Episode 434: Imposter Syndrome – Why do We Suffer From it and Tips to Overcome Feeling Like a Fraud with Amy Reid

EBT434 – Amy Reid

Intro: Food bloggers, hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom, whether that’s financial, personal, or professional.

I’m Megan Porta and I’ve been a food blogger for over 12 years. I understand how isolating food blogging can be at times. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

As food blogging can be so isolating, we can sometimes get into this groove of feeling like we’re frauds. The success that we have achieved isn’t actually ours that somebody else or something else is more deserving of it than we are and we don’t give ourselves the credit that we deserve because you guys are amazing and you actually are responsible for your success and you’ve done incredible things to get where you’re at. So this episode will hopefully encourage you in that and give you a little bit of reassurance that you’re doing the right thing and that you’re amazing. 

Amy Reid joins me in this episode. She is a blogger at Baking with Granny. She has experienced imposter syndrome at its finest. So she has been through this journey on her own and she shows up here to deliver some tips and strategies to help the rest of us navigate this journey of feeling like a fraud and feeling like an imposter. Tips include documenting your wins, celebrating those, finding people who do the same thing as you do and who understand what your wins actually mean and so much more in the episode. So I really hope you enjoy this. It is episode number 434 sponsored by RankIQ. 

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Megan Porta: Amy Reid started her blog Baking With Granny in 2015 as a way to document her kids’ granny recipes. Within a couple of years, Amy gave up full time employment to make money blogging. She then became a single mom and the pressure was on to make it work. Eight years on and Baking With Granny has excelled past any expectations she could have ever had for it. Amy, it’s so great to have you on Eat Blog Talk. How are you doing today? 

Amy Reid: I’m good, thank you. Thank you for having me. 

Megan Porta: Yes, I’m really excited for this chat. This is such an important topic to discuss for food bloggers. But first, we would love to hear if you have a fun fact to share. 

Amy Reid: Yeah, so my fun fact is that it’ll be three years this year that me and my husband got married, which means that we had our wedding in 2020. Mid pandemic! 

Megan Porta: Okay, that had to be an experience. Tell us how it went. 

Amy Reid: So I think perhaps the maddest part of it is that we actually only got engaged in 2020 as well. So it was a choice to actually go ahead and get married. We weren’t one of these people that had planned years in advance and then, everything shut down. We actually got engaged in July on my 30th birthday and we got married in November between lockdowns. So quite the experience. 

Megan Porta: So tell us about your wedding. Was it outdoors? 

Amy Reid: Yeah, so we, thankfully, as the sort of the wedding approached, and obviously it was a bit different sort of around the world, but where I am in Scotland, we were going between different lockdowns and we had different levels of restrictions. Thankfully, our wedding fell between those. So we were able to go ahead. It was a last minute thing as to whether we would or not. Thankfully, we did. It meant we could have our wedding and we could have 15 people and that had to include me and my husband, our two children and the registrar. It did mean our family could be there but my sister’s boyfriends had to wait outside. But it was great, it was lovely and intimate and we actually had our first dance on the street outside. 

Megan Porta: Okay, that is memorable and something obviously you will never forget. So I like how you went about that. 

Amy Reid: Yeah, it was one of the things that when he asked me to marry him, it was a case of this year’s just mad enough, let’s just do it. Let’s leave it with something positive.

Megan Porta: Exactly. Let’s throw in a few little good gems into the year. I love it. 

Amy Reid: Some nice memories as well. 

Megan Porta: Yes, absolutely. Good for you for going against the norm a little bit and creating some awesome memories despite the rough year. I love hearing that, learning that about you. So you’re here today to talk about imposter syndrome, which I think is a really important topic for us to discuss as women, mostly women entrepreneurs. I think a lot of us have been able to relate to this or can relate to this currently. Amy, would you mind just starting off by telling us the definition of imposter syndrome? What is it? 

