If you describe a situation as a Catch-22, you mean it is an impossible situation because you cannot do one thing until you do another thing, but you cannotdo the second thing until you do the first thing.
It's a Catch 22 situation here. Nobody wants to support you until you're successful,but without the support how can you ever be successful?
catch-22 in British English
noun
1.
a situation in which a person is frustrated by a paradoxical rule or set of circumstances that preclude any attempt to escape from them
2.
a situation in which any move that a person can make will lead to trouble
Word origin
C20: from the title of a novel (1961) by the US writer J. Heller (1923–99)
Catch-22 in American English
(ˈkætʃˌtwɛntiˈtu)
US
noun
a paradox in a law, regulation, or practice that makes one a victim of its provisions no matter what one does
Word origin
from the novel Catch-22 (1961) by J. Heller
Examples of 'catch-22' in a sentence
catch-22
Answering his squadron commander's question was a Catch-22: he'd be lying if he answered no, and a coward if he answered yes.