Episode 166
Sharing your voice – Vision Tribe Summit 2025
Carlos, Laurence, and Lana present the fourth and final session in their Vision Tribe Summit from February 2025.
This conversation will help you
- Reframe sharing your voice on social media from self-promotion to a tool for personal clarity and connection
- Overcome perfectionism, fear of adding to the noise, and imposter syndrome
- Build authentic connections by asking questions, curating content that inspires you, and championing others
Links
Transcript
this is fourth session.
Speaker:Of this vision, uh, summit, and for those of you who have been following us, um,
Speaker:the, they're kind of mapping out the four modules of our Vision 2020 program.
Speaker:Uh, and it's an effort for us to, an effort of ours to share kind of
Speaker:behind the curtain the journey that we're trying to take people on the
Speaker:journey that we've been on ourselves.
Speaker:Uh, to hopefully inspire and in, and spark you into action on any kind of idea or
Speaker:direction that you'd be maybe sitting on for a while or not only just sitting on,
Speaker:sitting on, sadly for a while because you are not sure about how to move it forward.
Speaker:So hopefully over the past four days, uh, you've got some
Speaker:thoughts and ideas and, and some.
Speaker:Uh, so inspiration for action, uh, and with this particular session,
Speaker:this is we're gonna tackle one of the scariest parts of the program, which
Speaker:is actually, uh, showing yourself, taking up space, um, having an opinion
Speaker:and putting it out to the world, which for a lot of people, and as
Speaker:I, as I understand it, the statistic is like, I don't know, was it 99% of
Speaker:people on LinkedIn are just lurkers?
Speaker:Like very few people actually post.
Speaker:Uh, they like to, they, they don't even engage some of them.
Speaker:A lot of them actually, they just like appreciate from afar.
Speaker:So you don't even get the benefit of a little like.
Speaker:Or a little hot on your post, they just silently appreciate you.
Speaker:Um, which is an interesting aspect of this.
Speaker:But anyway.
Speaker:Well, what I thought we could do is we just initially just tackle or share
Speaker:our own sort of, uh, what we've heard.
Speaker:In terms of what blocks people or in terms in terms of sharing their
Speaker:voice or what that even means for, for some people based on our experience.
Speaker:So, Lana, do you wanna, you wanna start us off?
Speaker:the very first thing that comes to mind is, uh, authenticity.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And what does authenticity mean anyway?
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:With all the cohorts that we've had for the past five years.
Speaker:I think that's one of the biggest, um, redefinition that a lot of, uh, uh,
Speaker:you know, our vision 2020 alumni had to do is to define that for themselves of
Speaker:like, what does it really mean to share authentically, um, in different spaces.
Speaker:And I lean, you know, for me, I lean back to.
Speaker:Uh, one of our core message in the program is that, yeah, it's not about
Speaker:sharing to everybody, but it's about sharing your voice to people who would
Speaker:one, you know, get inspired by it.
Speaker:Two might resonate with it with their own personal experiences.
Speaker:And three might be looking for, um.
Speaker:Inspiration solutions, uh, ways of seeing that your, your voice and
Speaker:your experiences can offer to them.
Speaker:So for me, it really flips a lot when I see, uh, or approach.
Speaker:It from a, you know, working out loud or a documentation type of a process
Speaker:of like, I'm sharing my voice to document, Hey, this is, this is how
Speaker:my thoughts are at this given moment.
Speaker:This are, this is where I'm leaning towards to this is what
Speaker:I'm grappling with, and who knows who would resonate with it.
Speaker:And the invitation is to have then the conversations.
Speaker:How about you, Lawrence?
Speaker:I.
Speaker:it's interesting when Carlos said that 99% of people on LinkedIn don't post.
Speaker:'cause I can imagine.
Speaker:Most people's perception is that everyone's posting and everyone's shouting
Speaker:and it's a fight to get attention.
