We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kim Ward a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, 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.
I absolutely love this question! When my entrepreneurial journey started I felt like I had to pretend to be something bigger, better and more successful than what I truly was. I did that for a while and I quickly found that it was exhausting. Not only was I spending money that I didn’t have just so I could “flash” it to “keep up with the jones” but my energy was so low due to the stress I was causing myself from being “on” all of the time. After about 4 months of that I made the decision that I was going to be genuinely and authentically me even if that meant losing friends, followers and clients.
As I grew into that authenticity, more and more leaders, trainers and mentors would privately reach out to me and express how they loved my style and our connection grew. It didn’t take long for them to confide in me about their imposter syndrome and that’s when I realized that we are all truly human and even though the people that I looked up to didn’t publicly express their imposter syndrome, they felt it. I used that as a lesson to teach my clients and students that those feelings of inferiority are natural but can be overcome quickly once they were willing to embrace the fact that they are unique and have special gifts. By not showing up authentically they were robbing their audience and future clients of transformations that only their unique talents, skills and products could help with. Not only were my clients realizing that imposter syndrome was a way of looking at someone or something and thinking you’re lacking or not good enough but in reality your ability to show up allows the world to see and experience the gifts that you have but so was I and that helped me hold my head high and show up more confidently.
Ironically, that’s when my business started to explode and my audience, client base and bottom line grew. Most of the feedback I received was how incredible I was and if I had allowed my imposter syndrome to continue to keep me a secret I would have never impacted so many humans.
The bottom line is, I showed up as me even though I was afraid of being judged and that’s when the truth showed up. That courage allowed me to guide others and reinforce my new understanding that we all suffer from imposter syndrome, until we choose not to.
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?
In 2014 I lost my mother to suicide just 3 days after Christmas. At that time I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter and I knew in that moment that time was truly our most precious commodity. That’s when I made the decision to not return to work in the corporate sector. I would launch my business from home so that I could blend my life and my business, never missing a moment in my daughter’s life. She is now 9 years old and has never had a babysitter or a daycare. I’ve retired my husband and my home business has grown to multiple 6-figures a year. We live the most incredible life and unfortunately it came at the cost of losing my mother, however, I am grateful to find the blessing through the adversity.
I help driven entrepreneurs leverage proven digital marketing strategies and automation, so they can achieve financial freedom, peace of mind, and live a fulfilling life without the constant grind. My speciality is in Pinterest marketing for business, video marketing and email marketing. There is something so special and freeing about leverage.
In the Spring of 2024 my 3rd anthology will be released and it will be an amazing resource for other entrepreneurs who want to create leverage, lifestyle and legacy. Our first 2 books under the “Life By Design” umbrella became #1 Amazon best sellers within hours of launching and I know this one will as well.
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?
I would say that one very important quality is almost the most difficult at times, and that is to have faith. Anytime my business wasn’t producing what I needed it to, I would step into the driver’s seat of being a workaholic control freak and all that did was add more hours to my day and turn me into a ticking time bomb ready to snap at anybody who even looked at me the wrong way. Learning to lean into the design that God created for me meant slowing down to listen. There is an exercise called “2 Chairs”, it’s based on a book by Bob Beaudine. Each morning I sit and pray with Him in the 2nd chair and I listen. Being calm and stepping into His design allowed me work with a more peaceful energy, which attracted more people than when I was a spazz with unhealthy lack energy.
Another impactful strategy for me (and my self-diagnosed ADD) is to create my “to-do” list for each day, assigning an amount of time to accomplish each item on that list. This step is the most important – set a timer and minimize every other distraction while you work on that task. There are many distractions when you work from home and those distractions take you mentally away from your task, leaving you feel unproductive. When you set a timer the brain understands that it has a deadline, which allows you to focus with undivided attention on that particular task until your timer goes off. Even if the task isn’t complete, you will feel that the effort was higher quality and you feel more productive.
Lastly, I highly recommend having boundaries. For example, I used to allow myself to work around my clients schedules. I was working 7 days a week, always tired and rarely every happy. How could I be? I wasn’t taking anytime for myself! I started to set boundaries that include not working on Saturday or Sunday unless I choose to (which is rare) and I do not work after 7pm. The nights and weekends are reserved for family, self care and whatever else I decide. My clients started to respect my boundaries more than when I was available around the clock and that gave them “permission” to set boundaries for themselves, which made them happier and more productive.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I absolutely love collaboration. This day in age, digital marketing changes by the minute and it takes effort to steal the show. One way that I like to collaborate is to find a business owner in a different niche and do a Facebook live swap. This is an opportunity to set 2 dates with one another. One day I will interview the business owner on my Facebook account where we edify their area of expertise and expose their business to my over 8,000 followers. Then on a different day they will host me on a Facebook live to their audience. This is a no-cost exercise that allows you cross-exposure and meet people that you potentially wouldn’t have. If you’d like to collaborate with me, please visit successwithkimward.com where you will find all of my social media channels and you can send me a message.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lifebydesignsolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_kim_ward
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberleyHolloran/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberleyjward/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCycDNpjfFJYLh7l9fDZVHOg
- Other: https://successwithkimward.com
Image Credits
Photo Cred: Amber Larkins
