Meet Sherrika Sanders

We were lucky to catch up with Sherrika Sanders recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sherrika, 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 learned that imposter syndrome keeps me humble. I do not allow it to let me shy away from new ideas and challenges. Instead, I use it to ask myself: Why not me? While new challenges can be intimidating, I had to start listening to what I was telling others – if someone is offering you an opportunity, it’s because they trust you can do it. So why don’t you trust you can do it? I can’t let someone else have more belief in me than I have in myself. So, I started to own my imposter. When negative thoughts come up, or reminders of the times when I didn’t get it right, I stop and remind myself that I am great at what I do. But I am human. I am allowed to make mistakes, own it, correct it, and move on. I know I am capable. In all honesty, imposter syndrom typically does not rear its ugly head unless you have an accomplishment for it to talk you out of. We have to remember that if we are downplaying our accomplishments – that means we have accomplished something and we need to celebrate ourselves and stop meausring our worth on whether or not others choose to celebrate us. A win is a win. I don’t need your permission to win.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

While I excelled in my 15-year career as an accomplished corporate accountant, I felt there was no support from upper management. They recognized my value but noticed I didn’t. Consequently, they exploited the situation as I worked longer hours and was consistently tasked with projects to ‘prove myself’ while receiving the same bonuses and recognition as others who did half as much. I learned how to advocate for myself to get what I needed and wanted from my peers and management. But it wasn’t enough. I realized I had a message, a higher calling so to speak, so I left corporate America to start my own company, Transform the GAAP, where our mission is to empower and mentor accountants struggling to advance in their careers by providing personalized guidance and practical skills development.

We empower accountants through a mentoring program where we discuss areas of growth like mastering effective communication, goal setting, aligning work/life balance with career fulfillment, leadership development, and professionally advocating for yourself. I started Transform the GAAP because I want to help other accountants who may be struggling to find or use their voice and feeling the burden of a profession they love that no longer loves them back. I started Transform the GAAP because I want to give back to my community. I started Transform the GAAP because I want to leave a legacy for my family. I started Transform the GAAP because I want to be, for someone else, what I needed when I was in corporate America.

Additionally, I produce a monthly newsletter on my website for corporate professionals, where I provide solutions for thought-provoking issues impacting professionals in corporate roles.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My Why: Entrepreneurship is the start of my journey to create a legacy for my family.

My Faith: Understanding that God brought me to this place. Therefore, no matter what things look like around me, as long as I keep God first, I cannot fail.

Fear of Failure: I cannot lose. Oftentimes following God requires suffering as He shifts you into who you are called to be. Understanding this, and knowing that giving up meant I was turning my back on my faith and my why, I refused to give up.

For those early in their entrepreneurial journey, please understand: Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart! It is hard and requires discipline, but it is possible to be successful. You must start with the end in mind. Meaning, what do you want for your business in the long run? Make business decisions with this in mind. Create operations that your business can grow into and not based on where you are now. Otherwise, your business will grow and subsequently fail because your operations are not equipped to handle the growth.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I do not invest efforts in strengths and weaknesses, but in efficiency. It doesn’t matter if something is easy for me if completing the task means time is taken away from something more beneficial, like growing my business. Managing my books each month is easy and efficient for where my business is right now. However, because I make decisions based on where I will be and not where I am, I have help in place to take over this task for me as my business grows. Why? Because I value my time. Time that I spend doing this administrative/non revenue-generating task can be spent on building relationships and expanding my brand.

Not to ignore my weaknesses, but I see weaknesses as areas of opportunity. I should have at least a base level understanding of what it takes to run my business. If Marketing is an area of opportunity for me, then I will hire someone to help. However, the person or company will have explain what they are doing and how it benefits my business. I will trust their expertise, but I still must verify.

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