Speaker:And I, I know when we talk to people about doing the LinkedIn challenge, which
Speaker:is one of the assignments we set at the end of the program, there's this fear of
Speaker:like, oh my God, I'm just adding to the noise that everyone's shouting and I just
Speaker:need to be the one that shouts loudest.
Speaker:and I try and think back to years ago when I started blogging and how, yeah,
Speaker:I remember feeling a bit like, oh, I've got, have I got anything to say here?
Speaker:Is, is this important?
Speaker:Um, is anyone gonna care?
Speaker:And if they are gonna care, are they actually gonna care negatively?
Speaker:The whole trolling thing.
Speaker:Um, but actually I found just having this place to have an outlet to
Speaker:actually build clarity for myself.
Speaker:So I kind of reframed.
Speaker:Posting and writing is actually about me, not about other people, which I know
Speaker:is kind of counterintuitive, but I found it helpful just to have that reframe
Speaker:and then started to find that actually some people are getting value from this.
Speaker:And it does lead to, like you said, connection and, and then finding out who
Speaker:the people are that gravitate to this.
Speaker:So it really helped me to understand who am I writing to or who, who, um,
Speaker:who do these messages resonate with?
Speaker:This approach, this philosophy, and, and like you said, these, these ideas.
Speaker:So for me it's, it's partly about connection to others, but also
Speaker:about connection to self as well.
Speaker:And that's been my journey is working out loud and then finding
Speaker:out what this thing is and who these people are in the process.
Speaker:I think one of the biggest challenges, uh, and I have this with social media,
Speaker:and I think I, I believe most people have with social media, particularly
Speaker:when they think about putting stuff out onto social media, is they conflate.
Speaker:Outward social media with marketing.
Speaker:As soon as you do anything on social media, you are potentially,
Speaker:particularly if you're a professional, you're marketing.
Speaker:So the purpose for you to be there, and this is the like little leap.
Speaker:Oh, and I'm selling, so every time I'm trying to sell an idea,
Speaker:I'm trying to push an idea.
Speaker:So that's, I think that is the crux of the challenge of when people think
Speaker:about, oh, I've gotta engage with this.
Speaker:Things like, oh, what am, what am I selling?
Speaker:What's the message?
Speaker:How can I actually be of an influencer?
Speaker:How can I actually change people's minds?
Speaker:And so they don't wanna take up space.
Speaker:They get scared, they're gonna be judged and trolled, uh, they
Speaker:suffer for imposter syndrome.
Speaker:'cause who am I to say any of this stuff?
Speaker:And then, like Lauren said, like.
Speaker:Or do I really want to add to the noise?
Speaker:Isn't everyone else talking about this at the same time?
Speaker:So I would agree if that is the case, if that's the situation that you feel,
Speaker:find yourself in and you feel like, oh my God, I'm adding to the marketing
Speaker:noise, please don't post to social media.
Speaker:Don't, don't.
Speaker:It's okay.
Speaker:You don't have to do that.
Speaker:It is fine.
Speaker:I think we are all like thinking I don't need to hear someone again.
Speaker:Tell me a amazing six step content strategy to get my six figure income.
Speaker:but if there's another agenda for yourself, and I think this is what
Speaker:Lawrence was talking about and alluding to, if you find, just
Speaker:writing and articulating, signifying your thoughts, a helpful process.
Speaker:For clarity building, and not only that building connections,
Speaker:then maybe it's worth having a go.
Speaker:and so there's a few things I thought we could talk about here.
Speaker:There's firstly just reframing what it means to interact on social media.
Speaker:Uh, maybe we can talk about some of the platforms we enjoy, using and why.
Speaker:And then thirdly, this idea of what does it mean to launch, uh, on the program.
Speaker:what does it mean to actually, Launch an idea, uh, because I think a lot of
Speaker:people think about the hard launch, the heavy launch, we've come up with
Speaker:a phrase called the fuzzy launch, Fluffy, maybe fluffy, fluffy launch.
Speaker:The fluffy launch, sorry, the fluff.
