Meet Janet Estrada

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Janet Estrada. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Janet below.

Hi Janet , 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.
I didn’t.

I still have it all the time. Sometimes I wake up and have to convince myself to get out of bed and keep it all together.

I’ve sat down with clients and the first thing I hear is the voice in my head (I call her Negative Nancy):
“You can’t help this person, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” It’s an ongoing narrative that never goes away.

But you know what? I have found ways to make the voice quieter.

1. First of all, affirmations (or some positive messaging) can be quite helpful. I have relevant messages written in dry erase marker all around my house, on every mirror and whiteboard.

I can see from my bed, “I am enough: I have enough, I am enough, I expect good things, and they come to me every day.”

This helps.

2. I’ve also found that acknowledging and accepting that a certain amount of imposter syndrome and fear will be there, but visualizing it to be in the passenger’s seat, not the driver’s seat because that’s where I am.

3. One final thought, when I’m plagued with imposter syndrome, it means I’m focusing on myself. When I shift my focus to how I can serve and help others, I no longer have to be obsessed with questions about myself.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I coach other entrepreneurs and content creators, helping them to clarify and reach their goals. I’ve found that so often we have big dreams that are hard to break down into bitesize pieces.

I like to remind people to “Think Bigger, Start Smaller.”

When we approach our big dreams in this way and create consistent progress in the right direction, it’s only a matter of time.

Helping other people reach their goals is such a rush for me — I absolutely love watching others have their own *lightbulb moments*.

Years ago, this is exactly the kind of mentorship I could have used. After some personal hardship + growth (not that growth is ever completed!), I am poised to help others struggling with the same thing.

My goal is that I can help at least one person everyday, whether it be virtual or in person, and leave a lasting meaningful impression on others.

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?
1. You know how depending on how you look at something, that thing can either be a good thing or a bad thing?

This is how I view my resilience. I’ve been through a ton of struggles, reaching all the way back to childhood. Loss, instability, rebellion, toxicity in the home, substance misuse — you name it, it’s likely in my past.

I used to be pretty bitter that all of these hardships were happening TO me. And when you look at it that way, yes it’s pretty unfortunate. Recently, however, I’ve started to lean into the reframe that everything has happened FOR me.

When I think about my life that way, I start to appreciate the difficulties and trials that I’ve experienced. They’ve made me who I am today, with a distinct understanding and empathy for who I was yesterday.

If you’re trying to grow your resilience and tenacity, stop always taking the easy path! I like to say, “the road to freedom is not paved” and you won’t find a ton of others going in the same direction. When you do, stick around those folks and cultivate community.

2. As an ex-homeschooler, I have always been SO curious. Again, if framed in a negative light, I could say I have difficulty focusing and jump from one thing to another too quickly. But instead, I love my curiosity. I’ve come to take pride in how freaking interested I am in everything.

Sure, it’s overwhelming, but if you’re trying to develop your curiosity, start to notice your mind more. What do you find interesting? What do you start to think about when you give yourself space and time? What did you love as a child? Start there.

3. I’ve always been a very impulsive person. I jump and then realize there’s rocks and no net. I rush forward without sitting down to think everything through. I’ve only recently come to have a plan for more than the next couple months.

Again, is this good or bad? I like to think that it’s whatever I make of it. Since I’m the boss of my life, I could use this trait for positive or negative. As an entrepreneur, it’s been a crucial skill to just get started.

For those of you who wish to stop planning and overthinking and trying to get everything perfect, I love Mel Robbins quote: “Start before you’re ready. Don’t prepare, begin.”

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
Oooooh, I love this question and I have an answer I firmly believe in. One of my recent blog posts on my website was about this.

There’s a pretty strong sentiment in the personal development community that we need to “self-improve” and “fix” and “change”, but I think we need to optimize… so, what do I mean by that? Great question.

Instead of focusing on where we lack strength (I’m hesitant to even call this a weakness), focus on what you’re naturally good at and love doing and lean into these skills and traits.

Here’s an example: there’s some folks that LOVE making spreadsheets and figuring out the formulas and colorcoding the templates. I am not one of those folks.

I absolutely love going out into the community and networking and creating connection. I would consider that a natural skill of mine.

So, instead of spending a ton of time or energy trying to figure out spreadsheets, I copied some simple P+Ls from someone else and I copy and paste my info into them, thus leaving me time to go and spend time with people!

That’s just one example, but I am absolutely convinced that we all have our own unique skills and talents and that we should (yes SHOULD) spend time finding out what these are.

It will make your life better. I promise.

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Image Credits
Calor Creative, Scott Duvall, Sara Wooten, Anna Klapp-Shackleford

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