"What I have to say isn't good enough"

I started working with a new client this week on a LinkedIn strategy. We jumped on our call, and it wasn't long before she said something that really got me.

"I spend too much time reading other people's stuff and then thinking what I have to say isn't good enough."

Now let me tell you - this client is not junior, and she is not new to business. She has bucket loads of expertise. She has led very senior teams, she is more connected than a jigsaw puzzle, and quite frankly she is brilliant at what she does. And yet there they were, those heartbreaking eight words.

What I have to say isn't good enough.

I don't know if you have ever felt like my client. But there is something about LinkedIn in particular that makes even the most senior, most experienced people feel fearful. Before I started Telling Tales Media, I spent years leading a social media team at a global consultancy, where I trained over 200 senior leaders on building their personal profiles on LinkedIn. And I saw the same thing, over and over again.

Incredibly smart, deeply experienced people worrying that what they had to say wasn't accurate enough, or polished enough, or that it would be challenged by someone more dominant in their field.

So you know what most of them did instead? They stayed quiet. They didn't post. They kept their opinions, their expertise, their knowledge and experience within their teams, or to themselves. And if you are happy where you are, that is a perfectly valid choice.

But most founders I work with are not happy where they are. They are building businesses, sometimes from scratch, always from a place of deep personal investment. They are doing the hard work. And the success of those businesses so often comes down to one thing: being found by the right people, and being trusted by them once they do.

Visibility without a voice doesn't work

The thing about showing up online as a founder, is that you can post consistently. You can tick every box - frequency, format, time of day. And still feel like you are getting absolutely nowhere.

Why? Because the content that makes people stop scrolling is not the perfectly edited, generic stuff. It is the most specific. The most honest. The content where someone reads the first line and thinks: she is describing exactly how I feel.

That only happens when you are willing to share something real. A moment that didn't go to plan. A belief you hold dearly that not everyone agrees with. A behind-the-scenes thought that feels a little bit vulnerable to say out loud.

Those are not weaknesses in your content. They are the whole point of it.

What actually changes when you find your voice

When founders I work with start sharing more honestly (and by that I DON’T mean oversharing, or offering up their private lives, or performing vulnerability - but being specific and real), their content starts to feel more like a natural extension of how they already communicate in a room.

The right people do start to notice. Comments do become conversations. And enquiries do start to come from people who already feel like they know you, because in a sense, they do.

None of that happens overnight. And it does not happen by following a template. It happens when you stop trying to sound like an expert and start sounding like yourself. Because actually - you already are the expert. You just need to let people hear it in your own words.

If this is landing for you

I work with founders who are ready to stop hiding behind safe, generic content and start showing up in a way that actually connects with the people who matter to them. If you are not sure where to start, the best first step is a conversation.

You can book a free 20-minute call with me here. I promise there will be no pitch, and no pressure - just a chance to talk about where you are and what might help where you are right now.