Speaker:Probably fuzzy as well, but yeah, fluffy
Speaker:will do.
Speaker:So we're gonna touch on that as well.
Speaker:But, um, uh, rewinding.
Speaker:Rewinding.
Speaker:Where were we?
Speaker:Where were we?
Speaker:So the first thing was like this idea of.
Speaker:Uh, engaging with social media, and thinking out loud, working out loud,
Speaker:having that approach, what, what is the benefit of that approach?
Speaker:Well, actually I was having a conversation with someone yesterday who I. And I
Speaker:think this is a common thing of like wanting to, she, she wants to be more
Speaker:intentional about her work and um, is kind of had enough of being reactive
Speaker:to opportunities to sort of sitting passively waiting for the right role
Speaker:to come or the right project to come.
Speaker:She's a contractor and I think.
Speaker:This is a good point where she can build her authority.
Speaker:So for me, building authority in terms of building trust and awareness and
Speaker:credibility in your area, I think is a huge, is a huge benefit to
Speaker:starting to, to share your thoughts.
Speaker:'cause then you get to say, this is what I believe in, this
Speaker:is what I think is important.
Speaker:These are my values or my um, insights.
Speaker:And then people can start to build trust with you that way.
Speaker:And then you can get to be more intentional about the work you wanna
Speaker:do and who you wanna do it with.
Speaker:And then those people find you rather than you having to wait for them to,
Speaker:well, you having to find them, basically.
Speaker:So trying to change that dynamic so you're not just sitting there passively
Speaker:waiting for, uh, the right opportunity and then ending up on different
Speaker:spirals, not, not really having much control over your, your destiny.
Speaker:one of the benefits of sharing my ideas or what I'm working on, is
Speaker:around the practice of ne Wasi.
Speaker:So for, for the, the Japanese culture of digging around the roots.
Speaker:Um, so when you're trying to, Replant a tree.
Speaker:You know, you need to dig around the roots first, and if you have a project
Speaker:or if you have, um, a proposal before you create the proposal is you talk
Speaker:to the right people, you know, get.
Speaker:Get information first from people.
Speaker:Um, what has worked for them, what, what are their ideas?
Speaker:And, and for me, this informs a lot of the work that I'm, uh, I'd want to
Speaker:do is to gather from people you know of what are the solutions, what are
Speaker:the, uh, the things that they have, uh, already, you know, looked at.
Speaker:Um, because there's so much of the, I'll build it and then I'll let
Speaker:people use it approach, and then we end up with stuff that is not
Speaker:really useful or impactful at all.
Speaker:So for me, using the practice of Nemo washi to, um, talk to people to get
Speaker:their opinions, to get their ideas and, and support in harnessing what's
Speaker:already working well, rather than reinventing the wheel every time, helps
Speaker:in, uh, putting, you know, putting more impactful programs and services out there.
Speaker:So this is more on the.
Speaker:Professional side.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:On a personal side, uh, yeah, like what Lauren said, blogging or writing
Speaker:about my experiences has been so cathartic for me, given the things
Speaker:that I've gone through medically.
Speaker:So for me, I use it as my own way of processing information, like
Speaker:something happened, okay, how do I, you know, how do I process that?
Speaker:Writing has been a big part of my, um, healing process and.
Speaker:I realize, uh, the start, you know, of like when I share things of, Hey, this
Speaker:is what I've been, uh, thinking about and this is what I feel, um, that there are
Speaker:a lot of other women who would message me and say, thank you for writing that.
Speaker:You know, it's something that I've been thinking about as well, so.
Speaker:Um, if my, you know, if my writing, if my way of sharing what's happening or
Speaker:what's alive in me is supporting other people to, um, look at themselves and
Speaker:that becomes a mirror for their own experiences and how they can approach it.
Speaker:For me, that's such a nourishing way of using my voice, um, so that people
Speaker:would know that they're not alone in whatever they're struggling with.
