We recently connected with Bitsy McCann and have shared our conversation below.
Bitsy, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I believe the only way to overcome imposter syndrome is to do the job, to be the person, and to develop the skills.
Though I have confidence in spades, I felt imposter syndrome deeply for the first few years of my business. I constantly felt like I wasn’t good enough to truly be doing the work that I was doing. I think this feeling of inadequacy helps us to push ourselves further. Feeling like an imposter brings about the persistence to continue educating yourself so you can become better at what you do.
For me, I used imposter syndrome as a tool to be able to really excel at my craft. I am convinced that it’s a necessary thing for entrepreneurs to feel in order to continue to propel them toward the success that they one day will have.
The other thing that really helped me overcome imposter syndrome is that I’m wildly honest with my clients. Maybe seven or eight years ago, a client (shout out to my client-turned-family Jay!) asked me to build them a website. I had absolutely no knowledge of website design. I was a branding and print designer. I didn’t know what it was gonna take to create it or how to put it all together. So instead of tackling it blindly, I was honest. “I have never built a website before. I don’t know what it all entails, but I can try to figure it out for you.”
They didn’t even bat an eye. Jay was like, “I trust you. You’ll figure it out. I know you can.”
When you’re honest with your clients, they have the ability to help erase some of that imposter syndrome, too. I am consistently honest with my clients about my capabilities, and I always will be. I have directly told people during exploratory calls that I am not sure I’m capable of the projects they are asking – that it’s outside my wheelhouse of expertise. Nine times out of ten, they want to move forward with me just because they know I’m honest.
I still have imposter syndrome from time to time, and it’s always when I’m taking on something new that I’ve never done before. But that fear of being an imposter makes me try so much harder to get it right. I don’t want to fail myself, and I don’t want to fail my clients.
To boil it down, if you want to overcome imposter syndrome, just do the thing. That feeling of uncertainty will go away as you develop your skills and your knowledge.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
It’s crazy to me that 2024 is the 10 year anniversary of my business. What started as a small freelance design solopreneurship that specialized mostly in logo design, marketing materials, and print products has blossomed into my own personal little empire in Central Pennsylvania.
I create custom websites from scratch and make sure that they have all the search engine optimization bells and whistles to go along with them. I develop brands from the ground up including everything that you need to really stand apart from your competition. My goal is to make every client look like a national brand.
Just like any other artist out there, my creations are absolutely in my own style. But one of the things I love about my work is that no brand that I create looks like any other brand I’ve created. My clients often refer to me as a “design chameleon” because they believe, and I now believe too, I can truly do anything.
I am booked out almost six months in advance, and sometimes I’m not sure how I even got here. The one thing that I’ve always had – even from the infancy of my business – is an abundance of gratitude. I am so thankful to be where I am. I also spend every moment of my life trying to be a good person. Someone who is kind, who genuinely cares, and is just a good human to be near. I don’t think I can understate the role of Karma in any of this either.
I am one of those people who is very headstrong, and I have to learn things myself as I go. I don’t think I could’ve gotten to where I am any faster. Shout out to all the people who told me (multiple times) at the start of my career some incredible advice that I really should’ve taken. But I didn’t. I’m stubborn.
I had to get here on my own in my own way.
For me, the thing that is most special about my design business is that I get to support my stay-at-home husband who is raising our incredible four-year-old daughter. I get to support the local community in which I live where I’m able to make donations to nonprofits that I’m truly passionate about. I get to support other local entrepreneurs by using their products and services and hyping them up to everyone else.
I love what I do, and I am so wildly thankful that my business has given me the opportunity to live a life that I love.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Work Ethic.
There is no way that I would be where I am today if I wasn’t hard-working. My success absolutely correlates to my ability to work on my business AND to work on myself.
Being productive is important to the growth of your business, but being an introspective, self-aware, and good person is also integral. My work ethic extends beyond just getting the job done. My work ethic also encompasses improving myself as a human in this world. I don’t think that can be overstated.
Being a good person gets you a lot farther in your business than only thinking about yourself and trying to capitalize on your clients. I have gotten so many clients over to my design firm just because I’m honest, I’m fun (I hope!), and I don’t take advantage of my clients. There are often times when people want certain things from me, and I advise them against it because at the end of the day, it’s not going to be beneficial for their business.
I never think about getting the sale. I think about what is best for my client – even if that means less dollars in my pocket. And that is definitely a part of my work ethic as well.
2. Never Being Defensive.
Throughout the past 10 years, I have made a ludicrous amount of mistakes. I’ve made several big ones just this last year that cost me money, a client, and potentially negative comments about my reputation.
Here’s the thing: If I got defensive when clients came to me because they were upset, I would never have the ability to change for the better. Even if I think they are wrong in the situation, I always take a hard look at myself to figure out my role in the issue so that moving forward, I can hopefully avoid something similar down the road.
If I was defensive and I blamed everybody else for every negative situation that I experienced, I would never be able to learn. I would never be able to grow. And I would never be able to improve the service that I try to provide to my clients.
A subcategory of never being defensive is also taking it easy on yourself. When you do mess up, don’t get defensive, figure out where you went wrong, and always, always be kind to yourself.
At the end of the day, you’re just an imperfect human. There is absolutely no way you can get it right every time – especially if you’re an entrepreneur. You have other clients, family obligations, a social life, your own personal needs – it’s really hard to juggle at all.
So when you mess up, own it, don’t get defensive, be kind to yourself, and move forward with the knowledge that you’re gonna try your best the next time around.
3. Never Taking it Personally
When you’re beginning a business, it can feel that every time somebody says “no,” it’s a personal attack on who you are as an individual. It’s not!
Depending on what you do, sometimes you’re just not a good fit with the other person. Maybe it’s your price. Maybe it’s your work itself. Maybe it’s your turnaround time. Generally, it’s almost always never about you as a person.
When people say “no,” don’t take it personally. Life is too short to stress about the times that you got turned down. When someone doesn’t move forward with you, just realize that it opens you up to make you more available for the client that you do need and deserve.
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?
For me personally, I went all in on my strengths.
I’ve loved art since I was a child, and even though I didn’t get an education in design, it came very naturally to me. I love the way that shapes and colors and photography and fonts combine to create a feeling or an experience for the person who sees them.
With my business, I do what I’m the best at. That is connecting with other people and creating art that matches an organization.
I’m absolutely terrible at paperwork and numbers. I’ve hired my family to assist me with these things. My partner, unfortunately for him, has to do paperwork, accounting, and taxes pro bono. My sister, on the other hand, gets paid an hourly rate for ensuring that my project management and scheduling stays on track. She also yells at me when needed – which is incredibly helpful.
While I am continuously learning things about my industry and about how I can be more efficient and effective at my job, I am not spending hours learning other ways to do what I do. I am also not taking time to learn how to do things that don’t directly apply to the work that I’m already doing.
I absolutely want to stay up-to-date about how technology is evolving the work I do, so in that regard, I so take time to educate myself and learn new things. But they all directly play to my strengths, interests, and career.
For me, my life is happier, more well-rounded, and more affective when I zone in on what I’m good at and bring other people in to do the things that they’re good at (that I’m awful at).
I should also include that one of my passions in life is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge. I think that if you’re a person that is driven by the need to learn everything about everything, going all in on your strengths might not be your path to life’s happiness and satisfaction. Maybe for you, it is being more well-rounded educationally and discovering new things often.
For me, I am very happy sinking deeply into the knowledge and strengths that I currently have and expanding upon those.
Contact Info:
- Website: bitsyplusdesign@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bitsymccann
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BitsyPlusDesign/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bitsymccann
