Lessons - Overcoming Imposter Syndrome | Doone Roisin - Founder & Host of the Female Startup Club Podcast

Yeah, something on that one. Of course you seem okay So you had an incredibly interesting upbringing obviously very different than then myself or probably other people that go into like start-up land, but You mentioned one point that was I thought was interesting It's like you had the the biggest version of imposter syndrome coming from like such a different environment Going into this school and then obviously like you know fast forward very successful But everybody gets imposter syndrome, but I don't think everybody gets it to the same level that probably you had and I'm making assumptions here But correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that the imposter syndrome was like it was real like it was difficult Completely changing not from being the one person in your class to To be to being in like a in a regular private school system Where you're around all these successful people and you know you're opening your eyes of the opportunity So and you may be getting to this in a second, but walk me through if you if you're cognizant of how you did it How you got over that imposter syndrome so that you didn't just stay in this shell Gosh, I don't know it was a weird time like it was a weird time in life and I feel like I You know for the first six months when I went to that school I really struggled it was really hard. I'd never been around all girls I didn't have any siblings and this is an all girls private school with like so many rules and like I was just out of place. I would say not in terms of like The people surrounding me because I was welcomed into the school and I made just so many lifelong Incredible friends with so many amazing women, but it was odd. I was definitely I would say struggling but I don't know I guess when you're in those weird positions like you just got to like find your feet and kind of keep you moving forward so Did that whole thing went to school? started to feel like I could dream and have ambitions too and started to hustle, but I didn't really have that kind of like You know support, I guess from my mom or anything like that So I really needed to work to be able to like get places as so many people do But I was also really aware of like getting work experience because I was like I'm a nobody I don't know anything about anything. I need to like get out there and do stuff And this is where I kind of realized that I had this like hustle Built into my body and like built into my jeans and I know this comes from my mom and the upbringing that we had But I was just like eager to get any experience that I could to get to where I wanted to go And so for me to be able to work in fashion I was like well, I need to like get experience So I would just door knock on people's door and be like can I get some experience or like do you know someone that can help me get experience or I'll do whatever it takes basically to and we can go into some funny examples of things that I did to get jobs or Or to try and get people's attention But this is where I kind of started to realize, you know that I had this part of You know my soul that had hustle in it and it wasn't until Actually should we should I tell you some stories? Do you want to hear some stories? Let's do stories I love the hustle stories. I love the weird out of the box figure it out hustle stories They're always good. Let's do it. So okay, so to get some experience I really wanted to work in a magazine as I said and in Brisbane where I was at the time There aren't any magazines there except for this one that was kind of like it might not even exist anymore But it was part of the like the newspaper style kind of imprint that would go inside And so I was like okay, right. I need to like get the attention of someone there They don't have any positions, but surely they could make a position for someone who really wants one So I went to my local nursery and I bought a time herb plant And I went and got a really cute pot potted it up like did all these things stuck my little business card in it Which had my website on there and I just wrote a quick note that said could I have a moment of your time? And then I was like well I also want to like check out the space, right? Like I want to know what it looks like in the side of a magazine Office so I go and buy what I thought delivery drivers at the time or wearing But it's like huge oversized Vis shirt like put on my little Nike's and like rock into the office and I'm like hey I have a delivery for the director and they were like oh, yeah, like her office is you know just down the hallway whatever Drop it off. She's not there have a little bit of a look around and then you know next day she calls me and she's basically like Look, we don't have any positions. Love the hustle Let's create something and long story short We end up doing like a 12-week internship program together and you know I learned some stuff about magazines and get what I need to get out of it and it was great Another time and this is one that I love a lot And like I think these are those kind of moments where like I know you've interviewed Alex from Third door on your show. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I was just thinking about that. I'm like this is exact I didn't know if you knew without what's yeah, well, it's so funny I mean I did know yeah I didn't know about this kind of thing But recently someone recommended me that book and I was like holy shit like that's how I've like lived my own like early life Trying to get opportunities is by like trying to stand out When you don't have other things at your disposal So there was this job advertised and it was at like a graphic design kind of agency and The email address to apply was something like yo check this shit out at laundry creative.com And so the point was is that you send your resume to that email address, whatever And I was like okay, okay, we'll find everyone's gonna be doing that Everyone's gonna be sending their resume there. So like what could I do? That's a little different At the time I'd worked for a small magazine doing a lot of like Layout copywriting just a bit of a broad mix of stuff. So it was kind of like a portfolio So I took it home like pulled apart this issue that I'd done stuck it up on my wall like huge screen kind of like a Huge sign I guess like in rows and I painted yo check this shit out www.duneroshain.com and then you know, I put like sparkles all over it They put sequins like I did the whole thing and I text my friend and I was like Hey, do you want to come and deface a building with me at 3 a.m.? And he was like Yes, of course I do and I was like it had great meet me like at my house at 3 and like we'll go down And so basically I knew because I used to run like along the river around the office where they had Their like space and it was all glass So like when they would come in in the morning is they'd just look out into this glass office along the boardwalk So I kind of knew that if I went down there and just stuck it up in like a huge way They would all see it when they come in the morning and like turn on lights or whatever. So we go down there at 3 a.m We stick it up facing inside the building I put a little note for security that was just like this is a job application. Don't take it down like don't call the cops You know like it's all good and um Stick it up and basically the next morning I get a phone call from the CEO and he was just like This is amazing. I love it like when can you come in? This is really cool and he like spread of like post about it on those Facebook at the time Facebook and probably some other places but Kind of like use those things which I just thought was totally normal by the way I didn't realize that like not everyone was doing this kind of thing But using these kind of experiences to get what I needed to get the experience and get the kind of job that would get me further Forward in life and then at some point I was doing another internship and this guy was like oh I know that there's this company that was starting in Sydney and this is in 2012 or maybe late 2011 and e-commerce at the time was Really a thing in Australia. Australia didn't know how to shop online. It was you know We kind of knew about a source but like we weren't used to it as a market and so he was like there that's this fashion store and like you can Buy stuff online and like whatever and so I packed my bags I moved to Sydney within like three weeks and I was like I'm gonna work there This is my chance to work in fashion like this is it kind of thing Go there get an internship like hustle You know like crazy before work because I was working like an admin job to pay my bills Before work on my lunch breaks after work like all the things to make sure that I was just like so present in anyone's life That was part of the company and it was super small at the time now. It's called the iconic They're like a huge funded like massive business. They're the most kind of well-known e-commerce store and it's all online kind of like retailer in Australia and This is like the second big pivotal moment of my life because when I'm there I get this job. They eventually like a few weeks in they offer me a full-time job The guys like do you think that you could just read everything on the internet that's to do with social media and like be our social media person and I was like Yes, I can definitely be that person. I am that person. I think my Facebook my My business card said like professional Facebook or something like really cheesy at the time Anyway, my point being to this whole thing is that It's the second pivotal moment in my life where I start realizing what it means to work in a startup and it starts to like Come together for me that I'm like wow I am looking around. I don't want to be my boss. I don't want to be like You know someone in another team that's a few steps ahead of me I want to be the guys that are like running this cool business. They're like these amazing founders. They're just these like dudes making decisions and doing cool stuff and just You know making their dreams come true and they're gonna make a lot of money from that and I was like wow Start up love it and this kind of like sets me on the path to you know wanting to change my future and like Having different dreams and having different aspirations