Speaker:I think there's this idea of sharing your voice in order to be heard, and the
Speaker:sharing your voice in order to connect, and help other people share theirs.
Speaker:I think if, if there's a fear, I feel like of, oh, we're gonna take
Speaker:up space and I'm gonna add to the noise and what have I got to say?
Speaker:I think all of us are curious about something.
Speaker:And all of us are wanting to explore and we either explore in our heads and just
Speaker:go, you know, tails or sort of wheel spin, trying to sort of understand something
Speaker:or, or we just immerse ourself in, in books, in podcasts, or we just share that
Speaker:question with others and just understand what do you think and, and invite people.
Speaker:To share their ideas as well.
Speaker:'cause I think a lot of the time, I, I, I believe, do you remember in class And, and
Speaker:the teacher would say, or someone would say, does anybody have any questions?
Speaker:Anyone got any questions?
Speaker:Or you are in a talk in like a big auditorium and like the speakers.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Any questions?
Speaker:And no one wants to say anything because everyone thinks unless there
Speaker:always put his hand up in.
Speaker:but everyone thinks you've got the obvious question, oh, I'm
Speaker:not gonna ask this question.
Speaker:'cause everyone knows the answer and then someone puts their hand up and
Speaker:asks the question that's in your head and that, oh, I thought I was the only
Speaker:idiot who didn't know that question.
Speaker:It's like, ah, no, no.
Speaker:So just expand that to the rest of the world.
Speaker:There are so many people who are probably asking the same question as
Speaker:you, who think they're on their own.
Speaker:And would love to say what their share their own opinion.
Speaker:So if anything, particularly for the people pleasers out there, if
Speaker:you could turn up as someone who invites conversations out loud,
Speaker:invites conversations in public.
Speaker:A, you're doing other people a service 'cause you're feeling like, there's
Speaker:someone there who's like letting me have a say, and B, you're gonna learn so much.
Speaker:Because that to and fro that engagement is gonna clarify your own ideas and you'll
Speaker:want to chip in and suddenly you've got a lovely little community of people like
Speaker:Ann Laura Lako, who we're gonna be talking to tomorrow, who is curious, uh, about,
Speaker:creating these kind of tiny experiments in life and using life as a lab.
Speaker:You start learning new, meeting new people and building connections
Speaker:and creating a community.
Speaker:And that's how the Happy Startup School started.
Speaker:Well, one thing I'd say is, like you said, thinking about content in different ways.
Speaker:'cause I think, like you said, a lot of people think about
Speaker:content as just self-promotion.
Speaker:They're just literally, they've gotta thing to sell.
Speaker:They wanna put it out there.
Speaker:It's all about me.
Speaker:Versus like you said, you can start with, inviting dialogue and conversation.
Speaker:So start with a question, not the answer.
Speaker:You know, invite expertise from others.
Speaker:'cause everyone loves to contribute.
Speaker:Everyone looks, likes to look clever, don't they?
Speaker:the other thing is curating.
Speaker:So what do you like?
Speaker:Like, what is it that you are inspired by?
Speaker:And this is where I started, was actually looking at all these
Speaker:great things that I was learning.
Speaker:And we were learning on this journey, working with startups
Speaker:and going, this book's amazing.
Speaker:Or this, uh, business is amazing.
Speaker:They've inspired us.
Speaker:They did this thing.
Speaker:Go check it out.
Speaker:So it was less about me or us, it was more about.
Speaker:Curating the things that, we found interesting.
Speaker:So in some ways, you're researching out loud, you're sharing the
Speaker:things that are inspiring you.
Speaker:And the other thing is championing others.
Speaker:So like we do with the program sharing or people in the community, like just
Speaker:sharing other projects that are on this path to more, a more positive impact.
Speaker:So there's lots of different ways you can do this and not just look at me
Speaker:and look at the thing that I'm doing.
Speaker:me, particularly for the people in our community, they have ideas, they
Speaker:have lots of ideas, many, many ideas.