Amy Reid: So I’ve actually got this written down. It is defined by Oxford Languages, this one. So it says the persistent inability to believe one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own effort or skills. So the clue is in the name, I think. You feel like an imposter. That everything that you’ve achieved in your life or in your work, you don’t deserve, or, it’s a fluke, you haven’t really put the work in when you have.

Megan Porta: Yeah. The word that I really associate with imposter syndrome is like being a fraud. Feeling like a fraud. If I see success, massive success that I’ve experienced. I’m like, wait a second. That wasn’t me, or like somehow disassociating with it, which is so weird because obviously I did it, but I still feel like a fraud.

Amy Reid: Yep. No, definitely. I’ve got a few examples of anecdotally how it’s looked for me and being a fraud is the big one. It’s that feeling of being a fraud. That you’re going to find out that everything’s going to come crashing down. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. So tell us about your own experience with this.

Amy Reid: Yeah. So I think, like I say, the sort of feeling of being a fraud is a big one. Just feeling like you’re not enough, that what you’re doing, especially as a food blogger, it’s not a real job. It’s just a hobby. My blog is focused mostly around baking. So it’s that sort of thing, I’m not really a baker. I have a food blog that’s about baking, but I’m not a baker. It’s ironic because even when I did a stereotypical real job, I still felt that way. So it’s not exclusive to what I’m doing now. I think it is a mindset that you can get caught up in regardless of what your life looks like. I think as well, not being able to recognise or accept any of your achievements. So for example, for me, I’ve done newspaper features, I’ve won awards, I’ve performed at food festivals, I have 20,000 email subscribers, but I still feel like no one is actually interested in what I have to say sometimes. That I’m doing this and no one’s listening, that I’m wasting my time as nobody really wants to hear what I have to say. Even though there’s all this proof that’s the contrary, you do get caught up in that sometimes. With that, you end up talking down to yourself as to what you do and to other people, if people ask you what do you do for a living? You say, Oh, I just have this little food blog, and that’s how you’re describing everything that you do when it’s more than just that. It’s my entire income. It’s more than just a little food blog, but you do, you talk it down a bit. You don’t acknowledge how much work goes into it and how much success you’ve had with it. Like I say, just feeling like a fraud, like you’ll be found out. 

Other sorts of common signs of imposter syndrome can be things like putting your success down to external factors. Although you know you did all the work, it’s not down to you it’s been successful. So sabotaging your own success in that way. I think the sort of constant feelings of being burnt out and constantly feeling like you have to overachieve as well are other sort of common signs. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, I was taking notes and, oh my gosh, different parts of my blogging journey, I can relate to so much of this. It almost makes me emotional because I just remember that feeling of being oh yeah, like you said, I have a little food blog. This little thing I do. We downplay it like it’s not a big deal when we put our hearts, our souls into this business and it’s like, why do we do that? But then on the other hand, food blogging isn’t really a well known career right now. So it’s this balance of seeing the other person’s face. Oh, what do you do? Confusion and like misunderstanding and then trying to explain it. Oh, it’s like this whole mess. 

Amy Reid: Yeah. There’s this temptation to dress up as something that isn’t as well. Then that again, that kind of downplays everything that you do.

Megan Porta: It can get gray. I think there’s a lot of gray area there.

Amy Reid: Definitely. 

Megan Porta: So with your blog now, when did you start your food blog? 

Amy Reid: So my food blog, Baking With Granny, I started in 2015. But prior to that, ever since I was a teenager, back in the days of, live journal and things like that. I’ve always had some sort of blog, but my current one was in 2015. So it’s quite well established. It’s not a new thing. I have been doing it for quite a while. With that, throughout that time, I’ve definitely been up and down from imposter syndrome, but certainly a couple of years ago, it hit really hard.

Megan Porta: Okay. Tell us about that. 

