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Clarity

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach

Sydney, NSW, Australia

How do you learn to trust yourself?

If you can’t see your value, you can’t sell your value.

But you can’t fake it till you make it. That doesn’t work.

I’ve worked through impostor syndrome myself, and I know how to uncover your gifts, so that you know exactly who you are meant to serve.

This will help you with

🗒 writer’s block
🎥😬 video confidence (I have a YouTube channel with 3500 subscribers),
🗣 sales conversations
🎤 public speaking and
🤑 talking about money

And you won’t be told to fake anything, or to “just do it”.

Book a call, and get your breakthrough.

$3.33/min

18 Calls

14 Reviews

about 1 hour
Avg. call

Entrepreneurship Online Marketing Writing YouTube Fear Of Public Speaking

Call me to talk about

Manage Your Impostor Syndrome

Are you sick of being told to fake it till you make it?

Is self-doubt leading you to downplay your expertise?

Are you waiting for permission from someone? Are you waiting till you feel confident?

It sounds like imposter syndrome is undermining your business.

That is emotionally draining but it’s also costing you money.

I don’t promise that you will overcome imposter syndrome but I can teach you some simple fast techniques to manage it.

Answers 20
Reviews 14

Answers

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

What steps should I follow for customer acquisition for a Yelp-like niche directory website and how do I organize sales process?

May I ask how niche the directory website is?

With selling anything at all, it's about uncovering the need for the exact target market. So are you clear about what the value is to the client? What expensive problem are you solving for them that isn't already covered by local directory listings?

And do they see it as an expensive problem that they're willing to pay to solve?

If it's local retail business that you're targeting, it would be important to test the market with some face-to-face conversations. (In retail, from my experience, 20 minutes is about the maximum time to speak to the business owner, and it's important to get them at the right time of day. For example, a pizza shop owner is likely to have more free time in the morning, but a dry cleaner, in the early afternoon.)

It really comes down to the business problem that you're solving for them, and whether they are ready and willing to pay for that. Testing the waters first can save you from creating a great product with no one wanting to buy it, and I'd hate to see you go through that.

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Sales

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

Any suggestions on how to increase the response rate for demo calls?

You could offer a reminder, with a calendar entry to make it easy for them.

I'd offer a bonus to keep them engaged, such as a cheat sheet or a compelling case study. For example, tell a story of a patient who went from before to after, and spell out the patient's experience from "My knees were so bad, I couldn't get out of bed" to "I won the Olympic 100 metre sprint". If it's a short video, even better.

Doctors, from my experience, are not impressed by more statistics, or at least not engaged by them. But how this SaaS experience meant that Mrs Johnson never missed her appointment (because it sent her a reminder), or how Mr Smith didn't have to wait around for that old clunky patient CRM system that was keeping the waiting room crowded out, can be more attractive to the doctor.

In other words, you're not selling the solution for the doctor or the clinic; you're demonstrating the improved experience for the patient. Tell the patient's story, and the doctor is more likely to accept that calendar invite for the demo.

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SaaS - Enterprise & SMB B2B

Sales Process

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

When it comes to value propositions— when is it too simple?

I really like the idea of specific benefits. "Have more time" is vague, but "get to your daughter's dance concert" is specific.

Generally, if you can make the value proposition specific and something that your prospective clients can relate to, you've got a much stronger position than if you offer them the opportunity to: "gain control of your life", or "have more freedom."

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New Business Development

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

How can I find clients as a beginner in freelance web designing?

Jason's answer is a great approach, because you get to showcase your expertise, rather than simply say: "I build websites".

You're really solving an expensive problem for them, so by asking them about that problem, rather than speaking about your service, you're in a much better place.

And, although you may be offering to build websites from scratch, you might also find that they have an old or broken website, which means that they have at least thought "I need a website." You could still create the new one from scratch.

Re: talking about the expensive problem. My local suburban butcher was getting less foot traffic due to the demographic changes. Someone said: "instead of a placeholder website, how about you start offering online orders." They now deliver to the whole of Sydney, and a simple email to their list with a video on "how to sharpen knives" or "here's how we make Irish sausages to celebrate St. Patrick's day" is enough to trigger hundreds of orders for people who think: "Oh! That's right. I meant to order meat for my party."

So, seeing the website as a solution to an expensive problem (not enough people coming in the door) made it super lucrative.

As with most problems, it comes back to talking to the client to find out what expensive problem it is they need some help with.

Of course, I'd be happy to help on a call, but it sounds like Jason would be a great fit for your situation.