Speaker:and sometimes it's trying to work out what to focus on.
Speaker:Sometimes trying to work out where the energy is, sometimes about
Speaker:getting your own clarity around thing, having more conversations.
Speaker:So starting off with a premise, I think this, but I'd love to
Speaker:know what you think as a way to.
Speaker:Ultimately just feel like you're not alone and feel like this is a process.
Speaker:You know, if I think of our values is learning, play, friendship, you know,
Speaker:this is all part of putting an idea out there so you can learn more, creating
Speaker:connections and friendships because you are able to meet some, you know, discover
Speaker:people that you'd never seen met before.
Speaker:Um, and I think this is where Twitter was really good in the beginning.
Speaker:I don't go there anymore.
Speaker:And that is why I like LinkedIn more these days.
Speaker:It is like, you find people who will share their ideas and you start having
Speaker:conversations and it's less about how many, how, how much engagement
Speaker:you are getting from a lot of people.
Speaker:It's like, wow, I'm actually learning something from someone and I'm
Speaker:made a friend and I'm gonna have a call with them at some point.
Speaker:'cause I really wanna know more about them.
Speaker:And to think about that as a, as a pathway into engaging in a,
Speaker:in a more public way, I think.
Speaker:I think for me, I, it is been really helpful in terms of reframing the
Speaker:experience of working out loud.
Speaker:I think there's also the, I would say myths around working out loud that we also
Speaker:need to, to address because oftentimes.
Speaker:around perfectionism, right?
Speaker:There's, there's a, ooh, it needs to be perfect before I can share it or it needs
Speaker:to be finished before I can share it.
Speaker:and, and this, you know, end goal, the feels for me, uh, takes out the
Speaker:benefits of looking at the process.
Speaker:Like, how did you get there?
Speaker:You know, what did you do to, to get to that point?
Speaker:What did you, where did you find your strengths on what, you know,
Speaker:um, who did you collaborate with?
Speaker:Who did you, who, who, who supported you?
Speaker:So these are for me, you know, these are the juicier stuff, you know?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:These are the parts that make, um, especially entrepreneurial life.
Speaker:Uh, rich, because this is where we can really grow and not the, Hey,
Speaker:here, look, this is what I did.
Speaker:Um, so for me, working out loud is also being open to share, you
Speaker:know, the, the process around it.
Speaker:The, having, you know, having also the, the courage to, to, to share
Speaker:the fuckups, you know, like mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's not always perfect.
Speaker:It's not always easy.
Speaker:Um, so how, how do we also do that in society that celebrates?
Speaker:looking at only, you know, the, the grandeur, uh, better side of things.
Speaker:So for me, this is also the invitation to look at working out loud as an
Speaker:opportunity to say, Hey, this is what I'm learning from this experience.
Speaker:And one quick thing I've seen people do that works quite well,
Speaker:particularly those that, uh.
Speaker:Looking to share something that feels vulnerable or, I know there's
Speaker:actually, he pretty won't mind me saying Harry, who was on the last cohort.
Speaker:He'd, um, I think he'd been on LinkedIn for eight years and he posted his first,
Speaker:um, post as part of the challenge.
Speaker:and all he did was just start with, okay, deep breaths, sharing what's going on
Speaker:for you, how you're feeling about your relationship to and that was the first
Speaker:thing you wrote for this first post.
Speaker:And that just created that instant feeling of, I'm feeling
Speaker:a bit vulnerable sharing this.
Speaker:I've been sitting on this for a long time.
Speaker:Who's with me?
Speaker:Who else feels like this?
Speaker:And that creates that bond of a.
Speaker:You know what I'm like, what I'm feeling, and B, I'm not the expert here.
Speaker:I'm just trying to share something that's really important to me.
Speaker:So sharing your content will actually connect you to people.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:'cause it just makes you seem, seem a bit more human.
Speaker:I think it's very important to really be in like, I think what
Speaker:we're talking about is being really intentional about the purpose of
Speaker:you engaging in working out loud.
