Imposter Syndrome vs Actual Business Problems: How to Tell the Difference

A client told me she had terrible imposter syndrome about sales calls.

Every time she got on a call with a prospect, she felt like a fraud. Like she didn't know what she was doing. Like they'd see through her any minute.

"I just need to get over it," she said. "It's all in my head."

Except it wasn't.

I asked her to walk me through her sales process.

She didn't have one.

No structure. No clear questions. No way to qualify whether someone was actually a fit. She'd get on calls, ramble about her services, hope they'd say yes, then feel sick when they didn't.

She wasn't experiencing imposter syndrome.

She was experiencing the accurate sensation of not knowing how to sell.

The difference matters

Imposter syndrome is when you're capable but your brain tells you you're not.

An actual skill gap is when you're not capable yet and your brain is correctly identifying that.

They feel identical. Both show up as "I don't know what I'm doing" and "I feel like a fraud."

But one needs therapy. The other needs training.

And if you treat a skill gap like imposter syndrome, you'll spend months trying to feel more confident about something you genuinely don't know how to do.

What imposter syndrome actually looks like

You've done the thing successfully multiple times but still don't believe you're good at it.

You get results for clients but assume it's luck, not skill.

You have the credentials, the experience, the track record – but feel like you're fooling everyone.

Someone praises your work and your first thought is "if only they knew how little I actually know."

That's imposter syndrome. Your evidence says you're capable. Your brain says you're not. The gap between those two things is the problem.

What a skill gap actually looks like

You've never done this thing before and you're winging it.

You don't have a process. You're making it up as you go.

You're guessing at what good looks like because you've never been taught.

You get inconsistent results because you don't know what you're doing differently each time.

That's not imposter syndrome. That's an accurate assessment that you haven't learned this yet.

And the solution isn't confidence. It's competence.

How to tell which one you've got

Ask: Have I actually done this successfully before?

If yes, and you still feel like a fraud – that's imposter syndrome.

If no, or only once or twice with mixed results – that's a skill gap.

Ask: Do I have a repeatable process, or am I winging it every time?

If you have a process that works but still feel unsure – imposter syndrome.

If you're making it up as you go – skill gap.

Ask: If someone asked me to teach this to someone else, could I?

If you could teach it but don't believe you're good at it – imposter syndrome.

If you'd struggle to explain what you're even doing – skill gap.

The client with the sales calls? She couldn't teach someone else how to run a sales call because she didn't know herself. That's not a confidence problem. That's a capability problem.

Once she learned a structure – how to qualify, how to ask questions, how to present her offer – the "imposter syndrome" disappeared.

Not because she became more confident. Because she became competent.

Why people confuse the two

Because we've been taught that self-doubt always means imposter syndrome.

Feeling uncertain? That's just your inner critic. Feeling like you don't know what you're doing? You need to work on your mindset.

Sometimes, yes.

But sometimes you feel uncertain because you're attempting something you haven't mastered yet. And that's not a psychological problem. That's just... learning.

A founder told me she had imposter syndrome about pricing. She'd set her prices, then immediately doubt whether they were right.

I asked how she'd arrived at those numbers.

"I don't know," she said. "I just guessed."

She didn't have imposter syndrome about pricing. She had no idea how to price her services. Of course she felt uncertain. She was uncertain.

We worked out her pricing properly – cost of delivery, market positioning, value created. Suddenly the uncertainty disappeared.

Not because her mindset shifted. Because she actually knew what she was doing now.

The uncomfortable truth

Sometimes your gut feeling that you're not good enough is accurate.

Not in a "you're worthless" way. In a "you haven't learned this yet" way.

And pretending it's all psychological when it's actually a capability gap just wastes time.

I'd rather tell a founder "you don't know how to do this yet, here's how to learn" than spend six months helping them feel more confident about something they genuinely haven't mastered.

The opposite is also true.

Sometimes founders are genuinely skilled but treat every bit of self-doubt as evidence they need more training.

"I need another course on email marketing" when they've already run three successful email campaigns. That's not a skill gap. That's imposter syndrome.

So what actually helps?

Figure out which one you've got.

If it's a skill gap: Learn the thing. Get training. Hire someone who knows how. Build a process. Stop treating capability as a confidence problem.

If it's imposter syndrome: Look at your evidence. Track your results. Notice when you're discounting your own competence. Get external validation from people who actually know what good looks like.

Most founders have both.

Imposter syndrome about things they're genuinely good at. Skill gaps in areas they're avoiding learning properly.

The work is figuring out which is which.

If you're constantly doubting yourself

If you feel like a fraud but can't tell if it's real or not.

If you're spending money on courses when you might actually just need confidence.

If you're working on your mindset when you might actually need training.

Stop asking "how do I feel better about this?"

Start asking "do I actually know how to do this?"

Here's how we could work together:

One-off mentoring session (£325): 90 minutes where we figure out what's actually happening. Are you capable but doubting yourself? Or are there genuine gaps you need to fill? Usually it's immediately obvious to someone outside your head. Book a session

Ongoing mentorship: Monthly support for founders who need help distinguishing between "I need to learn this" and "I need to trust that I already know this." Pattern-spotting for both. Learn more about mentorship

Because the worst thing you can do is spend six months building confidence in something you don't actually know how to do yet.

Or spend six months learning something you're already good at.