Are You Putting Yourself "Out There"?

In 2014, LinkedIn rolled out a feature that allowed members to write blog posts and spread the word among their networks. At the time, I wasn’t a heavy LinkedIn user.

I decided to give it a try, and started blogging.

English is my second language. I thought writing in English would be an interesting professional challenge.

The first article I wrote was “Breaking Frontiers: how far can we go to achieve our purpose?” I posted it on December 19, 2014. Go to my LinkedIn profile and check it out!

After writing a few articles and learning how to refine my content, writing style, and approach, my posts started getting featured by LinkedIn. That was fantastic. My network increased from just a few people to thousands of followers.

The people I connected with also added a lot of value for me, inviting me to write for other blogging platforms, offering me jobs, speaking engagements, and more.

Of course, none of that happened overnight. Things take time to brew. But it all starts with the simple decision to not let my real or perceived limitations, like a language barrier, prevent me from putting myself out there.

How are you putting yourself out there? What kinds of things are you doing to “sell” yourself and stand out from the crowd?

Many people come to me and ask about writing on LinkedIn. I always, always tell them: Just do it.

In the beginning, you might not be that good at it. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll have some typos, things of the kind, and when you revisit your article after a few months you’ll notice it made sense in your mind but not in writing.

That’s OK. That’s how you start putting yourself out there — by experimenting.

If you try to be perfect on your first attempt, two things might happen: (1) You’ll never do anything because you try to perfect each thing over and over before shipping it out to the world, to the point where it doesn’t have value by the time you actually do it; or (2) if you do put something out there after perfecting it, somebody else might have been there already, and you’ll have lost your chance to deliver a unique message.

All I’m saying is this: Today, life is about experimenting and iterating.

Nobody gets it right at the beginning. I keep fucking up many things in life. But one thing I’ve learned is that things don’t have to be perfect to be shipped. They have to be good and functional, not perfect.

As you ship executed ideas, be it in the form of LinkedIn posts or the most freaking amazing innovation, you’ll go through rounds and rounds of feedback, experimentation, more iteration, fuck-ups, false successes, actual small successes, and more fuck-ups. But if you don’t put yourself out there, none of that is going to happen. No excitement, no failures, no learning. Nothing.

If you want to stand out from a crowded, competitive and fast-moving world, and make a name for yourself, you must put yourself out there.

Is it frightening to put yourself out there?

Perhaps it is. Most likely yes. I mean, putting yourself out there is literally the best way to get out of your comfort zone, but you also expose yourself to a world full of trolls. So, be prepared for love and hate.

Who cares, though?

The ideas in your mind might be awesome. Maybe they’re the best and most beautiful ideas in the world. But they’re worthless without execution. They’re worthless if they stay inside your smart head. You have to put them out there!

Put yourself out there. Sell yourself. Stand out from the crowd.

That’s how you’ll rock some boats. That’s how you’ll be seen. That’s how your work will gain exposure and be validated.

Don’t be shy about this.

And hey, you might be an introvert. It doesn’t really matter. To put yourself out there, you don’t have to go around the office or the streets yelling how fucking awesome your idea is. But you definitely have to make sure your ideas and your self get a voice and an outlet. Show those ideas to the world.

Don’t be invisible! Put yourself out there. 

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About the author:

Enrique is an HR and Tech Evangelist and founder of Hacking HR Forum. Enrique came to the United States from Venezuela as a Fulbright Scholar. Prior to coming to the US, Enrique was the CEO at Management Consultants, a firmed specialized in Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility in Venezuela. Before Management Consultants, Enrique worked in the telecommunications sector as a Senior Project Engineer for Telefonica. He currently works as an advisor for the CHRO at the Inter-American Development Bank. He is also the cofounder of Cotopaxi, an artificial intelligence based recruitment platform focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. Enrique is a guest author in several blogs about innovation, management and human resources. He has over twenty years of experience. Enrique holds an Electronic Engineering from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela and an Executive Master’s in Public Administration from Maxwell School in Syracuse, New York. Enrique also holds a Design Thinking certification from Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, he is certified Scrum Master and PMP.