"Putting Yourself Out There:” Overcoming Your Online Visibility Fears
What comes to mind when you think about “putting yourself out there?”
What about being more Visible?
If you’re like most Coaches and Entrepreneurs, especially new ones, that likely feels terrifying!
If that’s how you’re feeling, first know that’s totally NORMAL!
Anytime we’re doing something new or putting ourselves in a situation where we fear we’ll be judged, there’s going to be at least SOME trepidation!
The problem is that in order to provide the impact in the world and really be in service to others, we have to be visible and let others know we’re here. From a business income standpoint, being visible is a requirement in order to make sales.
So it’s high time to make some mindset adjustments if this has been an area of struggle for you.
I’ve got 5 must make mindset shifts to help you step into more confidence being visible:
1.Get to the Root Cause
Becoming more visible can trigger all sorts of fears, confidence issues, ‘imposter syndrome’, feelings of self doubt and overwhelm. It’s imperative you work on your mindset and release your limiting beliefs.
For your fear of visibility, take some time and explore where this fear comes from.
What is your specific worry(ies) when it comes to being visible and vulnerable? For many of us, it comes from wanting to be liked and accepted by others, so our fear stems from what ifs, such as “What if they don’t like what I’m saying?” or “What if I sound or look stupid?” or “What if they don’t like me?” or “What if I get rejected?”
Once you’ve identified your specific worries, then work to challenge those thoughts.
One way to do this is by asking what would I tell my best friend if they had the same worries? Or what if my son or daughter (niece or nephew) had this fear, what would I tell them?
Would I beat them up and tell them to get over it or minimize it saying it’s really not that big of a deal?
Another strategy that can help is to think of 1 time you were visible or “put yourself out there” and it went well (or at least wasn’t terrible).
A really helpful resource here to get to the root cause of your visibility fear is my Freedom From Fears Formula. The Freedom From Fears Formula (FFFF) is a collection of specially curated resources on fears, limiting beliefs, money mindset, and confidence building.
All resources I created from the challenges I experienced along my own business building visibility journey, and what I help so many of my wellness coaching clients now overcome. You can check it out here.
2. Focus on being of service
When you are overly focused on you and your fears, concerns, and imperfections, you are coming from a “lack” standpoint.
When you can focus instead on the message and value you’re providing and being of service, it puts the focus where it needs to be: on your audience.
That takes the focus off you and frees you up to do what you do best, which is to reach out and offer valuable solutions that will help your ideal clients using your particular set of skills and strengths.
What I’ve consistently found is that my fears about being visible and vulnerable were always much bigger in my head than they ever were in reality.
People are generally so inspired and grateful when you open up and share from a place of service and connection. It’s to your benefit as a coach and business owner to be vulnerable (whatever that means to you) and to connect on an emotional, authentic level with your audience.
Essentially, your imperfections and struggles are what will take your followers and prospects to raving fans and paying clients!
3. Adopt a B+ effort
This really relates back to perfectionism, which is so closely tied into our fears of being visible and vulnerable.
For most tasks in your business, like creating a video, giving a workshop, speaking or being interviewed on a podcast, a B+ effort is good enough.
Trust me, I’ve flubbed my words more times than I can count! But no one has ever jumped off one of my trainings or coaching calls because of it.
So I flub my words and I’m still out here sharing my message and hopefully providing value!
You don’t have to be perfect all.the.time! In fact, the more pressure you put on yourself to be, look, be, or sound perfect, the more likely you’re gonna stay stuck, frustrated, and invisible.
Plus it’s not a good investment of your time, energy, and focus to be perfect for every single thing; that’s a surefire way to burn yourself out and get nothing done!
So give tasks your best effort, but recognize what needs more of an A+ effort and where a B+ effort is good enough.
“Done is better than perfect!”
4. Do 1 thing each week that stretches you and gets you out of your comfort zone
A fun thing to do here is to Set yourself some ‘Visibility’ Targets.
Some Visibility examples:
Go to a networking event (in person or virtual)
Do a Facebook Live
Send an email to your mailing list
Post on IG or other social media platform
Share what you do and how you help others with 3 people
Get interviewed on a podcast
Guest Blog
Give a workshop or webinar
Then schedule 1-2 of them in your calendar and share your plans. It can make a huge difference if you ‘go public’ with your plans rather than keeping them to yourself.
5.Detach From The Outcome
As Coaches and entrepreneurs, we often get so attached to our businesses that we meld ourselves and our own self-worth into it. Meaning if we don’t get the sale, if we get crickets on our posts, if no one shows up to our webinar, we think WE suck.
But typically the 3 biggest culprits when those things happen are:
We simply need to get in front of more eyeballs
We need to be more consistent
We need to work on our messaging and really understand and use our ideal clients’ language
And sometimes it’s all of the above.
Regardless, it’s not about US and our self-worth, it’s simply a numbers and words game.
So remember the success is when you “put yourself out there.”
That you did the workshop even when you felt petrified or only 1 person showed up. It’s not a failure because only 1 person showed up or if you didn’t get a client.
That you created and posted the video even though only 2 people liked it. It’s a success because you had the courage to do something that felt uncomfortable for you; that you chose to put sharing value and helping others over your fears.
That is the key to visibility! It’s a skill you learn and get more comfortable with the more you practice it.
