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Don’t try to get attention. Be yourself and see who shows up.


​In marketing, we typically learn about the importance of getting people’s attention.


To try to stand out, to be more charming, to be more persuasive.

​But that’s not what I’m trying to do...
If anything, I’m trying to blend in. I know that my ideal audience will spot me, even in a sea of social media posts.

Being flashy tends to get unwanted attention. Irrelevant comments. More spam. It may seem like more followers, yet strangely, still poor sales in one’s business.

Your audience …

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​You don’t need to prove yourself as an “expert”


​It’s ridiculous when someone says they’re “#1” in their field.

​“Oh really, by whose standards?” I wonder.

The more we puff our chest, the more imposter syndrome strikes.
The need to prove our worth is part of the fixed mindset (ala Carol Dweck) — when our ego is attached to a fixed identity that we should always be excellent, and one of the best. It sometimes makes us feel like a fraud, because nobody is perfect. We feel pain (or avoidance) whenever we don’t live up to that shining…

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3 Tips to Get More Engagement on Your Content


​“I had been taking it really hard when I didn’t get engagement on my posts, thinking it was a reflection of my value.” — fellow content creator.

Here are 3 things to keep in mind, for what makes content more easy to engage with: Audience, Medium, and Topic.  I'll address each one in this post.
It’s Not You. It’s Them.

It makes a big difference whether the right people are seeing your content. If you’re talking to the wrong audience, it doesn’t matter how skillful a communicator you ar…

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​Why I don’t aspire to be your guru


​I write often about the importance of building our ideal audience. To create a community of people who are our true fans, who love our work and presence.


However, that doesn’t mean we should aspire to be their guru…


Here’s what I see as the difference between having a true-fan audience, and being a guru:
In some ancient traditions, a guru is a revered spiritual guide. Some gurus command near-total devotion of their students. I respect the freedom to practice religion however one wis…

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How to build an audience from scratch for your business (or blog)

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Photo by @angeloriggi on Unsplash
​Articles about building an audience for an online business or blog tend to cover tactics like Facebook Ads, collaborations & cross-promotions, and SEO (search engine optimization.)

I’ll share my thoughts on those, but let's start with the most important thing:

A true audience gives you their consistent attention.

The best audience to build is a loyal following that has grown to count on you, and therefore, an audience that you can count on to engage…

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