Amy Reid: Yeah. I don’t know what it was. I think there were a lot of other external factors happening in my life that, I think when you’re not in the best head space generally, it’s almost like you fall into the sort of hole of all these things. That’s when it was like, because I’d had a bad day, it was like, everything was terrible. So my whole career as such, my food blog was terrible because I’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed. I think it’s quite common, when one thing’s not quite right, everything else can feel wrong as well. I’ll go for a few sorts of tips that I found can help me with that. But even to this day, despite having all these tips, I do still feel it.

Even this morning, thinking about coming on to do this podcast, it’s the sort of thing of, how did I manage this? I’m not someone that anyone wants to listen to. I’m going to give all these tips, but would anybody be interested? You still get it and I think it’s going to be a constant thing, but recognizing it is a big part. Once you can have an idea of what imposter syndrome is and that you’re dealing with it, you can overcome it. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, yes, I would love to hear your tips. Awareness, do you think that is the first kind of calling it out and just naming it?

Amy Reid: Yeah, I do think awareness is a big one and I think naming it and calling it out and knowing what it looks like is a big one because if you know what it looks like, it’s one of those things that I think I’ve see in my sort of previous life in a real job, certainly dealt with it then. But I didn’t know it was that. So going forward when I started working for myself and doing my food blog, once I started to recognize those things, you start to catch yourself. So you know that although this little voice in your head is telling you these things, it’s not necessarily true. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Giving a name or something. Yeah. Hey, I see what you’re doing. Here you are again.

Amy Reid: Once you know it exists and it’s that voice, it’s not real, it’s much easier to deal with. 

Megan Porta: I have a random question. Why do you think it appears? Is it like our ego speaking or what is it? 

Amy Reid: Yeah, so I think one of my sort of tips in regards to that is to dig deeper. Because although it’s existing, there’s usually some sort of deeper factor into that. This is where, like I say, you’re digging a bit deeper. Certainly for me, when I was really into, like I said a couple of years ago, really deep into it, there were all these sorts of external factors that I had to unpack as such. So I went through 18 months of therapy. Not exclusively for imposter syndrome that did come up, it was things like unpacking the fact I’d been in an abusive relationship, that I had suffered with depression, anxiety at times in my life. As well as the realization that I actually have ADHD and also deal with PMDD, which is a premenstrual dysphoric disorder, so termed as the extreme version of PMS.

So knowing those things makes it much easier to catch that imposter syndrome when it happens because you know it could be that it’s just that point in my monthly cycle where my brain just you know goes to a not great place. So if i know that it’s that time, i can say okay i know your mind is telling you that you can’t do this, you’re no good at what you do. I know that it’s you know it’s just it’s part of that cycle it’s not actually the truth. So having that awareness and digging deeper into your own sort of you know mentality, psyche, these sort of sides of things you can get a better understanding of yourself and why that would be the case that you would think these things.

Megan Porta: Yeah, and that’s going to be different for all of us, probably. 

Amy Reid: Oh, definitely. Yeah, it’s one of the things you have to be ready to go down that route. If you’re not, that’s fine. There are other things you can do in the meantime, but that’s one way where you can really dig deep and have a look into yourself.

Megan Porta: Which can get messy, so like you said, be ready for it. If you want to go down that path, know that you’re going to have to probably dig a little bit and uncover some not fun gems. 

Amy Reid: It’s one of those things that has its benefits, but also has its risks. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, but when you can get to the other side, you’ll probably be so much better off, right?

Amy Reid: Yeah, I would say so. 

Megan Porta: What other tips do you have that you’ve managed to work through yourself? 

Amy Reid: Yeah, so like I say, if you’re not quite ready for that, these are tips that definitely you can use anyway. So the first sort of tip I have is to document your wins. So if you’re documenting all of your wins, you have proof that you are successful and you can’t lie to yourself. So a few sort of ones I have written down are things like keeping a note of your stats. Now this will depend on obviously what you are focusing on, what you want to achieve, it could be things like page views, social following, email subscriber numbers, income, whatever success looks like to you. Keep a note of it. Set goals, whether it be monthly, yearly, whatever works and look back on them periodically to see how far you’ve come. Seeing your work pay off is always a mood booster. So not only have you got the proof that six months ago you were here and now you’re there, you’ve also got that mood boost of, I did that. I achieved that. So having it written down is a great thing. I actually found a notebook I had from a couple of years ago and looked at my page views and I was like, Oh God, like at that point, I was so desperate just to have a thousand page views a month. Now I’m well past that. But at that point, that seemed impossible. So having those sorts of wins to see how far you’ve come, definitely worth doing. 

