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Jun 19, 2026
Episode 2: Imposter Syndrome is Real
Episode 2: Imposter Syndrome is Real
00:00
02:35
Transcript
0:00
I had a Yale MBA, $1,800 of Yale's money to test my startup idea, and I still managed to talk myself out of it. Welcome to Building To Rich.
0:11
I'm Celia, and I'm testing whether a real person with a real job can actually get rich online. I'm documenting the whole unhinged process along the way. This is episode two.
0:24
Imposter syndrome is real and also completely irrelevant. So I actually did the thing. Yale had an entrepreneurship program. I applied, got in, and they gave me $1,800 to test a business idea. And I-- it was a good idea.
0:41
I still stand by that today. It was an online course to actually help people get their dream job. I ran the ads, tested the funnel. None of it worked, and instead of figuring out why and trying again, I just stopped.
0:56
I convinced myself the data was saying something. It could have been, but it probably wasn't. The truth is, I was just scared.
1:04
I had the idea, the support, the funding, and I still talked myself out of it because I didn't feel credible enough to be the person teaching it. About 70% of people experience imposter syndrome
1:18
at some point in their lives, and it hits hardest actually among highest achievers, which I just find deeply annoying being a high achiever.
1:27
But basically, you rack up the credentials and somehow you feel less qualified than people that are less credentialed. And separately, like 40% of people won't pursue a good idea because they're scared of failing.
1:41
Because all of us overly credentialed high achievers see ready as a moving target that never actually stops moving. We never reach the target, and we never put ourselves out there to try.
1:56
I've been chasing it for years, and I'm done. AI is doing great things for my anxiety. Thank you so much for that. But it's also the reason I stopped waiting and started building. And you know what?
2:09
You're reading the results. I guess you're kind of listening to the result of that right now. If you're sitting on something you keep telling yourself you'll do once you feel more qualified, come do it with me.
2:21
I don't think that ready feeling is coming anytime soon. Next issue, we'll get into the 30-plus ways people actually make money outside their day job and how I evaluated all of them.
Building to Rich
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