Kevin’s Story
Kevin has been dubbed “the marketing clarity doctor.” He owns a business growth agency known as All Approach, and its mission is to help entrepreneurs and business owners realize their full potential. Kevin and Camela worked together in 2018. In the past two years, his career has skyrocketed. Many of his global team members are in the largest buying demographic and offer a fresh perspective on digital marketing. In 2019, Kevin had some major life events challenge his mindset, which led to him becoming a successful entrepreneur. When they first met, Kevin didn’t exude much confidence. He led with what he didn’t know and was eager to learn. But the caliber of work he did was a stark contrast with this mentality. He picked up on trends and often had creative solutions to problems. Looking back on past interactions versus the entrepreneur Camela knows today, she had to ask what caused that lack of confidence and what changed. “It goes back to my college years. I wanted to major in marketing, but my GPA was too low. That was my first experience with imposter syndrome. My primary focus was building my brand as a music producer. That’s all I cared about. My priority wasn’t education. Because I wasn’t accepted into the marketing program, I became a communications major. “When I tried to get a job after graduation, no one would hire me for a marketing role. I became a security guard since I couldn’t land a marketing role. My self-esteem took another dive. When you work as a security guard, no one respects your authority. You’re essentially a joke. I’d never seen myself as a security guard.
Mindset Is Everything A Lot
Kevin’s success in combating his inner dialogue illustrates that mindset is a huge part of success. We’re often our own worst narrators, and an outside perspective is vital. Finding a good mentor, coach, or therapist is very beneficial. Kevin agrees. “Therapy is more important than going to the gym. It’s about exercising your mind.” A bit of distance goes a long way in improving one’s perspective about an issue. Taking a bird’s eye view of your situation gives a fuller picture. While introspection and personal growth are amazing, we felt compelled to share how loaded the term “imposter syndrome” is (which we didn’t realize before researching this article). In the interest of expanding perspectives, we thought we’d share what we found. There is a wide range of statistics floating around the internet around imposter syndrome, suggesting that anywhere from 9% to 82% experience the phenomenon. Part of the variability comes from “imposter syndrome’s” broad definition: Feelings of being a fraud or not competent. In other words, a lack of confidence. Which is a state most (all?) of us have experienced at least once in our lives. When applying the label “imposter syndrome” to research subjects, historical studies did not consider a diverse range of perspectives or people. The historical narrative claimed women are more prone to imposter syndrome, but many studies have since found that while women are more likely to self-report imposter syndrome, men are actually more prone to experiencing stress when faced with the possibility of negative feedback.
Before You Start a Consulting Business…
Thanks to the pandemic, it feels like a scary time to think about starting your own business. Kevin offered his perspective. “It’s not a bad time. Being a solopreneur is a struggle because doing anything alone seems more daunting.” Delegating can be challenging, but many experts can step in and compensate for inexperience. “We encourage our clients to write out their daily routine and differentiate what is and is not a revenue-generating task. We want a list of activities that move the needle. We advise them to stick to what generates revenue and either put the other tasks on the back-burner or outsource.”
For more of Kevin’s story and his advice for people thinking about starting their own business, listen to the full Revenue Marketing Report episode at the top of the article or anywhere you podcast.