Another one is to save good feedback. I think that kind of plays into the same sort of way where, if you have emails, comments, photos that people send you of things they’ve made from your blog, again, it’s something to look back on. It’s a good mood booster. It helps you with things like self doubt. If you’ve got that sort of physical proof to look back on that you’ve done this, you’ve helped someone, it’s always a nice thing to have. I think it plays into that fake it until you make it a mindset as well, you have that and you’ve been successful, if you’ve got that to tell yourself. You’re worth all these things and you’re helping these people, then it’s a nice one to have.

Megan Porta: Everything you’re saying is just historical data. All of us have historical data to show that we’ve put in the work and that we have the talent and the skills to create our success. So just writing those things down or maybe even talking about them. What do you think about that? 

Amy Reid: Yeah. Another sort of thing I had was to actually tell people your achievements. Whether it’s been somebody has made a recipe of yours and they’ve sent you a photo. Not only does the person that sent you that photo feel great that you’ve liked enough to share it, it’s also telling people, someone did my recipe and it was great. Again, it’s that sort of fake till you make it a mindset. Keep pushing yourself to believe that you’ve helped this person, you’ve made a difference in the world. Putting it out there and even things like, if you’ve won an award, if you’ve been in some sort of newspaper, tell your followers. Put it out to your email subscribers. Tell them these great things about yourself and you might start to believe it.

Even things like, you’ve had a record day of page views. Tell people because, it’s worth one, having that recorded, but also, to put it out there, make yourself feel good, validate that achievement. 

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Megan Porta: I just had this thought when someone asks you what do you do? You’re like, oh, gosh, going down the road of talking about my food blog, my little food blog again. Instead of that, maybe you could offer up one of your achievements. Oh, I just got recognized for whatever. That would be a way of just making you more sure of yourself, but then explaining what you do. 

Amy Reid: Yeah. It’s one of those things like, somebody says, what do you do? And you say I’ve got this little food blog. Go out there and say, I have a food blog that has X amount of subscribers. I have a food blog that actually has been featured in this newspaper. You may have seen me in this place. To be able to do that, it is a boost for you. If you’re able to take that mindset and put it forward, it stops you getting caught up in that sort of imposter feeling.

Megan Porta: I do walk this fine line sometimes too, especially with family when I can tell they’re curious, like, how do you make money? They want to ask that question. I walk this line of not wanting to be braggy. I made this much. I would never say that, but I made money on ads and it was a really great month and I don’t want to do that. But I also want them to know this is a really serious business. My husband is leaving his job. So it’s how you manage that, the weird balance there. 

Amy Reid: Yeah. I think there is this sort of balance with it, but I think again, that could be one of those sorts of topics where it could require a bit of digging deeper. We said as women, especially imposter syndrome really sets in, if you think about that, if it was a different job we were doing, or, if we were a man, how different would that be? Would it be the same sort of feeling of, I don’t want to upset people by saying this. It’s that kind of fine line as to finding that balance.

Megan Porta: That’s so interesting. Yeah if a man were answering this question, it would be a different conversation. 

Amy Reid: Yeah, it would be a different conversation. It’s an interesting sort of train of thought to go down. 

Megan Porta: It is. Yeah, that’s really interesting. Okay, what other tips do you have if we are experiencing imposter syndrome?

