We all have unique insights, skills and relationships built over the years through our experience. These are assets that nobody can take away from us, even more valuable than money.
Some share these assets, others monetize them, while sadly many keep to themselves not fully utilizing them.
Les Brown, an American motivation speaker sums this beautifully:
“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.”
That is why I love the theme of an event organized by Imran Tahir: ‘How to Stop Being Your Industry’s Best Kept Secrets’.
The 1st speaker Sarjit Singh shared this hilariously accurate quote by the famous psychologist Steuart Henderson Britt:
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.”
Then the 2nd speaker Victoria Dior Wang 🇸🇬 shared an interesting point that although BYD started 8 years earlier than Tesla, we know Elon Musk but not the founder of BYD. This highlighted the importance of branding not only for company but also personal.
Why Not Sharing?
Makes me wonder, why don’t more people share about their assets?
1) Too Busy: Reminds me of a dear friend whose company went public but doesn’t really talk much about it because he is too busy building.
2) Not Confident: Some people think their knowledge or skills are not something special, thus not worthwhile sharing. They are often introvert by nature.
3) Don’t Know How-To: They might consider doing it but not sure what is the best way to do it. Or get discouraged after posting a few times without much result.
Where to Start?
The key is to start small eg share to family & friends, get feedback & improve continuously. What if I don’t know what to write or say Mike?
Don’t do anything fancy, share your experience eg interesting article read, video watched, place visited, event attended, and conversation made. My most engaging post comes from this personal approach.
To make starting easier, you can share based on your preferred:
- Format: Written, verbal, or visual
- Audience: To many, few or 1 person
- Channel: Digital or in-person
- Interaction: Live or asynchronous
You can scrible (text & image eg shape, flow, graph) or voice out what you want to say, then share with your loved ones, the gradually to a bigger crowd directly or via recording.
Well without realizing you are already doing the above everyday, but to yourself. Don’t you talk to yourself before saying it out loud or visualize things to understand better?
The difference is when you share to others, there will be feedback on how to make things better. The goal is to have other people being able to understand and visualize your message as clearly as you do. Then it takes a life on its own.
Lastly, share for the right reason, that is to benefit others instead of boosting our ego.
When I started LiveLife 10 years ago, it was more about making me successful and showing people that I could do it. It stems from my thinking ‘I am not good enough and when my business reaches success that I envision, I will feel better about myself from other’s approval.’
Yes though I have a bigger purpose, my ego comes first. A simple way to know your ‘real why’ is to ask yourself honestly:
“Do you love to talk about (1) Your work OR (2) How great you are because of your work?” The former is about lifting others, while the latter focuses on oneself.
A great example is Elon. Though he is undoubtedly passionate about his work, his childhood trauma (he often shared about the abuse from his dad Errol), made him subconsciously craving to be the hero that saves the world.
So yah, definitely to be more impactful we need to tell our stories in whatever way we can, but let’s do it consciously and purposefully, while also understanding more about ourselves and growing in the process.
Mike Gunawan
B2B Event Strategist
