’t get everybody that I expected to sign up. I may have only had a handful of people where I was so excited right before that launch. I thought I would get so many more people, and then nothing happened. Now, I can look at that as a failure, and I can feed that imposter syndrome in my mind and say, You know what, Deanna, you don’t know. And people realize that you don’t know what you think you do. And that’s why they didn’t sign up for your course. Or I can take a look at what I did, and I can find where maybe things I didn’t go right. Maybe I take a look at how did I launch? How many days before did I launch? What did that strategy look like? How many social media posts? How many email posts? Did I run ads? Did I not run ads? I can look at all these different things and find out where the people who did sign up came from and what I could have done better.
[00:07:54.640] – Deanna Hinsz
And when I do that, then I launch again with confidence, knowing that I’m tweaking my system And I’m going to continue tweaking that system until I get it working like a well-oiled machine. Those failures to me are not negative things anymore. They used to be really negative, and they would beat me up, and I was afraid I’m not ready to do anything if I thought I might fail. But now I take a look at failure and I’m like, Okay, these are steps in the right direction. I also think about when imposter syndrome starts creeping in and those negative thoughts start to come into my mind, I think of what other people say to me instead of what I say to myself. For example, I might tell myself, What makes you the expert? But then I get an email from somebody saying, Thanks so much for sharing this tip because I didn’t know that, or I never heard it that way, and it really helped my business. I focus more on what people say to me instead of what I tell myself. That helps me shift and reframe my my thinking to something more positive. I also felt, and this is where imposter syndrome sometimes bothered me, is I felt I had to know everything because that’s what being an expert means.
[00:09:13.650] – Deanna Hinsz
Being an expert means that you know everything about everything. But that’s not at all what being an expert means. Being an expert isn’t about knowing everything. It’s just about mastering my niche, your niche, and confidently owning that knowledge. I know what makes me unique when I’m comparing myself to other digital marketing strategists or entrepreneur mentors, because there are a lot of us out there. I’m sure whatever it is that you do, chances are Good. There’s a lot of you out there, too. But what makes you unique? When you know that, then you can be confident about that because nobody else has the same experience you have. Nobody else has walked in your shoes. They’ve You’ve not experienced anything that you have, and you can deliver it differently than someone else. You need to understand how you’re unique. You need to understand where your strengths are, and that you don’t have to know everything about everything. You really just need to know 10% more than most people. That’s one of the areas where I always failed was because I felt like I had to have every answer to every question. I’m going to give you a challenge.
[00:10:31.190] – Deanna Hinsz
If this is something that it sounds familiar, you’re listening to this podcast or you’re watching this on YouTube and you’re like, You know what, Deanna? You’re right. I do tell myself these negative things, and I do I’m going to fixate on what person XYZ, whatever, has said in the past. And because of that imposter syndrome, I’m afraid to show up. I want you to take a moment and I’m going to write down three things that make you different from other people in your field. Just think about this. And sometimes it’s hard. What makes me different? I always go back to what do people ask me about the most or my experience. I know personally how I got to where I am. I’ve walked in your shoes, and that makes me different than somebody else. I know what it feels like, right? But what makes you different from other people in your field? Write down three, because those right there, you’re planting the seeds of your expertise. When you know what makes you different, all of a sudden that confidence starts to grow. Now, once you do that, you want to show up, right? Once you combat imposter syndrome and you’re like, Okay, I’m ready to show up.
[00:11:51.420] – Deanna Hinsz
You want to make sure that you show and don’t tell. What I mean by that is it’s not enough to say you’re an expert. Great, because anybody can say they’re an expert. I’m sure if you go through social media, you see people calling themselves experts all the time. Sometimes I laugh, and sometimes it’s frustrating because everybody is giving themselves the expert title. But what’s going to make you different is that you’re going to have to demonstrate it. Show us. Don’t tell us you’re the expert. We’re going to know that you’re the expert based on what you’re showing us. There’s different ways that you show us that you are the expert. One way is you can get speaking engagements. Look for opportunities to speak in an audience. It could be your local chamber or an organization locally in your town that is looking for speakers to speak on your expertise. It could be national conferences. If you’re afraid to stand up and speak, I know speaking is a huge fear for a lot of people, you can write. Write. You can write a guest post. So write a blogging post about your expertise and ask if maybe somebody else can share that post on their website.
