How to Get Over Your Fear of Being Seen
One of the harder lessons I’ve had to learn over the time building each of my 4 businesses, it’s that unless you’re actually putting yourself ‘out there’ and getting seen (aka, being visible)… you know, interacting, engaging, and actually socializing with your people (= your target audience – which, if you’ve targeted them correctly, should be filled with your ideal clients)…
Then they simply won’t be open and receptive to getting to know you.
And if they don’t know you – they won’t readily trust you.
The importance of being seen all comes down to THIS:
No visibility = No connection = No trust = No signups or sales of your services, programs & products.
But, the very thought of self-promotion can induce phobia-level fear in certain people. For example, I have a client that I’m working with right now who said to me on our first meeting:
“Krista, I totally get it… the whole ‘putting yourself out there’ thing in order to build my brand. I’ve worked so hard just to get to this point with my business (she owns a very popular fitness franchise), that I just don’t want to mess it up now!
But I feel nauseous at the thought of doing a photoshoot and having to post stuff about myself. It just feels gross to me!”
She actually used the words ‘nauseous’ and ‘gross’ to describe her feelings about being more visible!
The top 3 fears that most health & nutrition pros have around “visibility”
… especially online – where everyone seems to have such polished images going on these days!!
- Thinking that you need celebrity status – or need to look like one. (Ya don’t.)
- Thinking that you need to be a professional motivational speaker in order to captivate your audience. (Ya don’t.)
- Thinking you need to be “everywhere” all the time in order to connect and engage with your audience. (Ya don’t.)
While all of those thoughts don’t hold true in my books, I will say that if you DO want your Health & Nutrition business to grow, especially in the online space, it’s important to get out of your comfort zone and do things you may not have ever thought you would.
But, here’s the deal: as a Health & Nutrition pro, who is also a small business owner and very likely a solopreneur at this point – YOU are the “face of your brand”, whether you like it or not. And, simply put, you have to get more visible.
Like really put yourself out there, in order to make a memorable impression AND make genuine connections. Which I do totally get can be super scary and is probably very daunting to even think about – as it is at this very moment for my nauseous client!
But, rather than fearing it, try to embrace it – because carving out your own personal brand can be a very powerful business tool.
In fact, it can become the basis of your entire business! Keeping in mind that your brand is actually an extension of YOU — and your products, your programs, and your services.
Ok, I’ve said it: promoting yourself is really scary, so how do you just get over it?
It’s true that the very thought of self-promotion can induce phobia-level fear in certain people — and that’s usually because deep down you don’t truly believe that the work you do provides VALUE to those you’re offering it to.
So please don’t fool yourself into thinking that your fear is based solely on “what will people think of me” and “I don’t know enough”… because it’s almost always coming from a place of “what if people don’t see value in me”
And if YOU don’t believe your value, then YOUR PEOPLE won’t believe it – and again, there’s no trust-building happening.
This is ultimately a function of Imposter Syndrome or feeling like a fraud in your business as well as the dual fears of both failure AND success.
Know and believe in your value. Click To Tweet
There’s no doubt that self-promotion is crucial to attracting clients and ultimately, selling your services, and programs. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly become comfortable doing it and can just jump onto the scene like a reality show celebrity!
Tips for how to get more comfortable (and confident) putting yourself “out there” and being seen – and heard!
1 | Know your target audience inside and out — If you don’t, that right there could be the lion’s share of your current self-promotion fears in your business.
When you’ve zeroed in on WHO they are, then you can not only create high quality, relevant content that you know they need and want, but you’ll feel much more confident in promoting that content.
Plus, you’ll be putting yourself out there as the expert in your field that you truly want to be recognized as.
2 | Find other people who just “get it” — immerse yourself in groups and communities of other health & wellness entrepreneurs who’ve been where you are, who ARE where you are and who just “get” where you are. This will boost your confidence and offer the assurance that you’re not alone in your business journey.
Support and accountability partners are key. Click To Tweet
3 | Use daily affirmations — Write them on sticky notes and place somewhere prominent so you’re reminded:
- I have something of real VALUE to offer that my people want and need.
- I am skilled, knowledgeable, and have unique talents & strengths – that others will recognize and VALUE.
- I am no better or worse than the people that I need to impress with my offerings. We are both just regular humans.
Very Well Mind blog says: Read or recite your affirmations at least once a day, preferably more. Looking at yourself in the mirror can help the affirmation sink in.
The goal is to replace your negative self-talk with positive messages and repeat them until you genuinely believe them. (Kick those limiting beliefs to the curb where they belong!)
4 | Shift your mindset – from Promotion to Expression — I’m all about mindset work these days (both personally and professionally), and I’ve come to learn that self-promotion – that others can connect well with, comes from someone who knows how to express themselves in a relatable way.
This is a fundamental shift from I HAVE to promote myself to I GET to express myself – and again, knowing your value is at the very core of each of those things.
5 | Get over yourself! — Sorry if this sounds harsh, but most people won’t care about all the little things that you care about and are focusing on as much as you’re imagining they do and will!
Consider that even if some website visitors don’t like your latest blog article or some of your social media followers don’t resonate with a particular post or one of your offerings seems like a total miss to people you thought it would hit the mark with… they won’t be ruminating on it – like you probably will be!
They’re simply going to move on and forget that they didn’t like your… whatever it was.
6 | As Nike says, ‘Just do it’! The more you do it, the better you’ll feel about it. So it’s good practice to make videos or photoshoots (face-forward stuff) part of your regular business routine. Maybe you’ll never learn to love it, but it’ll start taking the fear out of being in front of the camera – and more visible to your audience.
(Fake it ’til you make it, right?!)
7 | Get out into your community and seek out more speaking opportunities to give you as much “face time” as possible.
This will build your confidence and get you over the fear of being in the spotlight, whether it’s in front of a live audience or in front of a camera.
8 | Don’t be afraid to be chatty! Pretend the camera lens or microphone is your friend, and have a conversation. Try not to be robotic or stiff ‘cuz total buzzkill.
And yes, that is how you sound. Nobody likes their voice on recordings, but think of it this way – everyone else hears your voice the way it sounds recorded, and they don’t seem to mind!
For example, have you ever tried audio blogging, instead of just writing a blog post? It’s a nice spin on content creation for your audience and pleases all of those skimmers because they can start and stop whenever they like!
While self-promotion and being visible is crucial to attracting clients and ultimately, selling your services & programs – that doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly become comfortable doing it and jump onto the scene like an overnight celebrity.
However, hopefully, some of these tips for getting more comfortable about putting yourself ‘out there’ were helpful. Plus, you’ll be more confident in being seen AND heard by all the right people 😉