How to Get Comfortable with Being Visible
It is so easy to get caught up in the highlight reel of instagram where everybody is posting their best, curated version of their life and when you see it you think “well shit, what special awesome life elixir are they drinking because my life doesn’t look like that”. You and I both know life isn’t a perfectly curated Instagram feed like in our head we know that, but sometimes we forget the second part of that which is that its OK. We all have ups and downs and more and more people are craving real life stories. So that shit that you went through last week, somebody wants to hear about it because they went through some bullshit last week and hearing your story will allow someone out there to see that they are not alone.
Your story is what makes you special. Don’t be afraid to tell it.
When it comes to being more visible on social media, on your blog, or whatever you use, don’t worry about being perfect, just focus on being real. You’re the only one that can tell your story in your way, and someone somewhere is waiting for you to tell your story so that they have permission to tell theirs.
Now once you make the decision to become more visible, consistency is key.
Create a Content Schedule, but not just any schedule, one that YOU can actually stick with.
Content is king, that is not a new concept, content creation has been around since marketing and advertising was invented. The only difference now is that content creation is no longer reserved for big companies with huge marketing budgets, its’s for lifestyle brands, solopreneurs, bloggers, influencers, celebrities. And today, if you have something to say or something to sell, there is content you can and should be creating in order to be visible to the people that need to see you.
Of course visibility in the form of content creation comes much easier to people who are either used to writing copy, or they’re good at taking photos, or they love being in the spotlight, or just really good at sales and marketing in general so I do understand that sometimes it can be frustrating for someone who doesn’t necessarily have those skills in their wheel house to fully implement effective content creation into their schedule.
My advice to you, if you have something to say or something to sell is to create a content schedule that you can easily stick to and that doesn’t interfere with the regular way you live life or do business in order to maintain consistency when it comes to planning and creating content. The easier you can make it for you, the better it will be because you will continue to do it.
When you are researching how to plan, and how to create, and how to take photos and how to do that video, and who should be on your team, etc also take into account that that persons life may be different from yours so everything you learn does not have to be set in stone. When it comes to content creation, the very best advice i can give is that whatever you ultimately decide to do, make sure it is easy enough for you to stay consistent. If you’re just starting out, one way to keep from overwhelming yourself is to just get really good at one or two platforms only, and ignore the rest. If you have a website, utilize the blog and if you have an instagram, utilize that and then really only incorporate other platforms when you get the hang of the first two, or you are in the position where you can hire help.
When you have something to say or something to sell it is important to make some kind of content, but what you make and how you make it is completely up to you.
Which brings me to my last tip and my favorite one:
You have to make a firm and final decision to show up.
When you make a decision, the universe will support you. When you make a decision, you are telling your brain what reality you are going to have, rather than continue to run on auto-pilot, and depending on where your auto pilot is right now, you may want to go ahead and just...turn that off.
There are people out there in the world who will be directly impacted by you the moment you decide to walk in your purpose. So whether you feel like you know what your purpose is or if you are still trying to align with it, you need to make the decision to show up in whatever way you know how. If that means posting to social media, do it. If that means finishing that book that you have inside of you, get to writing. If that means meeting a friend for coffee and a chat, hit them up! For some of us, visualizing our future is easy while for others you have no idea what the hell you want to do. Every moment of every day you are here, and alive and breathing you have an infinite amount of possibilities you can choose from. One of the possibilities you should definitely incorporate daily is just simply showing up.
When life hands Beyonce lemons she makes a billion dollar album to share with the world. But for the rest of us, we act life half of the experiences we go through never even happened. But there is power in those experiences, whether you perceive them as good or bad, there is power in being vulnerable, being visible, and sharing your life, your real life, with others. To walk in your purpose, you must make the decision to show up for the people that need to see you, just like someone somewhere did for you. So I invite you today to be a little more vulnerable than you were yesterday and just see where that takes you.
Kelley Raye, Branding Strategist + Photographer for Boss Babes