Doubting Your Professional Credibility

“I feel like an imposter, not really the expert they think I am despite my years of experience.” I’ve heard statements like this from colleagues when they were deciding whether or not to start their own businesses, as well as from even the most qualified businesspeople. They’ve had self-doubts. I’ve had self-doubts. And chances are that you have too. It seems like a phenomenon that comes with the territory of being self-employed and an entrepreneur. No question, it’s an especially important pain point for age 50-plus professionals to address.

The biggest problem with questioning your professional credibility, especially as a very experienced professional, is that hints of this self-doubt are exposed in proposals, pitches, communications with clients and prospects, Web site content, marketing content and conversations. Hints include being too quick to lower your fees or failing to sound confident about how you’ll manage projects. Self-doubts can be reflected in how you say you’ll address challenges, by minimizing your accomplishments and by hesitating when you describe your skill level and the value of your experience. Perceptions matter.

Those hints undermine your credibility with others. Companies hire contractors who are confident that they can successfully provide services and solutions. Any communications or behaviors that raise doubts in their minds put you at a disadvantage in being awarded and maintaining the contracts.

“Sometimes I feel like an old actor playing the role of an expert consultant in my field.” That’s what an associate once said to me. My first thought was to say how anyone involved in selling something relies on some acting skills. This hides our insecurities and fears. We can appear positive even when we’re down.

Just look at great public speakers. They assume a role on stage, harnessing the power of silence, demonstrative movements and techniques of storytelling. In the same way, introverts must do their best to assume the role of extroverts to some degree if they want to be successful entrepreneurs. Talk to actors who, when they take on a new role, very often doubt their ability to successfully portray the characters. They conjure up scenarios in which they’ll lose the gigs and their careers will go down in flames.

The critical characteristic for businesspeople of any age is to be authentic and honest. Being a bit like an actor is not about being phony.

Every pitch, proposal and project involves the risk of failure just like any sales oriented type of work. If we fail to win a few contracts in a row, we start questioning our professional credibility. That’s despite the fact that we’ve got the skills, knowledge and experience equal to or better than our competition. We’re qualified to do outstanding work for our clients and have the track record to prove it.

To address your credibility concerns, here are a few strategies I’ve used and picked up from my associates:

• Review your resume, CV or capabilities statement to remind yourself about the value you provide to clients you’ve served successfully.

• Make sure you have regular conversations with trusted colleagues, people who inspire you, those who tend to seek your advice and former clients to discuss what you do and the value you offer.

• Write down a description of the type of projects you’d enjoy most and how your skills, knowledge and experience could be applied successfully.

• Write a few short business cases for projects you’ve handled, along with the services you provided and the outcomes.

• Do a brief objective analysis of a contract opportunity you didn’t win, including the factors that may have contributed to the failure and lessons learned from that experience.

These exercises will help remind you of your professional value that you’ve built over the years and minimize the pain point of feeling like an imposter when things go wrong.

Excerpt from the new book, “Workarounds: 50+ insider tactics for age 50+ entrepreneurs” by Doug Freeman, Ideascape, Inc. It features practical methods to pivot around ageism to build your own successful solo or micro business. This book is based on Freeman’s decades of self-employment and entrepreneurship experience, along with insights and advice from nationally recognized coaches and career experts. Available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.