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freelancing

Web development

Business Networking

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

Looking for advice on what type of business to go into with a SAP Consultant background, any suggestions?

Is there some area of your SAP experience that would really resonate with a particular business and a particular problem?

For example, if you're a SAP BW expert, you may be able to identify large retail clients who need to use analytics to identify which products and locations are doing best (or worst).

If you're looking to help existing SAP clients move to HANA, are you able to create a roadmap to help them overcome the very first hurdle in making the move?

Or you could aim at a particular position within a particular industry. For instance, you may be great at implementation of SAP HR for manufacturing businesses with over 300 staff.

Of course, you're not bound to go into a business centred around SAP, but if you draw on your existing experience to know who you work with best (and who you'd rather avoid), that can be an easier step than starting all over.

I wish you all the best as you head into a new business. It can be very helpful calling on the help of online communities (such as Clarity.fm), mentors or local meetup groups.

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New Business Development

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

Can I send an expert a slideshow or pdf to review prior to a call?

You could certainly ask the expert about that. In my view, it's in the interests of both you and the expert for that to happen.

The expert isn't working for free. Perhaps the expert will only look at the material once you have confirmed the call time. That gives you (as a client) more of a commitment to this expert. But you don't get any feedback until you get a paid call.

As someone who offers advice over Clarity re positioning and pricing, it is certainly in my interest to give the very best advice I can. An important component of that is to do what research I can do ahead of time, so being able to have at least a quick look at a website, a slide deck or a short PDF, before the call makes for a better quality call.

Better calls = better reviews, which is attractive for other potential clients.

For example, supposing a creative design agency contacts me and says: "we need help with positioning ourselves in the market. Our clients are comparing us with Upwork." If I have some background on this particular design agency, by assessing [for example] that they impress visitors with their amazing designs, but that rarely leads to conversions, then the call will be more efficient. Shorter calls are likely to build trust for longer calls and perhaps other project work.

I respect the decision of experts who say: "no, we'll look at this once the meter is running." That is also a good sign, that they are respecting their own time, which increases their perceived value. But reviewing on the spot may require some quick thinking, and being prepared ahead of time makes for a better result for the client, in my view.

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Business Strategy

Mobile applications

SaaS

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

How would I get 40k to fund/launch my sole proprietorship?

Congratulations on the entrepreneurial spirit it takes to start a business. The better you can demonstrate the outcome from their investment, the less of a risk you'll be perceived to be.

The best way to find any money for investment is to anchor the costs of the investment against the financial upside.

Without directly answering your question of where to find the funding, I would say this: the clearer the path to that estimated 120K of revenue, the less expensive it it to find someone with the 40K to help you kickstart.

Sounds like you're well on the way to validating your idea.

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Startups

Funding

Entrepreneurship

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

As a broker, what online strategies can I use to find borrowers?

As a general rule, you want to be offering the loans brokering just at the point where business buyers are looking for them.

At what stage would that be? Just after they have written a business plan? When they're ready to expand their business?

Supposing it was the business plan stage. You could offer a short piece on a business plan question regarding funding. In other words, a landing page, which points to your free PDF that explains "how to find funding for your business."

Then the prospect has shared their email (because that's where you send the PDF). You could then do a follow-up email a day or two later asking: "did you find that little guide helpful? " and then offer to jump on a call in which you ask a little more about their business idea, and then you could ask: "are you confident you'll have the funding you need?"

If the SBA loan is happening when they are looking to grow their business, then the lead magnet (the free PDF) would perhaps be about how to work out how much this business expansion would cost.

I hope this helps.

I'm in Australia and my field is more helping IT people who hate selling, but my advice is somewhat similar: offer something valuable for free (in exchange for an email address), then ask them if it was helpful.

If you have any follow-up questions, I'd be glad if you wanted to book a call.

Hope your SBA loan brokering business grows.

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Online Marketing

Digital Marketing

Email Marketing

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

How do I keep motivated when I'm overwhelmed with starting a business?

Like most entrepreneurs in the IT business, you sound very creative. You also sound organised, which is very promising.

Would it be right to say that actually talking to clients or prospects about possible sales would be something you put off?

If that's the case, I'm not going to tell you "just do it!" But what I would say is to practice speaking about the value of a project as the client might talk about it.

The easiest way to practice this, I find, is to do it with businesses where you have no skin in the game. In other words, describe someone else's business as a customer would describe it.

Little hint. If you have past happy clients, you could ask them to describe for you what you did for them, in their own words. They'll probably get it wrong, but you'll be amazed at how something that you thought was routine turned out to be life-changing in their eyes. That sort of feedback will give you the encouragement you need (and it could serve as a great testimonial, as well).

