Every day I have to silence that voice in my head that tells me that I have no business posting on LinkedIn because I don’t know anything.
Who am I to be giving successful people advice? Who do I think I am posting here when I’ve screwed up many times? Some call it imposter syndrome.
It’s easy to look at others and think that because of their success and their “highlight reel” on social media, that they have it all together.
We may look at their experiences and how they speak effortlessly in front of audiences and think it comes easy to them. But it doesn’t.
Maybe you can relate to this too. Each day I have to remind myself that I have things to offer people. I rely on those who believe in me. And I put myself out there. More than you might.
Every time I create a post, add a photo or a video I am always worried about being judged, criticized or the subject of gossip. But I want to help others. So I keep going. I work hard to silence that voice that tells me I’m not good enough or a fraud.
I have learned that if you want others to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself first.
If I let the fear of what other people might think stop me, I wouldn’t do anything.
So no matter how many times I beat myself up, get my own way or screw something up, there are certain things I know that I’m good at. And you need to find those things as well. Those are things are your personal brand. And that’s how you can make a positive impact on the world.
For me that is helping others build their brands and businesses using LinkedIn.
I always say build your brand long before you ever need it.
One day not that long ago I needed it when I lost my job.
I had no intention of being a consultant or starting my own business, but I was able to do it when I needed to because I had been posting on LinkedIn for years prior, posting on this blog when no one read it and building an audience that thought I brought value to them.
Providing value to others will never steer you in the right direction.
And even when I was too busy with my regular day job, I still committed to posting helpful content here.
I had been speaking at conferences for years as well building up an audience.
I’m doing a free webinar tomorrow on my secrets for success on LinkedIn, how I went viral on LinkedIn and Twitter and how you can too. I’ll tell you how this post lead to free PR for myself as well as new business.
I may seem confident here and on social media. And maybe you think I know what I’m doing (a sincere thank you!). But this post is to show you that we all struggle with the feelings of not being good enough.
Let’s chip away at that imposter syndrome one day at a time!
Register here for the LinkedIn webinar.