Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Susan Hunter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Susan, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
That overwhelming feeling of “I don’t really know what I’m doing and someone’s going to kick in the door and call me out on it” was a constant companion in my early career. My thought process changed over time, but two specific experiences stand out. First, I read Amy Cuddy’s book and understood that I was not alone … Literally EVERYONE experiences Imposter Syndrome! So I knew the imposter police wouldn’t have time to kick in my door!
The second experience was a room filled with the generally accepted “experts” in my field. A room to which I was ecstatic to be invited. Being the experts, they had my full attention as I was certain there was some secret recipe or tidbit of knowledge that they would be sharing and all of us would drop our imposter-ness because we would then have that recipe too! As I listened to their pontifications, I realized that there was no secret recipe. In fact, they didn’t know anything more than I knew … the only reason they were “experts” was because they put themselves out there as experts and all of the imposter-syndrome sufferers simply believed them!
Then I knew … no secret recipe … just read and listen and learn every single day. Trust yourself to know what you know and be humble enough to know what you don’t know.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve had many opportunities to step in and step up in my career. What started as an at-home solo law practice grew into a multi-office statewide law firm .. I went from my little corner of the world to teaching other professionals nationwide how to do what I’d done, and even wrote a book.
One day I had a random conversation with a total stranger who told me that he had spent a lifetime building a successful business before realizing that he didn’t really love what he was doing. Rather than continuing down that path, he took action and sold that business. He parlayed the sale in pursuit of his dream of making wonderful chocolate and coffee. He packed up his life and moved to another place and chased his dream until it came true!
That random conversation lit a fire in my soul. The universe was telling me something and I listened. I sold the law firm and gave myself the freedom to create a second act.
Now, I own and operate Bark Canine Club & Resort, a successful Doggie Daycare/Boarding/Training/Grooming facility in a small town 2000 miles from where I built my first career. The journey was bumpy with lots of unexpected turns and forks in the road. but at the end of it all, a beautiful campus dedicated to the dogs of our community came to life, Bark is a luxury dog resort, including Indoor & Outdoor Dog Parks, Daycare, Boarding, Grooming and Training. We open our doors and our hearts to help local rescues find homes for shelter pups … We provide the safety, space and guidance that allows pups to become the social, silly, pack animals that they were born to be.
Our Mission is to provide a safe, comfortable and fun experience for dogs that instills confidence in their owners by maintaining an attractive, clean and protected environment and providing frequent, clear and regular communications. “We Take Care of Dogs!”
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Lifetime Learning: Read! Read everything! Fiction, nonfiction, self-help, business development, whatever! Just read! I’m so grateful to my grade school teachers for instilling a love of reading. Reading creates a lifetime of learning that you take with you everywhere.
Determination: Understand that you don’t need to know how to do a thing … Believe in your ability to “figure it out”, and then figure it out. There will always be roadblocks and bumps. It took over 10,000 course corrections to get the Mars Rover to Mars. Don’t be afraid to correct course, even a little bit makes a big difference in the long term. A friend of mine calls this “failing forward”. Every misstep is a lesson learned and an arrow pointing you to the next step. Keep moving forward through the challenges and you will ultimately get where you want to go.
Attitude: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! That attitude will move mountains – one bite at a time! You can change the world right from where you stand by starting with your immediate surroundings and small bites. It has always helped me take on the BIG goals to break them down into a series of small, achievable goals. By taking one small step at a time, big things happen.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
“Mindset” by Carol Dweck.
This book literally changed my life by changing my perspective.
Carol Dweck did the research over years, and her book is the culmination of that research. She describes two primary Mindsets … Fixed and Growth.
In a nutshell:
A Fixed Mindset says that if you fail at something on the first effort, you are not suited to that thing and should give it up.
A Growth Mindset says that if you fail at something on the first effort, you should examine the lessons learned in that attempt, make course corrections, and take another shot. This is how we grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.barkcanineclub.com
Image Credits
Bark Canine Club LLC
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