Understand Your Buyer > How People Work > The Credibility Trap
What is it?
The Credibility Trap is the mental shift that happens when someone leaves a job to start a business, and suddenly feels like a beginner again. In your job, your title, company name, and experience gave you instant credibility. But when you start out on your own, that external validation disappears – and it can feel like you’re starting from scratch, even if you’ve got years of experience behind you.
Why does it work?
It explains why so many new business owners struggle with confidence, pricing, and positioning. You haven’t actually lost your expertise – but without a job title or company brand behind you, it’s easy to feel like you have. That creates hesitation, imposter syndrome, and a tendency to undercharge, all because you’re measuring your worth by your current business status, not your actual skills and results.
How can you use it?
You need to recognise what’s really going on when you feel like you’re not ready, not qualified, or not “worth” your prices. Start by separating your expertise from your environment. Your knowledge, skills and value don’t disappear just because you changed your email signature. Own your background, highlight real outcomes you’ve delivered, and build your new credibility around results – not roles.
Example
Me!
I undercharged and felt completely inexperienced when I started Clear Sales Message™ despite a 12 year £600M sales career…
See also
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