[00:13:09.070] – Deanna Hinsz
You can use it on your own website as well. But sometimes if there’s somebody who your fields overlap and you both are targeting the same audience, you can be a guest writer and link it back to your website. Write about your expertise. You can do webinars. You can ask to be on a podcast. Maybe you don’t like speaking in public, but maybe speaking on a video is a lot easier, especially when people are asking you questions. That makes it flow so much easier because you can answer them. So think of ways that you can do that. You can also, of course, in your social media content, things that you control, bring value in your posts. Here’s the thing. A lot of times you feel like, I have to create social media content and I have to You sell on social. But you don’t have to sell all the time. If you continue to bring value, then people will find you. Your ideal client will find you. There’s an 80/20 rule, right? Eighty % You want to bring value, and 20% is you sell. You actually ask them to purchase from you or hire you or whatever your sale is.
[00:14:25.400] – Deanna Hinsz
You can also do things like leveraging your testimonials. So social proof is super powerful. So I’m going to talk a little bit about social proof. And social proof is using the testimonials that you have or things that people have sent you as far as thanking you for the work you’ve done and reusing that on your website or reusing it on social media. And the reason that social proof is so powerful is because the way that we are wired when we look at reviews, which if you If you buy something on Amazon, if you’ve ever bought on Amazon, chances are good you probably read the reviews of the product to see which one you want to buy from, which company and which product was the best. The reason that you do that is because in your mind, you’re thinking, Well, if it worked for this person or didn’t work, then it’ll work for me or not work. When you have people leaving you testimonials or Google reviews and you use what they say as social proof, then it’s going to highlight to others that you are knowledgeable. If you’ve helped others, then you can help this person, too.
[00:15:41.150] – Deanna Hinsz
Reuse all those testimonials, all those Google reviews, anywhere. If you get them on Facebook or if you get them on LinkedIn, wherever you get those reviews, reuse them and use it as social proof because it is so powerful. I promise you people will read it. In fact, when it comes to on your website, you want to be strategic on where you place those testimonials to get those feel goods in the buyer’s journey that will encourage more people to click on your call to action. If it’s signing up for your email newsletter or buying your course or whatever your call to action is. If you are not currently collecting testimonials on Google, and Google is a great place to do this, right? You have to have your Google My Business set up and you want to make sure that people are going there to send reviews, I would definitely I encourage you to do that because Google is the biggest search engine. That’s where a lot of people go. It also determines how quickly you’re going to show up on a Google search. So it plays into that. And people will look and they’ll read those reviews.
[00:16:46.140] – Deanna Hinsz
If you don’t believe me, that social proof is powerful and that people don’t read reviews, and if you’ve never read a Google review on Amazon, which I find hard to believe, think about all of the big brands that hire celebrities. Think of who hires Taylor Swift to talk about their product. Why? Because they know if their ideal client are Swifties, they know that usually those Swifties, a good percentage of them, maybe not all of them, will be more inclined to purchase that product because Taylor Swift is promoting it. She’s one example because she’s a big example. But think of all the different brands that hire recognizable people to support them. If you are ready to show up as an expert, you’ve already done the training or the three tips to overcome imposter syndrome. Now I’m going to ask you to create some content that positions you as the expert. Make a decision, are Are you going to blog? Are you going to decide to be a podcast guest? Are you going to host your own webinar? Are you going to share content on social media? Are you going to host a live Q&A? I’ll always do open office hours, and I do that She Is Collective.
[00:18:00.970] – Deanna Hinsz
If you are a subscriber on my email list once a month, I open that up to you, too, and I answer your questions live. Now, what does that do? A, it brings people in to get their questions answered, but it also positions you as the expert because you have the ability to answer what those questions are. They will remember that and they will show back up and they will tell people about you. Now, the next thing that you want to do is you want to make sure that you’re consistent because we can overcome imposter syndrome. We can figure out how we’re going to present ourselves. We’re going to show, not tell, and present ourselves as the expert. But now we need to be consistent. The more consistent you show up and provide value, the more trust that you build with your audience. Trust equals credibility. So consistency. Being consistent is a trust builder. And I know that I’ve heard it from you so many times, I’m not consistent. And not me. This is something that you will share. And there’s times I’m not consistent, too. Let’s keep it real. But the biggest thing is, is like social media, email marketing, blogging or podcasting or whatever it is that you do as far as your content driver takes a lot of time and energy, and plus you have to run your business.
