The embarrassment of showing up
“Your posts are the first thing I see when I open LinkedIn.”
Back in April, I visited India for a friend’s a wedding. It had been a while since I’d seen these people and the first thing they’d say was your obvious, “Oh wow, Maria. It’s so nice to see you.”
But the second thing they’d tell me?
“Your posts are the first thing I see when I open LinkedIn.”
And I CANNOT begin to tell you how embarrassing hearing this is.
I’m not sure but the thought that these friends of mine might be perceiving me differently because of what I write made me want to crawl into a hole and hide myself away from the rest of the world.
But here’s the thing: a lot of friends have only now begun to understand what I do. Someone even referred me to a friend of theirs who was looking for a copywriter—something that’s never happened before in my six years of doing this.
You have to show up for yourself or people won’t remember you or what you do. Plain and simple.
Like I mentioned in the previous newsletter, I’m rewatching Steven Universe.
Here’s the gist. It’s about this boy named Steven who lives with three aliens, who call themselves the Crystal Gems. They are badass guardians who protect the Earth while also helping Steven learn about his mom, who was a crystal gem.
Now, you might ask - for what reason am I, a grown adult, watching a children’s show?
For one, because the story’s good and has some real belly-aching laugh-out-loud moments.
It feels like watching your five-year-old cousin doing very endearing things, while also saving the world - making him an easy-to-root-for main character. It also has this feel-good factor that’s a great distraction from my to-do lists.
And two, because I can. No one needs to give me permission.
But even though it’s one of my favourite shows, I’m rewatching it. Why? Because I’ve forgotten most of the major plot points.
Here’s the thing. The first season consists of 52 episodes. Each episode is only about 10 minutes long. And although i have a pretty good memory, it’s been a few years.
I hadn’t gotten around to watching the fourth seasons, but when I did start it, I realized that i wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the season as much if it was fresh in memory.
And this is a show I really really liked.
That’s the problem isn’t it? With everything in the world, you will likely forget something you really enjoyed or liked - just because you haven’t seen or heard of it in a while.
We can blame Tik-tok. We can blame the development of our very short attention spans. We can blame our habit of resorting to doom-scrolling even when we do want to enjoy our free time.
So we can’t blame ourselves if marketing our business’ is hard.
At least that’s what i’m telling myself - if I forgot about Steven Universe, a show i really liked, people will forget I do work as a copywriter (especially when so many other alternatives).
It’s what I will try remind myself of every time i have to show up for myself - even if old friends might see my posts on LinkedIn.
How are you showing up for yourself and your business?
On the more personal side…
Read: American Gods which was very long, dark and I had mixed feelings about it until the very last chapter, which is surprising because I rarely ever think that the last chapter is better than the rest of the book. I think I will revisit it if I ever get a chance to visit some of the locations in the book.
Watched: You already know what I’m watching. Also, the only reason I included that gif is because it was the last episode I watched and it made me laugh so hard.
Something that brought me joy: The library here in Qatar is massive and what has been fueling my reading habit this year (I’m on book 26 at the moment). The weather also hit 50°C (122°F), which means it’s one of two places I visit in a month - the other being the grocery store.
End Notes
I’m curious - does writing on LinkedIn or posting on other platforms make you feel the same way I do?
Happy marketing,
Maria
Ps: Here’s my website & linkedIn if it interests you :)