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Imposter Syndrome Is Costing You Money: The Financial Patterns Behind Self-Doubt · Profit Points Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, glad you're here.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is Profit Points, and I'm Megan Schwant, your accounting sidekick and certified Profit First Professional and Fix the Snex Advisor.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a small business owner who wants to actually understand what is happening in your business financially, not just survive it, but genuinely get it, you're in the right place.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every episode covers one concept, uses real numbers, and ends with something you can actually do.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's the deal.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about today's topic.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Imposter syndrome gets talked about a lot as a mindset issue.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it is, 100% is.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: But today I want to offer you a different frame.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: One that I think is gonna hit a little bit differently.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: What if imposter syndrome isn't just a mindset problem?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: What if it's actually a money problem?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I work with small business owners, as I have for years, and honestly have even experienced this myself, doubt doesn't just live in your head.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: It also shows up in your pricing and your bank account.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It shows up in your boundaries, it shows up in your numbers.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when you see it in your numbers, when you can trace that doubt back to a dollar amount, that's when I've seen it finally lose its power.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Megan Schwann, your accounting sidekick, and this is the Profit Points Podcast, where we connect what's happening internally to the numbers we see externally.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've ever felt like you weren't quite ready to charge what you're worth, or you've said yes to something that drained you because you were afraid to say no, this episode is for you.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get into it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The thing about imposter syndrome that I want to address right away is that it rarely looks dramatic.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't usually sound like I don't belong here or I have no idea what I'm doing.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: That version does exist, but the one I'm talking about is what is silently costing you the most money.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: The version I see most often when I work with successful business owners looks a lot like this.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: You hesitate before sending a proposal because you're not quite sure the number is right.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Even though you've calculated it carefully, it looks like you discount your service before the client has even asked because you want to make it easier for them to say yes.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like you over-deliver on every engagement, adding extra calls, extra revisions, extra time just in case it's not enough.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it looks like you say yes to the work that drains you, clients that aren't a fit, and projects that put you below your zone of genius or outside of your zone of genius because turning them down feels risky.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: None of these decisions feel catastrophic in the moment.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: They often feel reasonable, they feel like you're being a good service provider, a generous business owner, a person who cares about her clients.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you are all of those things.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: But financially, those decisions add up faster than you think.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And over time, they don't just hurt your income, they reinforce that very belief that started them.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's the crazy part about our thoughts and actions.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Our actions reinforce our thoughts, and actions can change the thought and behavior patterns.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it ends up being that cycle.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about those patterns real quick.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So when self-doubt is running the financial decisions in a business, it shows up as these patterns.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: These patterns are remarkably consistent across business owners that I work with.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let me know if any of these sound familiar.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first pattern, lower than needed pricing, not just below average market, but below what your own cost structure actually requires for you to be sustainable.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, if you're charging$1,500 for a service that takes 12 hours to deliver when your effective target rate should be closer to$2,400 if you're spending that much time.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That math doesn't work.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the price of$1,500 feels safer because it's easier to say yes to.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Revenue is consistent, you have the consistent flow coming in, clients are paying, and yet there's never quite enough cushion.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Any of these feel familiar?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is often the cumulative effect of all the other patterns.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: This last one, underpricing, over delivery, and absorbing cost that should have been built.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: All of these add up and then they play out month after month, and you see it in your pay and you see it in your bank account.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the key insight I want you to really think about is that none of these patterns exist because you're incapable.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: They exist because you haven't fully trusted your value yet.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when trust is missing, money decisions become protective instead of strategic.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're not making decisions to build the business you want, you're making decisions to avoid the rejection you're afraid of.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Those are two completely different operating models, and they produce two completely different financial results.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Imposter syndrome convinces you that you need to earn confidence, that you're not quite there yet.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, in the meantime, you work harder than necessary, you add value without charging for it, you delay the price increase, you avoid the scope conversation.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where it becomes that cycle.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: All of that extra effort, the unbuilt hours, the discounted proposals, the absorbed scope, those things shrink your margin.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And less margin means less profit.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Less profit means less owner pay, less breathing room, less strategy, less stability.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And instability feeds that self-doubt.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're looking at your bank account as evidence that the doubt was right.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: You see, the business starts reinforcing the very belief that you are trying to overcome.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy, right?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So let's put this into perspective with real numbers.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say I have eight clients at$1,200 a month, which is$9,600 in revenue.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Each engagement is scoped or approximated for eight hours.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: But when you do your time analysis, which is by the way, something we encourage our owners to do, um, you find that you're actually spending about 11 hours delivering, not eight, 11.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's three unbilled hours per client.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And at$150 an hour across those eight clients, that adds up to$3,600 a month you worked and didn't get paid for, which equals$43,200 a year gone.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not because your clients didn't value you, but because you didn't trust yourself enough to hold the line.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: See what's happening here?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just an example demonstrating over-delivering.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: This example doesn't take into account other things like underpricing, the preemptive discounts, or the wrong fit clients you said yes to out of fear that are now sucking your profit and energy.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: The full cost of sell-doubt is almost always bigger than you realize.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I say and am saying that imposter syndrome isn't just a mindset problem, it's actually a money problem.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you might be thinking, well, great, Megan, this is exactly what's been happening, but what can I do about it?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be transparent about this because overcoming it usually is not a hype.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about affirmations, it's not about watching motivational content until you're ready.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Those things definitely have their place, but they don't rebuild financial confidence on their own.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: What rebuilds confidence is evidence, and evidence comes from data.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard me say it before.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta know your numbers if you want to know your business.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to make data-driven decisions, not just feeling decisions.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I've seen work over and over again with business owners I work with who've broken out of this cycle, including myself, is that confidence grows when you know your numbers.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at your profit margin and understand what it means when you see your revenue trend and recognize that it's moving in the right direction because of decisions you made intentionally, when you review your pricing and see what is actually built, what it's actually built to sustain you, not just make it easier for your clients to say yes, these things build confidence.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: When data replaces guessing, trust rebuilds naturally.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: You stop asking, Am I good enough?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Even sometimes subconsciously we ask that.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that question in and of itself is unanswerable and it will drain you forever.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: You want to start asking things like, is this aligned?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is this project priced to actually support me?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Is this client a fit for the business I'm building?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is this decision moving me towards my goal or away from them?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: These are answerable questions.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have your numbers, you can answer them with confidence instead of fear.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's also something powerful that happens when you start paying yourself consistently and intentionally, not when there's enough left over, but as a planned allocation every month, non-negotiable.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Paying yourself isn't arrogance.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people think that.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I pay myself, then I'm cutting something else.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, is that when you pay yourself, it's evidence that you trust your own business.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that act of trust, that financial commitment to your own value starts to shift something at a deeper level.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the number stop being a source of anxiety and start being a source of proof.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Proof that you built something real, proof that it works, proof that you belong here.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that to say this out this week's action stump is really simple, and I want it to feel grounding and not overwhelming.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is all about awareness, right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about taking action and digging deeper.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to pick one of your core services, just one, and sit with it for a few minutes and ask yourself three questions.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: First, is this priced to actually support me?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not to be competitive, not to make it an easy sell, but to cover your time, your overhead, your pay, and still leave a healthy margin.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, profitable businesses need to not just support your expenses and they need to support your pay, your full pay, even if you're on salary, you should still be taking distributions, your strategically reinvestment, saving for taxes, your business should be able to cover all of that.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Your profits should be able to cover all of that.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: You need to run the numbers.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can't answer yes, that to is this price to actually support me?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: That is an important that it's that is important information.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so ask that question.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't answer yes, that's important information and a starting point for some shifts.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, does the margin on your service reflect the effort that it requires?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you're delivering 12-hour engagements that are priced at only at a level that only makes sense to have seven hours of deliverable time, the math is working against you every single month.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Name that gap.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's not an accident, it's a pattern, and patterns can be changed.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then, three, the third question when you sold this service last, the one core service that you're taking a look at, did you say yes to a client or pursue a client from confidence or from fear?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: From a genuine belief that the client is a great fit and that the price is right, or from a place of, I'm not sure I'll get a better offer, so I'll take this one.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to answer that out loud, but I want you to be honest with yourself because where clarity exists, doubt loses its power, and the act of the question in itself is a step towards clarity.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so answer those three questions.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I want to leave you with this last thought.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Imposter syndrome isn't proof that you're failing.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, in my experience, it tends to show up most intensely in the business owners who are on the verge of a real breakthrough.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: The ones whose leadership is outgrowing their old pricing, their old systems, their own beliefs and about their old beliefs about what they are allowed to keep and change and charge.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: The discomfort you feel isn't a signal to slow down.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's usually a signal that the next version of your business is waiting for you to trust yourself enough to step into it.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that trust doesn't come from feeling ready, it comes from making the decision anyway, even when you're not ready, pricing intentionally, paying yourself consistently, holding your boundaries firmly, and looking at your numbers until they stop scaring you and start informing you.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: When trust in yourself increases, the money follows.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not by accident or coincidence, but because confident decisions create better financial outcomes.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode resonated with you, if you looked at your pricing and felt that uncomfortable recognition that doubt has been driving some of your money decisions, I want you to invite you to book a strategy call with me at Sidekick Accounting.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: We work with business owners every day who are talented, capable, and undercharging.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we'd love to help you build the kind of financial clarity that replaces the doubt for good.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you to go to chatwithmeg.com and or share this episode with a business owner who needs to hear it.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Profit Points Podcast.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Megan Schwann, your accounting sidekick, helping you replace self-doubt with clarity and fear with confident decisions.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I will see you next week.
• 17:18
  unknown: Bye.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's your episode this time.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget your action step.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to actually do it, not just add it to the list.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode was helpful, share it with a fellow business owner who needs to hear it.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready to go deeper on your specific numbers, book a strategy call with Sidekick Accounting.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Go to chatwithmeg.com, and I'll see you next time on Profit Points.