Does anyone find posting online in a professional sense to grow your personal brand intimidating? Because I sure do! Whether it’s thinking my input isn’t valuable, or worrying what everyone will think, I‘ve spent months overanalyzing what to post on LinkedIn. In the past, I’ve gotten a sudden boost of confidence and published a post, but within a few minutes I’d get a rush of anxiety and delete it because I’m afraid of judgment. Instead of having fun, sharing my interests, and connecting with others, I’ve spent months overthinking what I’m “supposed to do” on LinkedIn.
I spent months overthinking before launching @BayLeighCreates on Instagram because I thought it had to be perfect from the very beginning. Before starting the account, I thought I needed to have every little thing planned out: the perfect grid, all of my content pillars, my entire brand, and so on. I'm a perfectionist, so the desire to have everything be amazing got in the way of actually doing the damn thing.
Once I launched @BayLeighCreates, I started growing my personal brand and developing my Instagram marketing strategy. I developed an understanding of my interests and how I could turn those into content pillars to grow my Instagram strategy. I got the confidence to post more on LinkedIn, which is still an aspect of my personal brand that I still want to focus on and strengthen more. I started writing and publishing on my blog more because I was getting a lot of inspiration and fun ideas.
By simply doing the damn thing and creating my account, I posted more on Instagram from the inspiration I got by being immersed in the marketing community. What I've learned now is that I was holding myself back by thinking I had to every little thing planned out. Sure, having some plans and goals are important to get started, but actually getting started is just as important. I realize now that I've learned the most by immersing myself in the creative process. As a perfectionist and planner, learning as I go is usually pretty terrifying for me. Now I realize that taking the risk and getting out of my comfort zone can be very rewording.
Now I recognize that building a personal brand is important no matter what you’re future goals are or what stage you’re at professionally right now. For that reason, I’m ready to shake off the doubt! So, here’s to building my confidence and growing my personal brand! Moving forward, I plan to be more active by sharing my ideas and posting about my interests regardless of what others might think. If you’re in the same boat as me, what’s been you’re favorite part about growing your personal brand and being active on LinkedIn?