Being Available vs Being Addicted?

Written By Joel Hansen

Curious about using a personal brand to build an online voice and establish credibility? You’ve come to the right place! Join 17,150 other founders and marketers that think like you. If you want content like this sent straight to your inbox, subscribe here.

Are you available or addicted?

Someone who was available sold their start-up to a Fortune 1000 company off. of. a. Tweet. 🤯

There’s value to being available, but addiction is the norm without the proper guardrails.

This week’s set up:

🆘 Problem: You want to stay up to date on trends and opportunities, but you keep wasting time.

💡 Solution: Become available without being addicted. 

🗺 Next play: Create frameworks to prevent addiction and practice seeking and responding to opportunities.

The Power of Being Available

Ben Tossel, the founder of Makerpad, made a Tweet that changed his life. 

He was quite active on Twitter, and last fall he tweeted about the top tools used by Makerpad. The tweet started to get some attention. Then someone tagged the top two brands and said, you should look at buying Makerpad. Then the CEO of Zapier, Wade Foster, saw the tweet and asked Ben to link up for a chat; “great idea!” he said.

zapier makerpad.png

Then Zapier acquired the company, Makerpad, after some conversations with Ben:

Ben was quite surprised, as an indie hacker, that just from the art of sharing and conversation and someone else connecting them, his company was literally bought off of a tweet.

This is a great example: both of these people, Ben and Wade, were available on social media with a brand presence where their community could connect them.

But they’re not addicted to social media. Because they’re running a company. Both of them.

The Happy Medium

How can we set up vehicles of communication, relationship, and community so that we can be available for great opportunities when the time strikes… instead of being consumed and addicted to never getting off our devices. 

A happy medium needs to be seen, especially for the CEOs and founders.

We need to set up systems to be available instead of becoming addicted:

  • ❌ Addicted: Your phone’s always in your pocket, and you’re typing at the dinner table. You can never be fully present with those who are closest to you in life. This is a dangerous spot to be.

  • ✅ Available: If you’re on a podcast, or out to lunch, or your company gets mentioned in the media, you have a vehicle to use for sharing that story on social media, without wasting time or effort.

It’s important to have a presence that is trustworthy and able to build rapport with a customer, future partner, or employee. That’s the whole motive behind developing a personal brand online. 

And by simply being available and checking in a couple times a day or week, depending on your schedule, you’re able to build a vehicle of trust and rapport with your industry that can leverage an immense amount of power when given the right opportunity.

Just like with Ben Tossell, by simply being available and sharing his top partnerships, he was able to sell his company off a tweet, ultimately changing his life, you can set yourself up for opportunities.

In similar ways, markets are literally moving on social media depending what people do or don’t say (*ahem* Elon), and I think the main question is, How can you build systems where you're able to have a working tool ready to go?

You need to have the canoe and paddles so if the current starts, you’re ready to go into motion. If you’re standing there on the side of the water, with no idea of how to engage on social media, you won’t be ready to go downstream with the current.🚣

Have the tools ready to go so that if the opportunity strikes, you can be available.

It’s a balance: being available without being consumed.

📲 ACTION BYTES 

  • What systems can you set in place to help you be available to opportunities on social media? Eg: Scheduling in specific times to engage with an online community on a specific platform.

  • What habits can you drop to break a social media addiction? Eg: Leave your phone in a different room during meals.

💼 JOB BOARD 

Check back each week for new roles in marketing, communications, and tech. 

Have a job you want to feature? Email hello@joelhansen.com for details.

💡RIFF OF THE DAY

Here’s a free resource to maximize your impact on social media. @heyblake made a free Twitter MBA course! Learn how to use Twitter effectively and make yourself available.

twitter mba.png

 Thanks for sticking with me until the end. If you have any ideas that sparked, drop me a note here! I try hard to make it an email you look forward to each week, so if you have any suggestions about content you’d like to see, let me know.

Stay outta’ trouble and catch you next week.

✌🏻 Joel

📱 Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Courses

P.S. What are the ways you stay available without getting addicted? Drop your habit in a comment below.

Joel Hansen
Previous

We Need to Quit More
Next

Daily Habits Outperform Hustle Culture. Here’s Why: