The Customer Success Playbook

Customer Success Playbook Podcast S3 E59 - Kristen Nolan - Get Out There

• Kevin Metzger • Season 3 • Episode 59

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The Customer Success Playbook podcast delivers a thought-provoking exploration of confidence building in this captivating episode featuring Kristen Nolan of Interview Valet. Hosts Roman Trebon and Kevin Metzger guide a discussion that dives into overcoming self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Kristen shares her personal journey from questioning "who cares what I have to say?" to becoming a confident podcast guest who now coaches others. With refreshing honesty about her own struggles and triumphs, she reveals how facing fears head-on can lead to remarkable personal and professional growth.


Detailed Analysis

Building confidence isn't just a personal development goal—it's a critical professional skill, especially in customer success roles where relationships and credibility are paramount. This episode tackles the universal challenge of silencing the inner critic that so often holds professionals back from reaching their full potential.

Kristen Nolan's approach to confidence building centers on one powerful concept: taking action despite doubt. She candidly shares her own hesitation when first approached about being a podcast guest, revealing that her immediate reaction was, "Who cares what I have to say?" This transparent admission resonates because it reflects a common barrier many customer success professionals face—questioning their expertise or value.

What makes Kristen's perspective particularly valuable for the customer success playbook is her emphasis on how facing fears creates a feedback loop of growth. By "ripping the bandaid off" with her first podcast appearance (which she admits was "pretty terrible"), she developed skills and insights that now help her better serve clients. This practical example demonstrates how pushing through discomfort directly enhances client relationship capabilities.

The conversation takes an even more profound turn when Kristen addresses self-sabotage—identifying it as one of the most significant barriers to achievement. For customer success professionals, this insight is especially relevant, as hesitation in challenging client conversations or strategic recommendations can undermine effectiveness. Kristen's advice to visualize goals and map the path backward (her "Z to A thinking") offers a tactical approach to overcome this tendency.

Perhaps most powerfully, the discussion draws a connection to broader life satisfaction, referencing the common deathbed regret of "not having the courage to live authentically." This reminder elevates the conversation beyond mere professional development to touch on how building confidence impacts overall life fulfillment—a holistic perspective that aligns perfectly with the integrated work-life approach many customer success professionals strive to achieve.

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Kevin Metzger:

Customer success. Welcome back to the Customer Success Playbook podcast. I'm Kevin Metzker here with my co-host Roman Trevon, and today we're diving deep into mindset with Kristen Nolan, senior client account manager at Interview Valet Roman. We had a great show on Monday. Excited to dive into today.

Roman Trebon:

I am excited. I blocked my calendar for this recording, so we're good to go there. Right? I listened to Monday's episode and I use Kristen's advice, so we're good here. I got focused time, but ke before we dive into today's one big question, I think we should get to know Kristen a a little bit better. She's, uh, again, we, as we touched on Monday, she has a lot going on. Uh, and I want our audience to get to know her a little bit better. So, uh, Kristen, you mentioned your, your military family, right? You've lived all over the place with your family. Is there one place that you've been that's really left a mark on you or, or your family?

Kristen Nolan:

Yeah, so we have lived in a bunch of different places. Um, but I would say the one that I enjoyed the most was, um, Monterey, California. Obviously it's got it's beautiful right on the coast. Of California, the weather is perfect, 50 to 80 degrees year round. Um, and just a lot of really great family time. That was a point in my husband's career where he was in school, had a very predictable schedule. So we got in a lot of family time. We ended up purchasing a camper and we went camping in wine country. And so just a lot of fun, um, as a family and, and a lot of really great memories together.

Kevin Metzger:

Can I ask, while you were there, did you, uh. Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Kristen Nolan:

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Metzger:

As cool as it sounds.

Kristen Nolan:

It is very cool. I loved the aquarium. We actually had a membership. My kids were younger at the time, so, um, anything to get them outta the house and, you know, out and about doing things. So it was super cool. I actually, uh, worked part-time at the hotel next door and it was a really cool experience.'cause, you know, people would come and stay for the weekend and just go to the aquarium like nothing else. Um, a cool place to be close to and just, I mean, the water and the views were just incredible, so,

Kevin Metzger:

yeah. And so when you're not working, what's your go-to activity to help you recharge if you're not gonna the aquarium?

Kristen Nolan:

Yeah. I currently live in Tampa. It is beach season, so I actually have blocked off my calendar on Friday, and I am gonna go to the beach for a couple of hours by myself. Without kids'cause they'll be at school and I just take my book and I just relax. And so that gives me some time to recharge and, you know, ground myself as well and enjoy a little bit of sunshine. So who doesn't love sunshine?

Roman Trebon:

I am mad jealous. Uh, I wish I was, uh, blocking some time out to go to the beach on Friday. That sounds great. Uh, Kristen, uh, alright, so if Kevin and I take a road trip to Tampa, we're visiting Tampa, what's the, is, what's the place we need to go see? Or what's the place we need to go eat if we're traveling down to Tampa? I.

Kristen Nolan:

If you are in Tampa, I would say so there is this amazing little restaurant on the water. It's called the Salt Shack. Um, we, every time we have people come in to visit, um, it's overlooking the bay on, um, the St. Pete's side, but they have a lot of like, local seafood and it's just a great ambiance. Like I'll take people there kind of at sunset. Um, usually there's a. You know, hour plus weight. So if that tells you anything, um, yeah, they have an incredible pina colada if you're into that. Um, but definitely just a great, a great place, uh, to take. That's where we take everyone. So,

Roman Trebon:

yeah, I've written it down. And, and Kev, we need to put together, like, we have so many great recommendation, uh, food recommendations from across all our guests. We gotta put together like a, a, if you're going to Austin, Tampa, you name it, London, where, where to go eat at. So, um, we got Nashville, we got all kind.

