Five ways to self-promote without sounding arrogant (the tips you've always wanted)

As the founder of F*ck Being Humble, I’m forever asked the question 'How do I self-promote without sounding like an arrogant Trump-like spawn?!' So I thought I'd share five different approaches you could adopt when sharing your next proud moment. As I explain at all of my events and webinars, self-promotion is all about figuring out your own personal narrative, and the sooner you have it the easier championing yourself becomes. Below are multiple examples that you can test, trial and own to see which suits you best. For some additional inspiration, I've also included references of some incredible people who authentically share their work and successes with the world in a relatable, honest and personal way that people positively engage with. 

  1. Be the educator: The educator is someone who shares their work because they want to be known as a specialist or they want to teach an audience on a topic. If you’re a hair stylist this might mean you share tips on how to maintain out of control COVID hair, or if you’re a film maker you might share an example of one of your own projects with top tips on how you created it. Providing value in what you share helps people to feel they are gaining something in return. 

  2. Be the cheerleader: The cheerleader focuses on celebrating the people involved in the project and achievement. By championing other people you focus more on the team effort and the people who helped you get to the end result. This works well to show that you support others whilst simultaneously promoting your own work. A great example of this is when journalists thank the various people they've interviewed for an article for enabling them to tell their story. 

  3. Be the underdog: The underdog self-promoter wants to share the achievement to remind others that anything is possible. This person might not have been an author before writing a book, or a confident speaker before doing a TED Talk, but they still managed to do it. You’ve overcome a personal fear or you’ve learnt something that could inspire others. You can become a source of inspiration for anyone battling imposter syndrome.

 4. Be the proud owner: The proud owner is someone who is so content with their achievement, they share with the pride it deserves. It might come across as an Oscar-winning announcement but you want to share this moment to celebrate you and everything you’ve achieved. It's okay to be unapologetically proud of your achievements every now and then!

 5. Be the changemaker: The changemaker is a person who shares their work by discussing the importance of its topic. This might be in order to change stereotypes, tackle taboo subjects or to challenge a status quo. Communicating this shows people what you're passionate about, and demonstrates the change you want to see in the world. This might harvest a community following and influence people to become advocates of the message you want to communicate. Share because you see the power of spreading that message.

However you choose to self-promote, it's really important to remember two things 1) to speak in a way that is representative of your personality and goals and 2) to try not to let that fear of sounding stupid (FOSS as we call it) get in the way of self-promoting. It's like anything we do in life that we fear — the more we do it, the better we get. 

Remember: care less, share more.

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Want to learn more about self-promotion? Purchase my book 'F*ck Being Humble: Why self-promotion isn't a dirty word' on Amazon. Attend our upcoming webinars on the 7th and 14th of May here and follow us on @fuckbeinghumbleldn on Instagram for more updates.