[00:19:26.420] – Deanna Hinsz
And it’s hard to stay consistent. But The more consistent you are, that builds trust. And that trust equals credibility. It’s so important to show up. So when you think of one way that you’re going to provide content, and that content can be, like I said, blogs, video, podcast, social media, pick one. Email, it doesn’t really matter, but I want you to pick one. And in that area, show up all the time. And then when you get that groove going, and you’re like, yes, I’m I’m scheduling ahead of time, so all this stuff is done. Then you can add a second piece. And to make it easier, repurpose. We do this podcast. I have this podcast. I do this, and I’ll schedule it, but I’ll include this podcast in email. I’ll create content for social media from this. I’m not recreating the wheel every single week. I’m repurposing what I’ve already done. I’m using that as content, and I’ll continue to do Why? Because it’s a huge time saver. Most people don’t see everything as soon as it posts. Some people might listen to the podcast the day that it’s done, that it goes live. Other people, I get messages.
[00:20:44.810] – Deanna Hinsz
They’re listening to it months later and they’re like, I just listened to this episode and it really helped me. There was a lot of information in there that I can use. And that’s really cool, right? But you can keep repurposing. When you are creating that content, whether When you are doing the podcast or a blog or your social media, you want to think of yourself as a thought leader. Think about what’s happening in your industry and how can you weigh in? So right now, As time’s changed, I’m going to go back to COVID. I don’t like talking about COVID too much, but it’s a really good example as things changed in COVID, this impacted a lot of different people in a lot of different arenas. And pretty much all industries were impacted in some way, shape, or form. And that’s a really cool way to talk about how did your industry survive, or what did you do in your industry that was different, or how could you help people a little bit differently because now they weren’t going out, but they were home. Think about things that are happening right now that may be impacting your industry, will be impacting your industry.
[00:21:57.300] – Deanna Hinsz
How can you talk about that? Be the thought leader. Think about things like topics that you’re really passionate about, too, and offer some unique insights. And just because everybody thinks a certain way, or not everybody, that’s not true. Just because you may think the majority thinking a certain way, if you don’t agree with that, share it. Somebody else may agree with your viewpoint. And it’s okay to have different positions on different topics, but be that thought leader, be the Expert. All right, so positioning yourself as an expert starts in believing in your value, right? You want to believe that you actually have value and that you can deliver that value. Then you want to demonstrate that knowledge that you have and show up, bring value. Then last, you want to consistently show up and share your knowledge with other people. So think about this. What is one thing that you can do today to start positioning yourself as a go-to expert. Whether it is starting that blog post, starting a podcast, looking for guest speaking opportunities, looking to be a guest on a podcast. Maybe you don’t want to actually have your own podcast and be bothered with the editing and the posting and everything that goes with it, but you would love to be a guest.
[00:23:21.650] – Deanna Hinsz
There are different groups on Facebook where you can reach out and be a guest on their podcast or just listen to a podcast that you you like that has the same ideal client as you and ask them if they would be interested in having you as a guest and what value you bring. Whatever it is that you decide, move forward with it. Overcome that imposter syndrome. Remember that you have a gift and you have expertise that nobody else has. Sure, there may be several people in your industry, but you are unique and you are different from all of the rest. Where is that value? What makes you unique? When you uncover that, follow it. Follow it and help somebody else. Don’t keep it a secret. Make yourself visible. I just shared today, I was a guest on a podcast, and I shared that the one thing that impacted me, that changed me, is the question, why not me? Why not me? There’s so many people in my industry, in your industry, that are successful. Sometimes we get in our own way and we think, well, they’re successful because ABC, all these reasons why they were able to do it.
[00:24:40.070] – Deanna Hinsz
But why not you? Why not you? You’re no different. You control everything in your future. It’s up to you if you want to succeed, nobody else. You can’t point the finger and blame anybody else for the reasons that you are not successful. You have everything you need already inside of you. You’re already an expert in whatever area that is, and somebody right now needs the message that you have to share. So don’t hide behind that imposter syndrome. Show up, if not for yourself, for that person that’s listening who really needs to hear what you have to say. All right, guys. Thank you so much. I hope you are loving this episode. I am loving sharing everything with you. And remember, be Unstoppable. I’ll talk to you guys next week. We’ll see you. Thanks for tuning in to She is Unstoppable. I hope today’s episode inspired you and gave you the tools you need to take that next step towards building the business and life you’ve been dreaming of. Remember, whether you’re just starting out or leveling up, you’ve got what it takes to make it happen, and you don’t have to do it alone. If you loved what you heard, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.
[00:26:01.460] – Deanna Hinsz
And hey, don’t be shy. Leave a review or share the podcast with a fellow Unstoppable Woman. I can’t wait to see how you’ll take action and create your version of freedom. Until next time, keep pushing forward. Keep dreaming big, and stay Unstoppable.