Kristen Nolan:

Podcast field trip where you go to all these places and you know, visit all the, all the cool places everyone's telling you about.

Roman Trebon:

That's exactly it. Yeah. Special episode. We go to Nashville and try the hot chicken there or whatever, so who knows. All right, Kev, you ready for the one big question

Kevin Metzger:

and today's one big question. I. How do you silence the inner critic and build real confidence, especially in high pressure roles or environments?

Kristen Nolan:

So what I would say first is I would say rip the bandaid off in doing this. I'm a podcast guest right now, you know, and a group of us were, um, approached at interview LA and Tom said, Hey, I, I think you guys would be great guests. And my first question was. Who cares what I have to say, right? I remember kind of like chuckling, right? And I'm like, nobody cares what I have to say. But then I thought about it and I get to work with clients every day. I get to strategize with them. And so one of the things that I think is so important and so great is that we all have something to say and something valid, um, and something that we're an expert at, as Tom Schwab always says, you know, the world needs to hear you now more than ever. And so for me it was. Sort of just getting myself out there. Um, my first interview was not my best interview. In fact, I sometimes will go back and listen to it. It's pretty terrible. But then I think about how I sort of rip that bandaid off and I look at the growth that I've had coming from that first interview to where I am today. And. It helps me coach my clients, right? Like I have clients that have different backgrounds. Some of them have never done a podcast before. Some of them have done many, and so I can sort of coach them because I've seen, and I've been in their shoes on where they are in various stages of, you know, that journey.

Roman Trebon:

It's sometimes it's overcoming that uneasiness, right? Like we feel it's easy to say no and not do something and, and the first time you do it like. Kristen. To be honest, when Kevin uh, mentioned the podcast to me years ago, I had the same thing. I said, well, who's gonna hear us talk about anything? Right? Like, that was my first reaction. It's overcoming that, like my initial critic, like, why would I wanna do it? And I'm glad I did because what you get out of it is, is amazing, right? Like it's now I'm not nervous. We've connected with so many great people, like I got a whole bunch of restaurant recommendations. There's so much positive that comes out of it, but. It's overcoming that initial doubt, and I think what you said is, is, is, is spot on, right? You gotta kind of push through initially. And, and the more you do it, the, the easier it gets. With some of this stuff,

Kristen Nolan:

I often, um, and I, I mean I see this with people too, it's self-sabotage, right? A lot of times the thing that holds us back from achieving our goals or achieving things that we could is ourselves. And so if we're able to kind of push through that, then we can accomplish so much more. Um, had I said no, I wouldn't be sitting here today, I wouldn't be meeting new people. I wouldn't be, um, you know, able to talk about the things that I do. I wouldn't be as good in my role as a client account manager. Because I wouldn't understand what it's like to be on the other side of, of things as a guest. And so, um, you know, in, in silencing, um, or, you know, feeding into that and not putting ourselves out there, we're just doing ourselves a disservice because we're not reaching our full potential.

Kevin Metzger:

Yeah, I agree. Have you had a scenario where you've had to kind of fight that imposter syndrome? I mean, I know you kind of talked about it from the interview itself, but where you're coming in or even, you know, coming into a new situation and you're like. I'm just not the right person.

Kristen Nolan:

Yeah. Well, and you know, there have been times where I've looked at things or said, well, maybe I'm not the right person for that. I'm not the right, you know, it's just, and I think we all have this right where we are, like, I'm not really sure that that's the right fit for me. And I think what happens is we just have to then visualize what that looks like. Right? Like, what does that. How do we frame it out? And I, it goes back to kind of my z to a thinking that I mentioned, um, on Monday where sometimes we just have to sit down and say, what is our goal and how do we get to that goal? And so I often will coach clients. I have a client, you know, she, she prefers pre-calls. She's very shy. It's not a natural sort of thing for her to be out there and, and having conversations. She's a natural introvert. And so I tell her, I'm like, podcasts are a great avenue for that because. You don't have to be in a room full of thousands of people to talk about what you have to offer. Podcasting offers you the opportunity to be, to talk one-on-one or talk, talk in a small, in a small group. I always say the best podcast that I listen to are the ones where it sounds like you're, you're sitting in a coffee shop and you're overhearing, two people have a conversation, right? You're being a little nosy and you're learning some things. That to me is pretty cool.

Roman Trebon:

It reminds me of, um. I don't know if you ever heard the quote. There's, uh, from Bro Ware, she was a, a pal. She wrote a book. She was a palliative care nurse for a long time, and so. She wrote a book on like the five regrets of the dying and, and the number one thing is I wish I had the courage to live a life. Right. Which it kind of reminds me of that, right? Which is a lot of what we're talking about, right? Like you so, so many people. I think let that inner critic kind of stifle them and paralyze them where you really, like you said, you gotta set a goal and push, push towards it. So this is great stuff. Alright, Kristen, you're coming back for Friday, right? Yes. I will be here. Alright, so Friday we are going to, uh, close out our three part series with a discussion on technology and the human connection, right? How can AI help us build stronger relationships? So I'm excited Kristen to dive into that with you, Kev, for our audience, until next time, chief on Player.

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Kevin Metzger

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Roman Trebon

Co-host
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Kristen Nolan

Guest