Amy Reid: So this is a good one. I actually have a good sort of quote here. It’s actually from your intro and it’s about understanding how isolated food blogging can be and that you want everyone to be heard and supported. That comes down to finding other food bloggers because you’re in this on your own most of the time. So things like your podcast are a great tool for people to use because blogging is lonely. Your work and everything you do falls on you. Guess what? You’re a liar. You’re an imposter. So your mind is telling you, but you’re not, your mind is lying to you. So having other people that understand what you do, that can sympathize with what you’re going through and can also offer help and support, is so important. Like I say, a great way to get that is from podcasts. But other things are, you’ve got the Eat Blog Talk forum, there’s Facebook groups. Basically, go out there and find people that do what you do. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Knowing you’re not alone is so huge. It can move mountains, honestly. It seems like a little piece, but it’s actually a really big piece of the puzzle.

Amy Reid: Definitely. Like I say, a couple of years ago, I was really struggling with imposter syndrome, and that’s when it dawned on me, I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about it before, but I thought, I’m going to go out and actually find if there’s anywhere that people are online supporting each other in this instance. I came across it as the food blogger pro membership that I actually signed up to and I thought you know I can go on there because they’ve got all these training things and that’ll be great for me because I have no idea what I’m doing. I actually got in there and realized most of the stuff I already knew but I had to go through that process to realize that. Then going into things like the forums and the zoom meetings and things. realizing that a lot of people there thought I was quite accomplished. That was an interesting sort of realization because I talked myself into such a hole of imposter syndrome that I thought, everybody’s doing better than me. Nobody understands what I’m dealing with because it’s such a niche thing. But there are people out there and they are able to support you and there are all the tools out there to help you. Like say podcasts, forums, Facebook groups, listening to podcasts, there’s all these people that are doing the same as you, so don’t let your mind tell you otherwise.

Megan Porta: So in the Eat Blog Talk Mastermind groups, one of the main things that comes from those groups is exactly what you just said. I’ve heard so many people say this, they say, I had no idea how well I was doing X or like how I actually knew what I was talking about with my email list or fill in the blank. That confidence piece just sets them apart and puts them on a new trajectory. But that’s huge. It’s a huge piece of it. 

Amy Reid: Yeah. No, it’s like I say, it’s one of those things that you can be in this sort of mindset of that you’re failing and you’re not doing good here. You’re a fraud. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say. Actually you find like minded people who are desperate to know how you did something. They’re asking you the question. Please tell me your secret and suddenly it’s this thing of, Oh, you mean me? I do know that. Thanks for asking. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. It’s a huge confidence booster. It builds just so much, like it takes courage to put yourself in that role because of what you said. You do feel like a fraud and you’re isolated. You don’t know if you know what you’re doing, et cetera. But then when you do, you’re like, Oh my gosh, I’m pretty awesome. This is great. 

Amy Reid: Yeah, no, it’s an interesting sort of shift in your mindset that comes from such a small thing. 

Megan Porta: Exactly. What else do you have for us?

Amy Reid: So I’ve got, when you’re stuck in a rut, do what you love the most. So it is hard when you’re having those days of feeling like failure, feeling like a fraud, trying to talk yourself out of that. Cut yourself some slack, first of all. Then the next thing to do is just concentrate on what you know you are good at. Which is not going to be every aspect of blogging, because as we know, there’s a huge spectrum of jobs involved in that. But there is something within there that’s appealed to you, something that made you want to do this. So whether that’s recipe development, photography, social media, whatever that one thing is that you know you are good at and that you enjoy doing, just focus on that in the meantime. Then you can build back up to the other things that you find a bit more difficult or that you’re convinced you’re good at. So for me, I enjoy SEO, updating blog posts, that sort of thing. I know I can do that effortlessly and it’s something that I’m good at. But I also know that’s something that I can do effortlessly and I’m good at from learned experience. That’s something that I have taught myself. That’s something that I have put the work in to learn. So as well as being able to do it without being too hard on myself, it’s a nice reminder that I can do this and not everyone can. I’m the person that put myself in a position to do that. So it’s a nice reminder. It’s a nice wee boost to get me back on track.

Megan Porta: A reminder that you’re in control. 