Speaker:And it reminds me of the process, like the design process, the
Speaker:initial bit is really messy.
Speaker:It is just curiosity.
Speaker:It's like going down rabbit holes.
Speaker:It's, there's no, you're not trying to convert anyone as such.
Speaker:Ultimately, you're probably exploring a space of ideas and, and expressing
Speaker:yourself and, and exploring how you want to express yourself.
Speaker:Finding your voice in a certain way and at some point.
Speaker:I think there is a shift in intentionality that if you actually want to do this as
Speaker:a way to, let's say, market yourself, connect with the people you wanna serve
Speaker:and you can connect with people and you want to help, then you can start
Speaker:becoming a bit more focused and then you can find a structure around that.
Speaker:And maybe we can talk a bit about that.
Speaker:But I think it's very important to distinguish between the two.
Speaker:'cause I think what Lana was talking about in terms of authenticity
Speaker:at the beginning, there is.
Speaker:Uh, being really clear about what does it mean?
Speaker:Why do you need to be authentic?
Speaker:Is it purely to be heard and seen for something that's
Speaker:really deeply important to you?
Speaker:Or is it to connect with the people you wanna serve?
Speaker:Because if it is to connect with the people you wanna serve, then you,
Speaker:you start to become discerning about the stories that you need to tell
Speaker:in order to create that connection.
Speaker:And I wanted to con sort of like.
Speaker:Bring in Deborah's question here 'cause feel like there's it.
Speaker:Tangently connects to this.
Speaker:She says I'd love to share more personal stories and thoughts on LinkedIn as
Speaker:I'm developing my own business, but I currently work in a large corporation and
Speaker:I feel that I can't express myself freely.
Speaker:Any thoughts?
Speaker:It is really interesting.
Speaker:Again, I'm gonna go back to analog.
Speaker:She's got this in her book that I was just reading last night.
Speaker:Uh, and uh, and.
Speaker:Basically anecdote connected to this, but it's, it's real.
Speaker:And I, I've experienced it with the people I coach.
Speaker:It's like, I work for this business.
Speaker:I, I feel like I can't express myself fully in case I get
Speaker:judged or something happens.
Speaker:You know, there's various levels of resistance.
Speaker:Of being connected to a wider organization.
Speaker:well there's different layer, there could be different layers to that,
Speaker:couldn't there in terms of whether it's a conflict of interest, whether there's
Speaker:like worrying about people that you talk about being sort of, you know, mentioned.
Speaker:Um, or it could just be thinking that people in the organization, they're
Speaker:just gonna judge you and wonder what you're up to and is that gonna spark,
Speaker:spin them out or spin out your network.
Speaker:Um, it's a problem that quite a few people in the program have.
Speaker:Faced because a lot of people that we work with are in transition.
Speaker:Um, they could be transitioning from a corporate life to entrepreneurship.
Speaker:They could be transitioning from their existing business to something else.
Speaker:There's a sensitivity to talking about things that are more personal to them.
Speaker:So I suppose that aside often we find the fears that people
Speaker:have aren't often realized.
Speaker:So that's one thing to say.
Speaker:The other thing to say is I had this with the Happy Startup School
Speaker:before we even came up with the name.
Speaker:I was sharing ideas outside of the agency and I found a platform, I
Speaker:think it was Posterous at the time.
Speaker:I dunno if you remember that, but yeah, it was a, a sort of very
Speaker:simple blogging platform, but it was an outlet and I had a sort of.
Speaker:Um, a name for it and it was almost a place to hide, but with an outlet.
Speaker:So for me it was a useful starting point to sort of share
Speaker:ideas and more personal stories.
Speaker:So that was more of a safe space.
Speaker:LinkedIn wasn't a big thing at the time.
Speaker:I certainly wasn't on it.
Speaker:Um, but that helped me build my confidence.