I'm an IT infrastructure guy in Sydney (more software than hardware) and I've had to learn the value conversation, rather than talking about my skills, experience or services. It's exactly the way to relieve some of the pressure you may be putting yourself under.

I'm now teaching other owners of small IT service businesses how to do this. It's a quick and fascinating conversation technique to learn.

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Entrepreneurship

Startup Consulting

Sales

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

Is it feasible to start a company that offers three services under one umbrella?

This is a pretty awesome story!

Positioning your business with a narrow focus is, in fact, a way of marketing, but needn't restrict your whole business to that one product or service you're known for. Think of Coca Cola. They make a lot more than that one drink.

It seems, though, that you are targeting two very different markets: the school video market, and the stadium builders. Not much crossover there. You could have a single overarching brand, but that could be tricky, because you'll be tempted to be preaching the same message to two different audiences.

Mind you, if you took the video angle and told your story of how you became accidental heroes from what is (let's face it) a pretty boring product, I think there's a great story there. Even better that you're making the school children the heroes!

It would be great to see how you progress with this.

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Branding & Identity

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered

What is the best marketing strategy for physiotherapist who just started a business beside digital marketing?

Have to agree with Pamela, here. Breaking through that initial trust barrier is best done in person.

A couple of ways might come to mind.
If you have worked with people in the past, and you know them in a different context from your work (for example, family or friends), you could ask them to tell you in their own words what difference you made to them. That would be valuable testimonial material.

Also, you could share some valuable information about posture, lifting or some other common trigger event you come across in your business. Share it with a local networking group, or an arthritis or orthopaedic forum.

Be helpful, build authority (especially locally), and make it so that when people do meet you, they feel they already know you.

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Marketing Strategy

Business Strategy

Early-stage Startups

Reviews

Had great ideas on premium services.

Eddie Valls Source: Clarity

Anthony's expertise and insights are invaluable to me thinking more broadly and aggressively about my prices. Anthony helped me see that my skills are like gold.

Jill Ann Manuel Source: Clarity

Great call, will likely have another one with Anthony in the future.

Jay West Source: Clarity

This is my second call with Anthony. I received a lot of value both times and will definitely be reaching out to him again when I need some advice for my consulting business!

nader dabit Source: Clarity

Short but pretty insightful call. Anthony got up to speed very quickly and asked very focused questions that got us thinking more clearly.

Eugene Cheng Source: Clarity

Anthony pointed out a couple of "obvious" things that being the business owner I had repeatedly overlooked as being valuable. It was extremely valuable to get an outside perspective from someone knowledgable and experienced.

Casey Stevens Source: Clarity

I enjoyed speaking with Anthony about my business growth. It was helpful to talk to someone about the challenges that I face and to get a different perspective on how I can continue to grow my business.

I walked away from this call with a few ideas to explore and appreciated having my ideas validated by someone with Anthony's experience.

Matthew Bibby Source: Clarity

As a technical consultant and developer, I've often struggled to convey my value to non-technical managers and colleagues. Working with business coaches in the past have also given mixed results.

Anthony's advice is different because he has crossed the technical-business chasm.

After one short conversation and several examples with Anthony, I can identify and phrase my value-add in a clear and desirable way to a client and allow me to be more confident in discussions.

Thumbs up all around!

Hau Ngo Source: Clarity

Anthony is very knowledgable and gave me extremely valuable insights that I am already using to improve my consulting business. I highly recommend contacting Anthony and will hopefully be working with him again in the future!

nader dabit Source: Clarity

I asked Anthony how to approach big companies, to sell them on my Python training. Instead, he helped me to think bigger, and to consider a totally new approach to my business and to the kinds of clients to whom I'm catering. Moreover, he suggested ways to find these potential clients, determine their needs, and have them beg me to help them. My mind is still reeling from the potential. Anthony didn't offer quick fixes, but rather smart, long-term strategy. Both useful and thought provoking.

Reuven M. Lerner Source: Clarity

I’ve been acquainted with Anthony for a few months, and when he offered me a “business advice” call, I took it without any hesitation.
During the call, we focused on a couple subjects I was mostly interested in, and Anthony generously shared his thoughts and suggestions. I was impressed by his ability to connect the technical and business languages. Anthony gave me some excellent ideas on how to transition into value pricing model.
It’s great to have a mentor like Anthony.

Vladimir Capitanov Source: Clarity

Member since November 2015