What do I even have to offer? Self-doubt after leaving corporate

What do I have to offer? Can I even do it?

It is one of the questions people sent me before my masterclass, and probably the most honest.

I asked it too

I did not think anyone would pay me either. Two people did in my second month. It has not been a straight line since, but that fear was wrong.

It did not go away once things started working. I have sat down on a Sunday, with the business growing, and thought: what if this doesn't work? Who would pay me, and why? I am not experienced enough. I do not have all the answers.

What I came back to each time was a short list of things I did know. I genuinely love building things. I can do hard things. And if it does not work to a level I am happy with, the biggest bruise will be to my ego. The skills I have learnt on the way will be useful whatever happens.

Doubt is not a signal

In one of my performance reviews, the feedback had four lines. The fourth was that I smiled too much. I was promoted the same cycle.

If feedback cannot be converted into a specific action, it is not a signal. It is a form being completed. Your inner voice works the same way. "Who am I to do this?" cannot be acted on. "Has anyone ever paid for advice on this?" can.

Answer it with evidence

1. Write down five times in the last few years somebody came to you with a problem and left with it solved. What was it, and what changed?
2. Write down who still asks your opinion, now you have left or are leaving.
3. Pick the strongest example and ask one person from that list whether they would pay for help with it.

Look for one piece of evidence that is stronger than the doubt. Then another.

Your next step

My free diagnostic builds that evidence from your own history: what would people pay me for?