Quick note:
I'm hosting a free online workshop on September 14th at 1pm EST.
I will teach you how to be a better CEO and grow a more profitable company.
& I'm adding one massive bonus only for folks who attend live.
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No one will ever give you permission to get rich.
I didn’t have a background in real estate. I didn’t come from a real estate family. My father worked for a developer for a salary and never owned a rental property. My mother was a school nurse. I didn’t get a job offer to work at a real estate PE firm out of college. If I had asked to work for Sam Zell as a 20 year old, he would have said no.
You probably aren't qualified either. You didn’t get the right college degree. "There's no way I can do this" you might have said to yourself. That’s how I felt too…at first.
I didn’t have permission to jump into the real estate business. I didn’t have the right resume. I didn’t have the experience. I didn’t have the knowledge. I didn’t have that stamp of approval from a top real estate college or pass an exam to even be a qualified real estate agent.
But here I am. The owner of a real estate private equity firm with no boss. And I acquired and control over $100 million worth of real estate. I also own stakes in several companies that are growing fast. I acquired another one for $52 million and raised $20 million to do the deal. I have over 400 employees across my portfolio.
Nobody gave me permission to do any of this risky, hard, uncomfortable stuff.
Nobody is going to give you permission to do what you want to do either.
If you’re looking to do it the traditional way, i.e study the thing, get an internship in the thing, wait for somebody to tell you you’re qualified to do the thing, and get a good job doing that thing, entrepreneurship is not for you.
You see this insecurity all over the business world. "I’m not qualified. I’m not prepared. How can I take this on when I don’t have any experience?"
They are simply figuring it out as they go along. They don’t have a guidebook. They aren’t worried about qualifications, and they don’t care about other people telling them what they can or can’t do.
There is no text book with all the answers in business. Most problems aren’t straightforward. Life isn’t always logical. You can’t pull up Youtube and watch a how-to guide or flip to page 97 in a textbook to solve your problem.
But successful folks don’t need all of the answers. They don’t need instructions either. They attack problems, and they figure things out. They go after opportunities they aren’t qualified for. They give themselves permission. If you’re sitting back waiting for somebody to tell you you’re allowed to launch your business and you’re qualified enough to make it work, it isn’t going to come.
You have to give yourself permission.
It takes a while to stop feeling like an imposter. It's much more rare these days but even I occasionally ask myself What makes me qualified to build businesses and buy real estate? I’m just a guy. Imposter syndrome hits everyone. No matter how cool, calm, and collected they might look under pressure, they feel it.
Titans of business still feel this. Even Presidents feel this at times.
It pops up at the most inconvenient moments, usually right before a very big, high pressure decision. It’s a voice in your head telling you to run back to safety. Asking why you decided to put yourself in the spotlight. Why in the world did I choose to do this uncomfortable, scary stuff? You can’t do this. You aren’t smart enough. You aren’t athletic enough. You aren’t a good enough leader. You aren’t brilliant enough.
We all feel this. We all have that lizard brain in the back of our minds telling us to run from the danger. It isn’t logical of course. Nobody cares if you succeed or fail. Nobody is watching you or worrying about you or calling you names when you underperform. Everybody is worried about themselves. They are thinking about what they’re having for dinner. Or worried about making rent. Or stressed out over any number of other things that have nothing to do with you.
I know a ton of normal people who make phenomenal money simply because they aren’t insecure. I also know a ton of very competent people who fail over and over again to reach their true potential because they are too scared to take real action.
So how do you get over this imposter syndrome?
First, you acquire the network, skills, and capital. But, of course, it’s more than that.
It’s practice. You have to put in the reps for years. You take action to build evidence that you can do the work.
Believing in yourself is never easy. So put yourself in as many difficult situations as you can. You train your lizard brain to get back in its cage and leave you alone.
People don’t care if you are qualified. They care that you can solve a problem for them and help them in their lives. If you can do that, they will give you a shot and success becomes inevitable if you simply keep going.
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A few posts to check out:
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Onward and upward,
Nick Huber
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