How to Overcome the Greatest Social Media Fear
This week’s set up:
🆘 Problem: You want to post ideas on social media but your inner critic holds you back
💡 Solution: Evaluate the pros of sharing "in public" and the progress that can follow
🗺 Next play: Take a step to share 1 personal story or project where feedback from a community could add value
My "Build in Public" Test:
Last week, I went out on a limb to try something new even though I didn't know how readers were going to respond.
If you remember, I shared that I was thinking of launching a cohort course on Maven. I told everyone the story of how I met Gagan, the founder, and was inspired by his team's mission to empower creators.
We ended up connecting for a zoom call, which gradually led to an invitation to become an instructor on his platform. However, to gauge a strong level of interest for my course, he said their team likes to see 100 email sign-ups in advance to show that there's a strong level of interest for my topic. 📝
I have to admit, this exercise did make me hesitate.
I wasn't sure how people were going to respond. 👀
It felt risky putting my idea out there and letting the world determine what they thought of it. But I went ahead and did it because I didn't want to waste my time building something that no one would be interested in.
So to unveil the results, here's the stats on how everyone responded:
I'm excited to say, in 24 hours, we hit 100+ sign-ups. 🎉
And to add a bit more energy to last week's update, Maven's also been gaining more attention since the last newsletter. TechCrunch just shared that they've recently raised $20 million in a Series A round to take the platform to new heights.
“Maven, a startup that helps professionals teach cohort-based classes, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz.” -TechCrunch
Needless to say, I'm excited to update everyone that signed up for the waitlist with more details shortly. *If you missed the news, feel free to add your name here for a future cohort.
What If I Didn’t Ask?
So over the weekend I was thinking about this whole "build in public" framework for validating an idea. And it made me wonder:
What if I didn’t take a chance and ask my community about this course idea?
To be honest, it probably would've just sat on my to-do list and I would've never:
Met the Maven founder and learned about their vision
Developed a new avenue to teach entrepreneurs
Stretched my thinking to build another stream of income
And most of all, I would've lost out on all the learning and growth this "mini project" has been. To go another step, let's dig into the opportunity cost of skipping this idea:
Hypothetically, if:
100 people end up taking the course
@ an early bird cost of $300,
it's a $30,000 opportunity I would have missed by not asking
Now I'm no Mark Cuban or Dragon's Den judge, but I know the sound of a missed opportunity. And even though it's likely all 100 of the group will take the course, I think it serves as an interesting visual.
I'm sure each of you all have your own projects that you might want to "test" the waters with someday but don't know how to start. What if you did the math of the opportunity cost and explored how easy it would be to validate the idea with asking people? What would those next steps look like?
By sleeping on our "project to-do's" we skip over a lot of business ideas that are only a couple questions away.
So this week, I wanted to take some time to address this.
What ideas are you holding back that you’re not letting your audience vote on? 🤔
The Great Fear...
I was chatting with a friend last week about one of the greatest excuses I hear about not posting on LinkedIn. And I see this across all demographics.
🚨 It’s the fear of posting an opinion or idea on a platform filled with “experts”... and being called out by someone who disagrees and has a large following.
It can prevent us from testing new ideas, shipping products, and growing as thought leaders within our industries.
If I'm honest, this fear is something I hear everyday.
But most of the time, people will never lash out. In fact, they are usually super supportive of people stepping out to test things or to take risks as long as you're going about it in a genuine way.
Here's why:
➡️ LinkedIn is a professional site so any bad comments you post can be traced back to your brand, boss, or working identity.
➡️ Most people are TOO busy with life chaos and building a business to take the time to leave a comment, let alone a mean comment to ruin your day.
➡️ Most of the trolls hang out on Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn is more of an educational platform.
To sum it up:
as long as you're genuine and knowledgable, negative comments don't seem to be much of an issue and the bigger cost is not sharing at all.
With the 7 clients I work with on a LinkedIn front, I can count less than 5 comments that have come across as negative and they've all been surprised how receptive people are.
🔑 Takeaway: your fear is in your head or in your reputation of looking smart.
Don’t let the chance of a negative comment stop you from sharing your voice.
Your voice is the most important asset you have. It’s what you build your brand on and the moat around you that no other company can duplicate. If you're not sharing it, competitors gain the edge as you'll be that much easier for a customer to leave when no relationship is established.
Why Does This Matter?
It matters because LinkedIn is one of the best places to grow your personal brand. According to Hootsuite, LinkedIn has 722 million active users across the world.
3 people are hired every minute,
the average user earns ~$50,000 USD per year,
and 4 out of 5 people on LinkedIn “drive business decisions.”
These facts alone make LinkedIn the most powerful platform to connect with any established brand, leader, or talent across the world.
Whether you’re looking to develop our thought leadership in your industry or progress in your career, you have to leverage the platform.
If you do, you will become searchable, trustable, and relatable online.
But it all starts with taking that first step.
Start sharing some opinions, and claim some thought leadership on the platform for yourself.
ACTION BYTES 📲
For my thoughts in this newsletter to work, you need to do two things:
Make a post this week sharing your opinion. Like this. Or if that seems easy to you, share a start-up idea or product you’ve been working on.
Comment something encouraging on someone else’s post today, whether you agree with them or not. (And if you missed it, check out my article on the greatest encouragement tool out there. Hint: you’re already here.)
Riff of the Day
On the topic of LinkedIn, did you know that you can now post a “cover story” to your profile, introducing yourself to your connections? Try it!
Thanks for sticking with me until the end. If you have any ideas that sparked or opinions you want to share, drop me a note here!
Stay outta’ trouble and catch you next week.
✌🏻 Joel
P.S. Like the newsletter? Share it with a friend!