We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crystal Wambeke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Crystal, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
This is an interesting question, and I think the answer is complex. I think we all suffer from imposter syndrome at times, and I for one am not convinced we ever completely overcome this. As humans and entrepreneurs, we are always finding ourselves in new situations, challenging ourselves in new ways, and experiencing growth and change constantly. These new experiences can bring with them opportunities for us to experience imposter syndrome, or a similar feeling, in new ways.
I believe imposter syndrome, a dip in confidence, or a worry that we don’t belong or are not good enough, is a universal experience. If you haven’t felt this, I whole heartedly invite you to, it is actually quite helpful in personal growth.
Life, entrepreneurship, the human experience, is best lived doing new and exciting things. These new experiences naturally come with having to learn new things, expand our minds, abilities, skills, knowledge, and thus forcing us out of our comfort zone. This can cause those feelings of “oh, gosh, what if I don’t do it right” or “everyone else is so much better/faster/smarter than me, I don’t really belong here”, and that is a scary moment. This is the moment when we all have a choice to make. We can let that feeling win, or we can challenge it.
There are times where maybe you do let the feelings win, and you don’t do your best, or you get nervous and unable to find what you wanted to say. There are also going to be times where you sort of ignore that nagging feeling of insecurity and say to yourself “I can do this, watch me”.
I try to do the latter as often as I can, but there are times where the stage is intimidating, or new goal is massive. In these times I find myself thinking I should just turn around and go back to where it is comfortable, and I don’t have the chance to make a fool of myself, or fail, or whatever the big fear is. Those are the choices. And I think that is my key to overcoming imposter syndrome.
The first part for me is to accept that I will never be recovered and imposter syndrome will creep into my life in new ways all of the time. The second step is I try to be ready for it. I try to celebrate all of the wins I can and call attention to times where I tried something new and did a good job. Confidence is key, and recognizing accomplishments is a great way to tell yourself you can do hard things. I am also realistic with myself when things don’t go so great. I love this exercise because it gives me a chance to learn from those times. If I can understand why something went wrong, I can make a plan to do it differently next time, and that builds confidence as well. The last step is when imposter syndrome starts to appear, I try to recognize it and work with it. Feelings are tools, and if you listen to what they are saying, you can work with them. If I can understand what the fear is, I can sort of give myself a pep talk, make a plan to quiet it down, and do what I set out to do with confidence and maybe have fun doing it.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am the owner of a bookkeeping firm that specializes in bookkeeping, consulting, fraud examination, and accounting software training. Wambeke & Associates just celebrated its 11th year in business, and I am thrilled to still be here, with an amazing team, helping incredible clients, doing what we love to do.
Our clients are typically start ups, non-profits, and small businesses who need outsourced bookkeeping help. What makes us special is the one-on-one service our clients get. We also specialize in cleaning up books that have fallen a bit behind, we have a particular love for those types of clients as well. Generally business owners are busy, and not many of them find dealing with their finances enjoyable, so we really try to make their lives easier and take the stress out of the process.
Professionally our team is focused on growth. In the coming months, we are focusing on ramping up our dedicated team that will specialize in helping mid-size businesses that have multiple entities, complex sales structures, or advanced accrual reporting requirements.
We recently launched a new service called the Diagnostic, where we perform a deep dive review of a business’ books and let them know of any errors or issues we see, and right now we have a special rate of $249 for that service.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
What a great question, let me really think about this. Looking back, three things that were most helpful to my journey to get here, and hopefully to the rest of my goals, are experience, determination, and people.
My husband would laugh at me with this answer, since I am about to admit he is right, but I want to start by talking about people. By nature, I am not a big asker of help. I truly prefer to do what I need to do myself. In fact, one of my favorite books as a kid was a Sesame Street book called “I Can Do It Myself”. Quite fitting, if I must say so. For example, can I reach the cups on the top shelf? No. But do I want help? Also no. If I don’t already have what I need to get the cup, I will invent a new ladder, fashion a catapult, construct grippy shoes, or whatever it takes to get that cup before I ask for help. My determination to do what I am trying to do is pretty strong, but my independence and stubbornness is stronger. However, I do have to admit how much I need people in my journey. My family, friends, team, professional network, and honestly sometimes perfect strangers, have helped me so much. It is incredible what people know, and when you talk and listen to them, it allows a different perspective or piece of information you didn’t have before, and sometimes that can make a difference so large it is hard to explain. If I have a problem, or am in need of information, I will tap into my network to either help me find the answer, tell me their experience, or just talk it through with me until I get to a solution. They are invaluable.
As we’ve already learned, I am pretty stubborn and determined. In life and business, that is a requirement. I don’t know everything, I am not perfectly great at everything, and I need to do things I have never done before. Having the determination to not only figure it out, but get good at it is really important. Giving up easily is an option, but if you really want it, you’ll find a way to get it. The world is full of information, so digging in and staying focused on reaching that goal or finishing the task is completely doable, but that determination is the core requirement. To get really really good at my job, I not only went back to school, but I earned two different professional certifications which required a lot of learning and testing. I also have learned from internet videos, books, podcasts, the incredible folks I mentioned earlier, and tools available everywhere. When you are determined to do something, you find a way to do it. If aren’t committed to it, you will find a way to avoid it.
The third thing that has helped me is experience. Some things just take time to learn. I have done a lot of things, and learned a lot over the years, and all of those experiences will not only build on each other, but will teach you something. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see or hear or learn something along the way, you won’t have the knowledge to give about a situation it would be relevant. So, instead of being able to recall information from a prior experience, you’d rely on determination, resources, and others to help you out.
So, those are my three things I have found, and will likely continue to be, the most impactful in my journey.
How would you describe your ideal client?
We adore our clients, they really make our job so much fun.
Our ideal clients have most of the same qualities.
Our clients and their staff are kind, professional, fun, and are curious and involved in their business finances. They are all doing such amazing things for their business, their teams, their customers, and it is fun to be along the journey with them. The businesses themselves, are wide ranging, but again, similar.
The businesses we work with range from start-ups to mid-sized $25mm revenue range. We work with a wide variety of industries, from SaaS and tech, to pet services, retail stores, professional services, med-spas, real estate, and more.
Our clients range from wanting someone to take the stress off of them for everyday bookkeeping, to more hands off.
We have clients who want to do the books themselves, and just want us to check behind them to identify they’ve got their books done correctly. We have clients who ask us to help onboard and train their internal accounting staff as well.
We work with CPA and CFO firms as their trusted source for bookkeeping help when their clients have bookkeeping needs, and we really enjoy that as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wambekeassociates.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WambekeAssociates/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wambeke-associates
Image Credits
Rachel Garrison
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