Do It Your Way

I want to encourage you today to DO IT YOUR WAY! 

Throughout your life; 

Throughout your career, 

Throughout your business journey; 

...Things are going to change, platforms are going to evolve, mediums in which we communicate are going to change, adapt and evolve over time. 

But I want you to show up as the most authentic version of yourself! 

Stop comparing yourself to other people! 

Start focusing on your story, your expertise, your voice, and how you show up. 

It's important to be showing up consistently, regularly, and also making sure that you're adding value, not just adding to the noise on social media.

Quite often we can get caught up in looking at what other people are doing and being distracted by that. 

It might be a new platforms launched, and we want to jump on it.

Like right now, whilst I'm recording this video, Clubhouse is one of the hot topics of the day, and people might be looking to jump on there. See how they can use it. 

My advice for you when these sorts of things happen is to; 

Look at what inspires you about it? 

What can add to your content creation strategy? 

As I talk to you today, I want you to think, like I've talked to you about before, about your content creation strategy. 

How are you showing up for your audience online? 

How are you adding value? 

How are you making the content your own? 

Be inspired by other people, look at things that have worked for other people, but don't just try to replicate. Don't just regurgitate what you hear, and try to make it as if it's yours. If you need to quote other people, make sure that you hat tip them, that you pay your respects, and acknowledgements to those people. 

There's nothing wrong with learning from other people. 

In fact if you want to grow in business, if you want to grow your brand, I would highly recommend surrounding yourself with amazing people doing amazing work. Be inspired by them. Draw on their expertise and their knowledge, but also remember to show up as yourself. 

Your content should speak in your voice, your style, and you might deliver only in certain formats. 

For me, I love all the different formats. 

That's audio, that's video, that's written. 

But for you it might be that you don't like showing up on video, and you'd rather just do audio. In which case Clubhouse might be a great place for you. 

You might prefer to write, and not be on video, or on audio. 

In which case why not blog more? 

Why not write long form social posts, and create content that really speaks to your audience? 

Whatever format you use, you need to be yourself in a world of social media. 

Especially this time of year, at the beginning of the year, we see so many people taking breaks, and needing to change how they're doing things. And the reality is, you are in complete control of your feed. 

I always talk to people about 'reclaiming their feed' and I even use the hashtag reclaim the feed #ReclaimTheFeed to encourage people to do exactly that! To look at how and what content they are consuming. 

Are they consuming too much content? 

Spending too much time just consuming, and not actually creating anything that puts their voice out into the social space? 

Are they consuming the wrong kind of content? 

Are they following the wrong kinds of people? 

All the time you have the choice to change what you see in your feed, and to reclaim your feed. So do that today! 

I implore you to go and have a look at what you're following. 

What shows up regularly in your feed? 

When did you last really carefully look through and audit your social accounts? 

Not yours, but the feeds in which you're seeing. 

The people that you follow. 

The types of content they put out. 

Are they adding value for you? 

In the same way, when you show up on social media, you should be adding value for your customers, and your audience. 

So go away today have a look at your feed. Have a scroll through and see what content resonates with you, what adds value, and what you get the most out of. Also look at the things that maybe distract you, things that might be not worthy of your time. 

We all get 24 hours in a day, and I want to encourage you to use your 24 hours more productively, by choosing what you see in your feed. 

Don't allow social media to be this overwhelming beast that takes up all your time, both in the creation space and in the consuming space. Because it's important to do both. Anyone who's creating content, also needs to consume. You need to be aware of the current trends, what's happening, what's a hot topic, and what mediums are really working and resonating with audiences across social media. 

As I said before, be inspired by what other people are doing; 

But don't just copy! 

Go out there, surround yourself with amazing people, and learn from them, but do it your way! 

Creating content that speaks, in your voice, to your audience, and solves problems will help you to grow your business. Will help you to show your authority, your knowledge, your expertise within your chosen field, and it will help people to connect with you. 

People buy from people, and in business, if you're copying, if you're showcasing something you've learned exactly from someone else, it's not showcasing the very best of you. 

For your success I want you to show up, and do it your way. 

I want you to own the way that you show up online. 

I've got a really good friend, who very openly admitted to me that they don't like doing video. So when Clubhouse launched, they were all over it, because they didn't need to worry what they looked like. They didn't need to worry what their background was like, had they done their hair, their makeup. But they could get heavily involved, and they have been, since they got on the platform. 

So do it your way, and there's no prerequisite of right and wrong based on what other people are doing. You need to do it at your own pace. Other people might be creating content at scale. For example I've shared quite openly that I'm currently recording landscape, portrait, and timelapse all at the same time. Everybody's in a different place on their journey, and it's important to remember that. 

Lots of people look at people like Gary Vaynerchuk AKA @GaryVee and they want to be like him, and what he's doing today. What they forget is that he's put years of work into building to that stage. If you look back, and you're in the first year of your journey, and you want to look at how he was at that stage, go back to look at the early Wine Library videos, and the year he spent building Wine Library out. Which helped him to build his notoriety and credibility in the social space. 

Don't compare your step one to someone else's step 100! 

Make sure that you're being realistic, and you're doing it at your pace. The beauty is, because people have gone before you, you can learn from them, and you can do things quicker than they could do. They've already made the mistakes, they've already shared about that online, and you can see the techniques and the strategies that they're using, that are working for their business, and their brand. But remember, do it your way, and at your pace. You need to own your own style. 

I know categorically, and I shared this with a really good friend of mine this morning, that I have people that will not follow me because I speak fast, I turn up, and I'm high energy, I'm excitable, and that just wears some people out! But for other people that's exactly the reason that they will work with me. They want to get fired up, they want the energy, they want the excitement, they want the encouragement, they want to be pushed. And that's why that audience is my audience. They're the people that want to do business with me. The people who want to be mentored by me. People who want us to help them to create their content. 

They see us doing it, and I always say, when people see the amount of content I put out, I always offer to them; 'Wouldn't it be great if that was your business or brand?' 

So if that sounds like you, and you do want to work with me, please do reach out. 

www.itsnomad9.com/booknow

But from this blog, I want you to take away that you can do things your own way. You don't need to do it like me, you don't need it like @GaryVee, you don't need to do it like anybody else that you've seen online. Craft out your own space in the social media world. 

Look at doing it your own way, in your own voice, in your own style, and at your own pace. It's not a competition. There's enough business out there for all the businesses that are crafting in your space. 

In fact, if people have gone before you it's even easier right now to make progress. Being the first person in a market is the hardest thing to do. Why? Because you have to educate the audience. If they've never experienced it before, you have to put a lot of time, money and resource into educating the audience towards your products and services. 

If people have gone before you, and you can be inspired by them, and what they've done, but craft your own unique message, in your own unique voice, in your own unique style, and at your own pace, then people are already ready to buy in that space. Take advantage of that and push your business forward starting today. 

A final reminder; 

Do it your own way; 

At your own pace;

In your own style; 

And be authentically yourself! 

Learn and be inspired by other people, but show up authentically as yourself, create content, have a voice, and remember add value on social media.