Do you ever feel like a fraud? Does the thought of telling someone you’re a CFO or business advisor bother you?

Does it bother you because deep-down you feel that you’re not qualified? That someone would be crazy to listen to you? That you can’t be a CFO. That you can’t be a business advisor. That you should retreat back into your corner of the world and not make waves.

If so…this means that you are normal. Here’s who reasons why:

Reason #1: Impostor syndrome has been proven to disproportionately affect high-achieving people. By the very fact that you FEEL like an impostor means that you are high achieving.

Think about it, the people who take the easy path (read: lazy) and never really strive for anything are the VERY people who are highly confident.

They are the people on Facebook (or at your Thanksgiving dinner table) who claim they know everything, and they have tons of opinions.

It’s been proven (via the Dunning-Kruger Effect) that the less someone knows about a topic — they MORE they THINK they know.

And, the MORE someone ACTUALLY knows about a topic (read: all of us) the more they realize that there is a LOT to learn…their confidence goes down (compared to the ignorant know-it-all) and, thus, they doubt themselves…

…and impostor syndrome is born.

Reason #2: At the end of the day, regardless if you call yourself a CFO, business advisor, coach, accountant or numbers guru… at the core, your role is to be someone that your client’s trust, that tells them what to do, in order to have a growing and more profitable business.

Let’s break that down:

Can you be someone that your clients’ trust? If yes, no need to feel like an impostor here.

Can you tell them what to do (to have a growing and more profitable business)? By using the One Clear Path (that we teach in our training program to accountants, bookkeepers and business advisors) you’ll have a proven way to point your clients in the right direction.

Because of this, you have a system that works. As long as you work the system, you have no need to feel like an impostor.

Notice what I DIDN’T say here. I didn’t say…

Can you perform high-level financial analysis on really complex businesses that require decades of training and experience to even attempt this?

It’s because this is NOT what we do as a “CFO to small and medium sized businesses”.

We’re not trying to become the CFO for Coca-Cola.

We’re trying to be the CFO for the 99% of all businesses that are run by one (or two) individuals who are experts at what THEY do (e.g. dentist) and not experts at numbers/accounting/business/strategy/financials.

These people NEED help. They CRAVE help.

They need YOU.

Don’t let feeling like an impostor stop you. In fact, let is FUEL you to make waves. To make a difference.