Visibility and Vulnerability
How the right kind of vulnerability can help your business
Vulnerability is a HOT topic these days. And I see a lot of people crushing it and equally as many who being crushed by it.
So how do you know which camp you are in?
. . .
If you are in the midst of a crisis – financial, emotional, personal, business or otherwise – it is NOT the time to share.
If you are on the other side of the crisis, have healed, changed and grown – it’s time to share.
. . .
Let’s dig a bit deeper.
Let’s say you’re having a financial crisis in your business.
Sales are down and you are having trouble paying rent, employees, yourself and so on. You are feeling like a failure, questioning whether or not you should keep going, and struggling to keep your s^*t together.
Now is not the time to go on social media and share your struggles.Why?
Simply put, you will lose credibility with your current clients, potential clients and industry colleagues. If you saw someone sharing that they were struggling in their business and a hot mess – would you hire them? Would you feel confident that they could do a good job on your project? Or even that they will still be in business long enough to complete your work? Last year I heard 2 speakers on stage oversharing vulnerable stories – stories that they were still not over.
And they lost all credibility with me. My first thought was – “I would never hire this person”. Once that impression is made – it can be hard to reverse.
“Teach from your scars. Not from your wounds.”
But what do you do? Everyone’s been telling you that in order to be authentic you need to be vulnerable.
And I disagree.
Vulnerability plays a part in authenticity and has its place. However, you CAN be authentic without airing your dirty laundry online.
And just because a crisis has happened in your business or life, does not mean you HAVE to share it.
Can you tell I’m super passionate about this?
I'm passionate because all of this affects the perception of your brand. I'm passionate about people being their best authentic self.
You can curate the stories that you want to share. You can absolutely be authentic and have privacy.
#curatedvulernability
You are entitled to have privacy in your life and by putting it all out there you are losing that privacy.
And once it’s out in the ether, you can’t take it back.
. . .
When you are struggling (we ALL have times when we do), and when you feel like a fraud and a failure, you need to reach out to your closest confidents - you know who they are.
The people you feel safest with.
The ones who won’t judge you, who listen, who lift you up and who kick you in the butt if you need it. We ALL need those people in our life.
Take the time to cry, scream, stomp – and then decide how you are going to move forward.
It will all work out – maybe not the way you think, but everything will be okay.
And when the time is right; when you’ve gotten past the crisis, learned what you needed to learn and are in a better place – then you can share.
Choose the stories to share with your audience that make you relatable, that are relevant to what you do and show your personality.
. . .
I wrote a blog post in December of 2017 called 7 Lessons from an Entrepreneurs. (You can read it here). This post was the start of me writing from my heart, in my voice, and teaching from my scars. I still have people mention that blog post to me...3 years later.
I shared challenges, lessons learned, and what I had achieved since.
It made me relatable and real and approachable.
So are you sharing from your scars or your wounds? Are you sharing at all?
You can find the right balance and I'd love to help you find your authentic voice and share it with the world.