Ready for a wider audience to discover your work, but you fear putting yourself out there online?

One of the biggest roadblocks I've had to overcome as a sensitive solopreneur and a private person in business is the fear of being seen and putting myself out there online to get my work discovered by a wider audience.

Maybe you've noticed that you hold yourself back and keep your ideas, opinions and most authentic self from the world because you fear that others won't think you're knowledgeable enough. Good enough. Just simply not enough. You might relate to trying to please everyone to protect yourself from criticism and rejection.

Or perhaps the fear of putting yourself out there on social media keeps you from engaging with your followers and other business owners because, as a quiet entrepreneur, dealing with "real people" can easily overwhelm you or surface your social anxiety.

If there's one thing I know, when you put yourself out there (and it's required for getting your work discovered by your audience), you’ll be rewarded.

I'm not saying it’s easy. But with gentle, consistent action, it's possible to take off the mask and allow yourself to be vulnerable in your content and overcome your fear of putting yourself out there and being seen by the people you want to serve.

Pin for later

1. Be loving and accepting of who you are

Overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there online is a journey toward self-acceptance. It's about seeing yourself first and authentically regardless of where you're at. It takes time to stop censoring yourself out of fear, feeling like an imposter, or worrying that the world will reject you. It starts with accepting you for who you are, and, more importantly, where you are right now, acknowledging that it may not be where you want to be...yet!

You are constantly evolving. What you create and publish on social media tomorrow will inevitably be better than what you create and publish today because you've had practice. There's always a period of discomfort when trying something new, so the first place to start is simply accepting yourself—imperfections and all.

2. Tiny steps

Don't start with the biggest, scariest thing, like teaching to a large audience or doing live video. Build your “visibility” muscle by gradually working your way up to the bigger things.

I started by sharing my voice and writing on my blog (which no one was reading). Even then, it took me six months to publish my first post because I was worried about what others would think.

Step by step, I kept stretching myself and began sharing my thoughts on social media until I felt comfortable opening up more authentically in my content. I wanted my work to be discovered and reach a wider audience and knew that video would be a great way to connect with my people, but the thought of going on camera terrified me.

With gentle but consistent action, I began creating short private marketing and design tutorials for my clients (people who were already supportive of my work). Once I felt comfortable on video in front of a safe audience, I could start building the courage to post pre-recorded videos publicly on YouTube and Instagram before graduating to live videos via Facebook and IGTV.

The more you put yourself out there online in your business, the more you’ll expand and grow, which creates a greater capacity within yourself to step into new areas that have never seemed possible before.

3. Show up imperfectly

If you wait until everything you do and say is perfect, you’ve waited too long wasting time better spent on learning, discovering and engaging in the meantime.

Every successful, thriving coach and solopreneur I know has said that you've got to put yourself out there knowing that it's not going to be perfect yet. It's hard to accept that the content you put out will be subpar for now, but know that the only way to get better is to put your imperfect work out into the world first and refine it as you go. Otherwise, it'll never see the light of day.

You'll never get comfortable sharing your thoughts and ideas with your audience publicly or become a better writer by watching others do it. You've got to start before you feel ready and accept your imperfect work as good enough. Because it is.

4. Embrace the fear

No one wants to put themselves out on a public stage to be criticized, judged or rejected by others. When you're stretching outside of your comfort zone, fear is part of the process. It’s a sign and an indicator that lets you know you’re growing and expanding.

5. Focus on being in service to others

When I shift the focus away from myself and focus on why I’m showing up online in the first place — it’s because I want to serve my audience and be in service to my people. I’m on social media to help and support the right people, in any way I can. When my mindset is focused on my why, I gain the freedom to show up as my imperfect self knowing that I'm sharing content with the purest intentions in full alignment with my highest self.

George Kao, the OG of authentic marketing says that your content and marketing are your ministries. If you want to see why you can check that out here.

6. Disengage from attachment

I think this is the hardest one to do because as humans we wish we could control the outcome or how others perceive us.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you summoned the courage to put yourself out there in your business so the right people could discover you and your work online and everyone reacted favourably and loved everything you said and did?

Unfortunately, it's not how it works. When you put yourself out there, there’s a certain level of risk that comes with that.

Sure, you could fail…

people could leave you nasty comments on your post
you might freeze in front of a live audience
you could have your husband walk into your live video frame in his undies (true story!), or
you could stumble your way through an entire presentation.

None of that matters because whatever happens is exactly what's needed at this time on your journey so use it as fuel to propel you forward and improve.

There’s ALWAYS next time.