“Who do you think you are to talk about this?” That sentence flashed through her mind right in the middle of a Zoom call. No one actually said it. It was her own voice. Or more precisely — the voice of her inner critic.
Maria was sitting in front of the screen, holding a modest list of her accomplishments (lightly sketched, humbly, without flair), trying to explain how she could be helpful.
But every sentence felt like she was overselling herself.
— “Well, I just helped a friend with a presentation...”
— “It wasn’t a real project, just some advice...”
— “I’m not really an expert… I just know a little about this…”
And once again: silence, hesitation, the blank stare of the person on the other end.
The Pain: Impostor Syndrome
You do great work. People thank you. You read, you learn, you try. But the moment you need to talk about yourself — the alarm goes off:
“What if this doesn’t really count?”
Sound familiar? That’s impostor syndrome. And it’s not your enemy — it’s a signal: You’re stepping outside your old version of yourself. To move forward, you don’t need to sound “important.” You need to speak clearly and honestly. Here’s how.
The Value: How to Package Even Small Experience Into a Meaningful Case
1. Look at your experience through the lens of value — not big words
Maria no longer says:
“I just helped with a presentation.”
Now she says:
“I helped a founder rephrase a complex product so that investors understood the core idea in two minutes. After that, she got responses from three different funds.”
Same fact. Different framing. She shifted the focus from herself — to the impact on someone else.
2. Connect your knowledge to real business problems
Studied marketing? Helped a friend promote their course? That’s not “just helping” — that’s a mini case.
Before:
“I read about funnels and helped a friend a bit with his course.”
After:
“I helped structure an online course offering, which increased the conversion from a free webinar to paid sales. We tested three email formats, and one of them doubled the response rate.”
Even if you weren’t an agency — you solved a real business problem. That is your value.
3. Use the structure: Problem — Actions — Result
You can turn any example into a strong story using this simple structure:
PROBLEM — what was the situation
ACTIONS — what you did
RESULT — what changed or improved
This helps you speak with calm confidence. No exaggeration — but with real weight.
You Don’t Have to “Sound Like an Expert”. You can speak as a person who understands, contributes, and grows. That’s honest. And it works.
And every time you choose to call things by their real names, you’re not just building trust with others — you’re building trust in yourself.