Speaker:So maybe there's a sub stack or some platform that you could use
Speaker:that wasn't LinkedIn if you felt like it was too sensitive, or you
Speaker:had to filter yourself too much to, to share the things that you wanna
Speaker:share on a public platform like that.
Speaker:Or professional platform,
Speaker:and this is why we call it the fluffy launch, right?
Speaker:Because we'd want to create a safer enough.
Speaker:Environment to just start getting into, sharing your thoughts
Speaker:and expressing yourself freely.
Speaker:Um, the, the, i I take in the word freely, uh, uh, in, in the question
Speaker:as, oh, there's an element of, safety there, or it's an element of what would.
Speaker:Be comfortable.
Speaker:so in Vision 2020, we often say, um, let's try to use the principle of what's
Speaker:good enough for now, safer enough to try and, in approaching sharing your voice.
Speaker:That feels safer enough and good enough for now.
Speaker:It also means like what Lauren said might be curating who you
Speaker:want to share it with at the start.
Speaker:And then expanding from there.
Speaker:Uh, or it might also mean, looking at what are the themes that you would
Speaker:want to talk about in the first place that seem safer enough, uh, to, um,
Speaker:to share ideas or curate materials or, um, yeah, to, to write, to write from.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:These are just some of the strategies that you can think of in terms of what
Speaker:would make it, uh, comfortable for you to start sharing and expressing
Speaker:yourself in a way that is good enough for now, safe enough to try.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I wanna pick up on the idea of expressing myself freely.
Speaker:Um, what that means to me is that there are constraints.
Speaker:And so my question are.
Speaker:The question would be what are the, what are those perceived constraints, Deborah?
Speaker:What is it that you think you might be going against if you
Speaker:started expressing yourself freely?
Speaker:The other part of this is, which stage are you at with this business idea?
Speaker:Is it a case that you want to express yourself freely
Speaker:to market and find customers?
Speaker:And like Lawrence said, does that then go against where
Speaker:you are working at the moment?
Speaker:Is there a risk that of being seen to do that?
Speaker:Or is it, you are in like very early stage customer development mode, idea
Speaker:development mode, which Lana was, I think alluding to is like you wanna be able to
Speaker:just connect with people who can maybe collaborate or help you shape this idea.
Speaker:So how much of a risk is there of you doing that while in this organization?
Speaker:Which then leads me to the question of like, have you talked to
Speaker:anyone in your company about this?
Speaker:Have you actually broached the ideas?
Speaker:I've got an idea I wanna play with it.
Speaker:Is it possible?
Speaker:Or maybe with colleagues and, and see if anyone else has done
Speaker:something like this, just to confirm whether the lack of freedom is
Speaker:real or whether it's a perception.
Speaker:and then the final thing is a bit like, like Lawrence said, and I've
Speaker:had this with, with a coaching client, if it's purely about trying
Speaker:to get clarity and express yourself freely and just like this inside out
Speaker:approach, finding a place that is safe.
Speaker:Like substack, an anonymous substack or go to another platform.
Speaker:I dunno if it's a visual thing on Instagram, but just a place where, yeah,
Speaker:you can play without constraints if there's a real risk of just being, yeah.
Speaker:There being repercussions.
Speaker:I think one thing to add just there is link to the idea
Speaker:of the fluffy launch is, um.
Speaker:Is sort of testing this out in different, um, with different size groups.
Speaker:So like, you know, the way we just structure the program is, is kind
Speaker:of intentional in that you get to share your ideas with your mentor,
Speaker:one of us, you get to share it.
Speaker:Then with your buddy group, which is up to six people, then you
Speaker:can share it with a wider cohort.
Speaker:And so by the time you get to your platform like LinkedIn or
Speaker:Substack, you're much more confident and clear about is this actually
Speaker:something that's gonna land well.
Speaker:I think it's always hard when it's something quite
Speaker:raw, like a personal story.
Speaker:Just that balance of how, how authentic do I wanna be?
Speaker:How, you know, how real do I wanna be and what's too much?