Amy Reid: Yeah, definitely. It’s that you’re in control of what you’re doing. That’s one of the nice things about being a food blogger is that it does come back to you. That can be difficult as well in terms of imposter syndrome, because it is all on you. But it does come back to you and you can make that decision to focus on that one thing and get yourself back on track. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, it aligns with the abundance mindset. If you can focus on what you’re good at and the good things that have happened to you and come your way, then more of that comes. But when you focus on Oh, I don’t know. I think there’s a lack. There’s a gap. I’m missing something. Then it goes down that bad path of I can’t get what I want. I suck. I’m not good enough. 

Amy Reid: Yeah. But it’s this sort of mindset thing, isn’t it? You need to take a sort of conscious effort to shift that sometimes.

Megan Porta: Mindset is so huge and something that we don’t talk about enough. We talk about all the topics, but we don’t often get into the root of what actually creates success for us, which is mindset. 

Amy Reid: Yeah, definitely. I suppose feeding on to that, the wee sort of bonus tip is to listen to what people ask you. So the chances are they’re asking you because they think you’re good at something, they consider you a bit of an expert. So take that and shift that into your mindset, somebody’s asked me about my photography. Even though I don’t think I’m that great at it, they think I’m good at it. So take that on board. Like I say, feed that into your mindset of, even though I’m not a hundred percent, people have faith in me. They think I’m good at this. So maybe I need to start thinking, I’m better at this than I thought I was. 

Megan Porta: Listen to the cues that people are telling you because there’s probably truth there, right? 

Amy Reid: Yeah, definitely. Like I’ve already said, especially when it comes to imposter syndrome, you are a liar. You’re lying to yourself. So if somebody’s telling you they want your input, it’s because they want it for a reason. 

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh, this is all so good. So for food bloggers listening, you are not a fraud. Your imposter syndrome is lying to you. Do not listen. Shake yourself out by just being aware of it. Give it a name if you need to. 

Amy Reid: Recognize those wins, yeah. 

Megan Porta: How often do you write down wins or recognize them? 

Amy Reid: So actually, I’ve started feeding them into some of my email subscribers, I do a monthly sort of roundup. So one of the things I’ll do is actually make a note of what recipes I’ve published each month, because I usually get to the month and think, oh god, I’ve not done enough work. But actually when I put together, I’m like, oh no, that’s quite a few recipes I’ve managed to achieve this month. As well as that I’ll also put in some of the photos that people have sent me, so that’s turned out to be a good way to document some wins. But also, shout about it as well. Other than that, I also, like I said, I found a notebook from years ago where I’d noted down some stats. I always try to do that sort of periodically as well. Just to remind myself, at the start of the year I had this many followers, at the end of the year I had this many followers. It’s not the be all and end all, but it’s nice to think that there’s that many people in the world that are interested. 

Megan Porta: Yes, even if it’s just a few. Recognizing that there are a few people who are interested in your content. That’s amazing. 

Amy Reid: One of the other things, like I say, I’ve done a few things for newspapers in the past. When I was really struggling a couple of years ago, one of the first things I did that I found was a massive help, was actually framing them and putting them on the wall. Having that actual newspaper with my photo on it was a nice reminder that actually, someone had enough faith in me to ask me to do that. People bought it. 

Megan Porta: Oh, that’s amazing. Something I did along those lines. So when I started the mastermind groups, that was scary because when I initially started, I had never done anything like that before. So I knew that people were going to have to go out on a limb and trust me and give me their money, invest their money in this concept. So it was really hard and scary and it did feel like I was a fraud, like who am I? This is really isolating. I don’t have anyone to mentor me about this. So what I would do, because the people didn’t flood in right away. There were just a few that trusted me. But I would write their names down in my journal, and I would just be so grateful. Oh my gosh, this person has put their trust in me. They have invested in me, in this idea. Once I started doing that, people started coming in. It was like magic. So I try to do that any time I get into that gap feeling of worrying, whether it’s blog traffic or Pinterest, whatever. I just try to write down the people’s names or numbers or whatever it is of the people who have come to me and that changes everything.

