This blog is shorter than my usual aticles. At least, that's the goal. I never know how these things will turn out until I finish them.
People always ask me for advice concerning personal branding, social media, and making money online. I hate the phrase personal branding (though I seem to be good at it), I technically only dominate one platform (Steemit), and I've only just had my first 6 figure year in online profit. I'm FAR from an expert, but I know some things.
I know what works from seeing myself and a few others flourish and I know what doesn't from watching others stumble and fall off. What I'm about to tell you is for the space of building an organic, engaged, and receptive following. It's not advice about e-commerce, selling, or internet marketing.
This one thing you're probably missing will help you excel in these areas as well, but this advice is specifically about building a following and getting people to take you seriously. When people take you seriously, they trust what you say, promote your content, and buy whatever you're selling.
This one thing you're missing is a body of a work.
You don't need a professional resume of incredible feats and accomplishments, but you need to have done something that shows you're competent. That's it. If you're struggling building a following online or getting people to take you seriously in person, you probably have nothing that you can point to and say, "I've developed specific skills, knowledge, and experiences. This is what I've applied them to.".
Do you have an amazing physique? This shows you know a few things about fitness and working out. Indirectly, it demonstrates discipline and self-control. Your body of work is your body and it gives people a reason to believe you know what you're talking about when it comes to many other things. The Halo Effect is real.
Have you built a company? Clearly you know a lot about a few different things. You definitely have a degree of positive intangibles that have made your success possible. Your body of work makes gives you authority to speak on things. Even if people don't agree with you, you earned the right to your opinion and you can show it.
Did you survive an objectively horrible upbringing, overcome a significant setback (think hard drugs, prison, or disability), or do military tours in a war zone? Now no one will care if you become a piece of shit, but if you become an upstanding citizen, the dangerous and destructive parts of your life become as much of your body of work as the successes afterwards.
People love a success story, but they worship a comeback or come up story. Comeback and come up stories are an immediate display of your skills, knowledge, and experience. More importantly, they give people hope. If you made it out of hell, then they can do it to.
Maybe your life hasn't been filled with interesting or incredible accomplishments. That's ok. Most people's aren't. This doesn't restrict you as much as you think. There are plenty of challenging things that a normal person can do to become closer to extraordinary. The following is a short list:
- Learn a foreign language
- Learn a skilled trade
- Achieve military rank
- Achieve professional success
- Write a book
- Play an instrument
- Discover something new
This list is not exhaustive, but I want you to notice what they all have in common: time. Time to learn the thing and have success with it. Either way, you must invest time if you want people to listen to you. More specifically, you must invest time in a way that can be demonstrated. You can spend 4 years studying a challenging subject or 4 years working customer service.
Four years will still pass, but one person will have proof of how they spent it. The other will just have proof they didn't die.
Obviously there is more that goes into building a personal brand or gaining credibility, but this is a foundation. Your secondary skills won't matter if you haven't do anything to make people listen. To make that point, I'll end the email with something I've discovered about public speaking.
It's nice if the speaker is great orator, but it's vital that he's accomplished something. Speakers command 5 figure speaking fees because they accomplished something of note. Good speaking skills are like good writing skills: they are nice to have, but you'll be FAR more effective if you have an actual story to tell.
The Rest Is Up To You
