Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside HER Collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Recently, I took a chance. I took a big chance on me. You see, I attended a boot camp in Austin, Texas for professional keynote speakers to get on bigger stages, to get in front of bigger audiences and to make a bigger impact. Which sounds amazing.

Erica: Right? And it really was. It was all that and a pack of chips, everything you could ever imagine. But as a newbie in this space, it was very overwhelming and it was very intense. I was a little fish surrounded by a bunch of big, amazing, gorgeous, talented, huge fish.

Erica: And I felt a bit lost. I felt unseen, invisible, and very, very intimidated. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, and today, I'm gonna share with you my story of imposter syndrome, how I experienced it, what I did to recognize it, and how I moved through it.

Erica: The first event at this boot camp was a happy hour in a really swanky restaurant with a live band playing so that everybody could meet each other, everybody could get to know each other, and just say hello. I walked in. Loud music was playing. People were laughing, hugging, smiling, patting each other on the back. You could just tell that they all knew each other already, that these people have bonds and relationships, and I was walking in not knowing a single person.

Erica: And for a moment, I felt paralyzed. So I took a deep breath, had a quick little pep talk with myself, reminded myself that I paid money to be here, and I told myself to just get in there, to just walk up and talk to somebody. And that's what I did. I approached a small group. I stuck out my hand, and I just said, hey.

Erica: I'm Erica, and I literally don't know anyone here. And, of course, this small group that I walked up to were very welcoming, immediately jumped into getting to know who I was, shared their stories. But as it turns out, like I said, almost everybody here knew everybody. Many had been working together for years. They were in a small community together.

Erica: They shared stages with each other. They were going to each other's weddings. I certainly felt out of place. But I made it through the evening. I forced myself to interact with as many people as I could in spite of feeling out of place, and I made a graceful but quick exit when it finally seemed appropriate.

Erica: Now once the night ended, I made my way back to the hotel room. I took a deep breath, and I let the feelings come. And these are the thoughts that immediately spring to my head. What am I doing here? I am so out of place.

Erica: I am nowhere near to achieving what these people have. Why am I here? I'm never going to hit this level of success. I'm never going to hit this level of success. Some of these people have been here four, five, six times.

Erica: I haven't even been to one. And last one, holy shit. So, I let those thoughts come, and then I let those thoughts go. I recognized that this was imposter syndrome. What I was feeling, these questions of, if I belong, what am I doing here, how out of place I was, was nothing but imposter syndrome.

Erica: Of course, I deserve to be here. I am new, and that's okay. But I sat in those feelings because it's normal to feel that way when you're trying something new, when you're putting yourself so far out of your comfort zone. These thoughts are normal. So as I let these feelings wash over me, I came to a place where I knew I needed to reframe them in my mind, and that's how they transformed.

Erica: What am I doing here? Became, wow. I can't believe that I'm here. I get to do this. This is an opportunity of a lifetime.

Erica: I'm so out of place, became I may feel out of place right now, but it isn't because I don't belong. It's because I don't know them yet. I am exactly where I am meant to be. I'm nowhere close to achieving what these people have done. Why am I here?

Erica: That became everyone here has been where I am right now. This is the starting line. I can learn so much. I'm never going to hit this level of success became, wow. Look at how far I could go.

Erica: Some of these people have been here four, five, six times. I've never been to one, but came, Everyone started at one. You are starting two. Holy shit? Well, that still stayed holy shit, but with excitement.

Erica: As the hours of boot camp flew by and one day turned into two, my imposter syndrome continued to fade. One of the keynote speakers, his name is Ryan Estis, said, you start where you start. And that alone empowered me to keep going. There were others there before me, and there will be others behind me attending their first boot camp. I am starting where I am starting.

Erica: I am embracing the journey. I am starting at my starting line. I've always heard that you should surround yourself with people who are better than you, and this is one of the times in my life that I truly felt surrounded by a community of people who were better than me. I was surrounded by infinite opportunity if I do the hard work. I was surrounded by a community of people that want to make an impact on the world and genuinely want to help.

Erica: This is a new chapter for me. It is filled with excitement and infinite possibilities and a lot of unknowns. I cannot see the path ahead of me, what it looks like, but I can trust that it is there because this community that I was so fortunate to be a part of this past weekend have been there. This boot camp was the first step from my starting line. And whenever I feel that tug of imposter syndrome, when I feel as if I don't belong or what am I doing, I'm not good enough, I will need to remember that I start where I start.

Erica: And with that start comes no finish line because my growth is just getting started. Now, friends, if you enjoyed this podcast, please do me a favor and rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast as it really helps women who need to hear the message see it. You can do this by clicking the link in your Apple or Spotify podcast.