Amy Reid: Yeah. I think one of my next sort of tips is to actually give yourself the credit as well because food blogging is hard. As well as documenting these wins, actually recognize what you’re doing because it is hard. You’re going out on a limb with a lot of these things, you’re putting this out in the world, not really knowing who, if anyone is going to take it on. So I do think, unless you’re a well established food blogger, you’re doing it all by yourself. Most of us don’t have teams of experts. So all of it falls on us and us alone. So you are alone in this, but you don’t have to be. What is it, your vibe attracts your tribe, that sort of thing. Go out there, find those people. But also, give yourself the credit that these people are out there doing the same as you. So you’re all on your own, allow yourself to have that tribe around you, but take the credit that everything that you’ve achieved is on you. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Everything you’re talking about is scary. A lot of this I was afraid of for a long time and resisted it. So just acknowledging that this isn’t easy or I shouldn’t say easy, but it is scary and it takes courage.

Amy Reid: Oh yeah, definitely. It’s definitely a scary sort of thing. Because you put all this work into a recipe for example. You put it out there and you don’t know who’s reading it. You don’t see the person on the other end. But you set up these sort of workshops and things. You put it out there not knowing if anybody’s going to be interested, really. You can do all the research and think, yeah, there’s a gap in the market for this. But, once you press publish, you’re just crossing your fingers that somebody’s going to come across it. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, it requires bravery. But you can do it. Once you do it, you will be greatly rewarded. 

Amy Reid: Bravery and the hard work as well, because, as a food blogger, you are a recipe developer. You’re a photographer, a brand manager, a copywriter, a web designer, social media manager. You’re doing all those jobs that a big website has an entire team to cover. So you’re doing all this work. So give yourself the credit for that. Take that win because everything exists is on you. Everything that you have created was you. So you’re allowed to take that win, take the credit for it. 

Megan Porta: Amy, you’ve given us permission to recognize that this is something we probably deal with, and just to be aware, and thank you for all of these tips. Is there anything we’ve missed before we start saying goodbye? 

Amy Reid: I think I mentioned earlier, so I fake it till you make it, is a philosophy I do believe in. Like I say, keep those sorts of achievements nearby. But zone in on that as much as you can as well. Start a manifestation board, put what you want to achieve on that. Having your stats written down is one thing, but what’s the goal here? What do you actually want to achieve from your food blog? So for me, I have a board that I keep by my desk. It’s got the words book, money and happy home on it. These are the things that I want in my life, and they’re the kind of reminders. That’s what I’m working towards. That’s what I want to achieve. Don’t let the voices quieten that down. 

Megan Porta: Such great advice. This is so inspiring. Thank you so much for all of this and for just sharing this value and your experience too. I know it took probably some vulnerability to do that, so we just appreciate you, Amy.

Amy Reid: Yeah, no problem at all. Happy to put something out there that might help someone. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, I think this will be a super helpful topic. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with today? 

Amy Reid: So one of my favorite quotes, I’ve got a lot, but one that always sticks in my mind when I think about this topic is, get out of your own way. I used to have it as my phone background for a long time as a reminder because it was my biggest hurdle in life. I was the person standing in my own way and stopping myself from getting where I wanted to be. Yeah, it’s one that I try to remember is, get out of your own way.

Megan Porta: So powerful. Just step aside, let yourself walk through, right? 

Amy Reid: Yeah, definitely. 

Megan Porta: We will put together a show notes page for you, Amy. So if anyone wants to go look at those, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/bakingwithgranny. Why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you, Amy? 

Amy Reid: Yeah, like I say, it’s bakingwithgranny.co.uk is my blog, same on Instagram, Facebook, just Baking With Granny. I do also have my email list as well, which you can get all the updates and things from the website as well. So more personal updates and things there as well. 

Megan Porta: Cool. Thanks again, Amy, so much for all of this and thank you for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode.

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.