Closed Mouths Don't Get Fed
Jesse Dan-Yusuf
Helping creatives build businesses, and businesses be more creative. // Building Africa’s largest creative community, Sharing stories along the way.
Over the weekend, members of the Abuja Global Shapers gathered for our yearly retreat, discussing the future of the Abuja Hub and its projects. For me, the highlight of the retreat was when an alumnus got up to encourage us and the one thing he kept on repeating was "make sure you're telling your story". He said opportunities come to those who ask, opportunities come to those who tell their stories. "You have not, cause you ask not", he quoted the Scriptures, almost pleading with us. I silently echoed an Amen and added "closed mouths don't get fed".
I couldn't find the source of the "closed mouths don't get fed" quote but it's a quote I agree with. It seems to me that the ones who tell their stories are the ones who get the most opportunities. I've seen many talented and brilliant persons, brands and businesses lose out on opportunities because they were not known, and they were not known because they had not told their stories. So I'm going to ask you a question, why are you not telling your story?!
This post was partly inspired by my weekend retreat with the Abuja Global Shapers but also by Vusi Thembakwayo's recent newsletter. Vusi quoted my favourite African author, Chinua Achebe. In an interview in 1994, Achebe said, "There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." Don't let others tell your story, tell YOUR story.
In a world filled with so much noise, you may get left behind if you're not telling your story, building your Personal Brand. Ah, I can feel some of you cringe as you read that last line. The thing is, you already have a Personal Brand. You're either deliberately cultivating it or letting others cultivate it for you. Simply put, your Personal Brand is your Reputation. You either have a bad reputation or a great one. The cost of not building your Personal Brand, in today's online world, is costing you a lot of opportunities. So then, how do you build your Personal Brand?
Closed Mouths Don't Get Fed!
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Tell Your Story.
You probably have a history; the story of where you're coming from, you have your present experience; document it, and where you're going to; share it. Often people shrink at the mention of building a Personal Branding. They say that it's not for them, their credentials will speak for them, that personal branding is for famous people only, or not for introverts, or for loud people and many other myths. These myths have hindered you from accessing opportunities in your business/career. You can change that.
Like I said earlier, building your Personal Brand is basically building your reputation and you build your reputation by telling your story, documenting your journey and showing your work.
Austin Kleon's Show Your Work! helped me navigate this idea of Personal Branding. His book helps put to perspective the idea of self-promotion in a way that's not creepy. I encourage everyone to read it if they want to "make it" in today's online world. If you really believe that you're good (read great) at what you do, then you should be getting the rewards of that as well. Whether you're a founder, employee, creator or freelancer you should be getting noticed for the work that you do. Tell your story, don't shut up! Closed mouths don't get fed!
If you don't tell your story, someone else will or worse no one will tell your story.
Bonus: