21: Beating Imposter Syndrome as a Creative Entrepreneur

Joe Baron: Most people think the voice asking what if this goes wrong is protecting them. It isn't. It's rehearsal failure, and you're getting very good at it. I've been running my company Brand Baron since 2009. The single most valuable adjustment I've ever made to how I work didn't cost me a dollar, didn't require a new tool, and it took about four seconds. I changed one word in the question I was asking myself. Welcome everybody. I'm Joe Baron creative director and founder of Branded Baron a branding and creative agency out of New York. And this is Mark It 2 Me This show is about the business of creative work, how people build a brand, how they make a living doing it, and what it actually costs to get there. No theory, no hacks, just the people actually doing the work. Have you ever noticed this when it comes to imposter syndrome? It doesn't show up when you're unqualified. It shows up right when the thing in front of you actually matters. The bigger the room, the louder it gets. Most people hear that volume and read it as a warning. It's not a warning, it's a location. I got the line that shuts it down when I was in eighth grade from someone who definitely doesn't remember saying it. so it was a sunny Tuesday afternoon, I'm walking my dog, thinking about a large campaign, and that voice shows up all its nervous energy. Ra rah rah. What if it doesn't work out? What if it fails? What if I fail? Can I deliver? maybe it was the music I had on, but it dropped me back into eighth grade. I played the lead in the music man in a local youth theater group. Yeah. Before Wolverine stepped onto Broadway. Same questions then, same nervous energy. My friend, I felt like I was in trouble. Trouble with a capital T. And I shared my concern with someone close, and they hit me back with this. What if it doesn't go wrong? What if it goes right? What if it goes perfect and smooth? Last one, I laughed at. Nothing goes perfect. There are always hiccups. Projects get done, but if it was perfect, then I'm sure you saw a unicorn and a pig flying together that day, pooping Rainbows. Anyway, the first two questions never left. And the reason they work has nothing to do with positive thinking. That's the part I want to pull apart because just be positive is useless advice and I'm not about to give it to you. I'm not saying don't be positive, because you still need a good mindset, but that's not the whole answer. Too often we default to negative thinking, doom scrolling our worst case scenarios into our mental feed. It feels productive because it looks like preparation. It isn't. Preparation asks what could break and how I cover it? This asks how bad will it be when it breaks? And then we're in this exhausting loop. What I've gathered from my experience and talking with other people, this thinking it lowers your confidence. it narrows your creative thinking. You stop reaching for the idea that requires trust and start reaching for the one that requires permission. It really does kill your willingness to swing big. You stop prepping to win the project and start prepping to survive it. Or you quietly decide to drop back and go find something simpler. That doesn't stay in your head. It shows up in your deck or not at all. I remember panicking and feeling overwhelmed by a web design project super early in my career. And I burned a bridge and it ruined my reputation with my referral. Yeah, that sucked. be honest with me for a second. Because I know I'm not the only one who's done this. You had two directions in a presentation. One was the idea you actually believed in. The other was the one you knew they'd approve. And you led with the second one, then told yourself you are reading the room. If that hit home, tell me. Comment if you're watching, or hit me on social media if you're listening. Let me be clear about what I'm not saying. We're not being delusional, hoping and praying everything works out. No. We're being smart, strategic, and intentional on any job we signed up for. Hope is not a strategy, it's a wish with a deadline. The same if you trust your gut without looking at the data. The fear may be real, but so are the receipts. I've put in the reps, I've done the work, I've earned my stripes, and so have you. You didn't land here by accident. If there's a problem, then there's always a solution, and I find it. We all can. That's not confidence. That's the job description. And here's the thing that voice conveniently forgets. You are not alone in the room. Everyone brings a certain skill set to the table. And the real skill is knowing who to bring in when you need backup. I surround myself with a great team. It doesn't matter if I'm running the operation, forming a strategic partnership, or coming in to help out another company finish the job. There's an answer among us. You don't have to be the answer. You have to know where the answer is. If you're the leader, you know the vision and you bring the right team with you. If you're a supporting player, you have the skill set to fulfill what's needed and help hit the goal. Both seats are earned. Both seats are legitimate. And remember, it's not about playing small just to feel safe. We're adults. We're capable of figuring out how to get our tasks done. And sometimes being uncomfortable is the entire mechanism of growth. That discomfort is what turns into the next project, the return on the investment, the new role, that new raise. Safe has never once paid for itself. Now I want one concrete example because don't play small is easy to nod at and impossible to act on. the place I see this most in the actual work is a company sitting on a brand they already know isn't telling the truth about them anymore. They know. they know. That's the part people miss. Nobody is genuinely confused about whether their brand is dated. They can feel it. What stops them isn't information. It's the exact voice we've been talking about this whole episode. What if we rebrand and it's worse? What if our customers hate it? What if we spend the money and nothing changes? So they wait. And waiting has a price nobody puts on an invoice. The real question isn't whether you want something new, it's whether your brand still matches the business in front of you. Not the one you used to run, not the one you're daydreaming about, the one that exists today. Here's how you know quick. Two questions. One, if someone lands on your brand cold do they know what you stand for? Or is it just a logo and some colors? Two, if you ask five of your customers what you do, would you get five different answers? If either one made you win, that's not a crisis. That's the drift talking. And it's the exact thing you'd normally sit on for another year asking, what if fixing it goes wrong? But ask the other question. What if it goes right? I built a free checklist around this. Six signs, scored with three tiers telling you whether you need to leave it, refresh it, or rebuild it. It's in the description and episode fifteen is the full breakdown. here's why I trust that checklist and why I'm comfortable putting it in a video about swinging big. most people rebrand because they're bored or they feel like they need to. That is the worst reason to do it. If you ran those questions and nothing's stung, the answer is don't touch it. Rebranding out of boredom is how you torch equity you spent years building. that's the difference between what I'm telling you and a motivational poster. what if it goes right? Is not do the big thing because it's big. It's stop letting fear make the call. Then look at the actual evidence. Sometimes the evidence says swing. Sometimes it says leave a good brand alone. Both of those are the same discipline. Fear picking for you is the only wrong answer. And now here's where it stops being a mindset conversation and becomes a branding one. A brand built offensively looks defensive. I can spot in about ten seconds. The brand positioning is in the firm, the messaging apologizes before it asks for anything. the visual direction may be technically fine and completely forgettable because every sharp decision got sanded down by somebody asking, what if people don't get it? Your mindset is not a private matter. It ships. Clients feel whether you're braced for this to fail or built for it to land. Your brand doesn't need to be new. It needs to be true. Next time that little annoying voice asks, What if it goes wrong? Shut it down. Shut that imposter syndrome and respond with a question. But what if it goes right? And either way, you put your mental state in a winning spot. The checklist is in the description if you want to score your own brand. The brand gut check is episode 15, and it's where I break the whole thing down. Until next time, I appreciate you listening. Stay creative.