I felt attacked

I felt attacked today.

Ok, both seen AND attacked.

I was on a call with a mindset coach, and she joked that too many of us are spending time getting our CRM’s set up perfectly before getting visible in our business.

OUCH!

First, I was like - are you spying on me?? Because that’s what I’ve been LITERALLY doing (Dubsado is a great comfort tool for me to mess around in). And I know she said it because she’s likely been that person, and she’s seen it again and again and again (I’m SO not alone).

Secondly, I was kind of pissed off, because I’m also well aware of how important it is to have systems and processes in place to make my business run smoothly. I mean, Dubsado is really, really important. Geeeeeeez.

But, so is being visible I suppose.

How visible are you in your business? And what does that look like for you?

There are a million and one ways to be visible in your business. It could mean:

• Sharing your expertise in Facebook groups
• Volunteering locally in your industry
• Engaging with folks in LinkedIn
• Doing reels every damn day (clearly I’m feeling bitter about this one)
• Getting on the phone with potential clients
• Doing Discovery Calls
• Connecting with potential collaborators
• Going live on Facebook
• Posting a video on YouTube

How does the thought of being visible feel to you? Does it make you feel exhilarated? Or does the thought of it make you want to climb under the covers (or start tinkering with Dubsado)?

What about when you actually do it? When you do that live? When you publish that video to YouTube? When you post that reel? Are you proud? Exhausted? Apprehensive?

For me, I always think to myself…well, that wasn’t so bad. And that little bit of effort always comes back tenfold, at least.

It makes me think of another experience I had just this week…I got a new tattoo. Now, I’m no stranger to tattoos…this is my fifth tattoo. But I haven’t had one done in a looooooong time. My first three tattoos were done in the 90’s, and my fourth tattoo was done in 2009. And what I remember most about the experiences was the pain. The excruciating pain. So for the days leading up to my appointment, I was starting to get really nervous. So I started preparing - I made sure my AirPods were charged and had audiobooks downloaded. I made sure to hydrate over the days before the appointment; I had healthy snacks ready to go. You'd think I was preparing for an 8-hour hike.

I was a jittery mess when I got to the studio (I think I hid it?) even though I skipped my morning coffee.

But when the tattoo artist got started - it hardly hurt at all. A few minutes in, I asked her, is this as bad as it’s going to get? She nodded and kept going. About an hour in, the only thing that hurt was my lower back, from having to lie still for so long (I am almost 50 after all).

Apparently, over the course of 30 years, tattoo gun technology has improved (who knew!) and it’s made for a much nicer tattoo experience. I think at one point I even nodded off.

The whole experience has made me think about how much I got myself worked up; how the worry and fear was so much worse than the actual experience.

And I think that’s often the case when it comes to being visible in our business as well. We overthink it, we think about all the things that could go wrong, we think about all the things that people might think or say about us (although they never do), until we’ve talked ourselves out of it - out of being visible, out of showing our expertise and our passion.

Don’t do that. Show up. Show up for the people that need to hear from you. Be visible. It will never be as bad as you think it’s going to be.

And then you'll have a badass tattoo business to show for your hard work.