Speaker:Is there, is this too much?
Speaker:So just having that sounding board is so helpful, I think to, you know, whether
Speaker:it's on our program or, or some people close to you who you trust or you can
Speaker:sort of get that, get that initial feedback before, um, putting it out there.
Speaker:'cause I think that just lowers the bar of fear a bit more.
Speaker:I would also like to address, uh, Anthony's question.
Speaker:Maybe it's connected to this.
Speaker:the topic being, what's the easiest way to share your voice?
Speaker:And it is connected to what Anthony was asking is like, if, if you wanna
Speaker:get into sharing your writing in this case, which would you choose?
Speaker:A blog or a newsletter?
Speaker:A bit of both.
Speaker:well, I suppose the way I think about a newsletter is a newsletter is
Speaker:something in my head that is an email.
Speaker:You know, it goes to an email, um, list.
Speaker:Um, the beauty about Substack is it's a blogging platform or a writing
Speaker:platform, but you §actually have people's emails, so it does go to their email.
Speaker:So, in essence, Substack is a platform that.
Speaker:I would say covers both needs.
Speaker:Um, we used to be on Medium to host our blog.
Speaker:It's still there, but we don't post there that much these days because
Speaker:the model changed and the pay went up and that meant that we sort
Speaker:of lost a lot of, um, readership.
Speaker:So, and also with Medium you can't necessarily get the people's emails,
Speaker:so that was, uh, a bit of a shame.
Speaker:So yeah, personally I think Substack is a great platform for that.
Speaker:I know Lana, you, you post regularly on that, so I guess you're a bit of a fan.
Speaker:Yeah, I, I love the flexibility of a platform, right?
Speaker:So even now, Substack can also do videos for those who are more in audio.
Speaker:So, so for those who are, um, use the videos, you know, that, that's
Speaker:something to, um, consider as well.
Speaker:Another way to approach this question for me is, um, where are the people?
Speaker:That I would want, you know, this content to be for.
Speaker:Um, and that's, that's, that's basically how, you know, I see
Speaker:different social media platforms or different platforms as a, as a hub,
Speaker:you know, as a hub for connection.
Speaker:So looking at, you know, hey, if these are the profiles of people that I would want
Speaker:to share this with, will they be there?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think with the sharing the voice thing, it's, and even with Anthony's
Speaker:question about sharing his writing, I would ask, what is the intention?
Speaker:' cause is the intention just to express yourself and just, uh, to,
Speaker:essentially it's like public journaling.
Speaker:Um, that it doesn't really mean which platform you are on as long
Speaker:as a platform that you can easily.
Speaker:Write to and post to without too much effort.
Speaker:You could even use the notion, you could use a Google doc, you, you
Speaker:know, have a, have a bunch of people that you like and write into a Google
Speaker:Doc and ask them to comment on it.
Speaker:If it, if it's something that, you know, you just want to have
Speaker:a, a private place to journal.
Speaker:If it's more like Lana was saying, this is to start growing a
Speaker:following, start growing a community.
Speaker:I think something to really bear in mind is discoverability.
Speaker:How easy will it be to discover you and your ideas?
Speaker:Because if that's, if you, if if you want to start connecting with
Speaker:people, then you've gotta really make it easy for them to find you.
Speaker:Uh, I dunno what the discoverability is like on Substack.
Speaker:but I do wonder if you, if it was a discoverability and maybe
Speaker:someone else's discoverability.
Speaker:LinkedIn newsletter linking articles because you have a bunch of people
Speaker:there, you can point people directly to a LinkedIn article, and I'm sorry to say
Speaker:or talk about this, the algorithm won't penalize you as much to go somewhere else.
Speaker:So this is where I'm, I'm now starting talking a bit strategically now, you
Speaker:know, and this is based on having a, a different intention and ultimately
Speaker:the sharing your voice thing.
Speaker:And this is what we try and help people with, is get really
Speaker:clear about the core intention.
Speaker:' cause then you won't be disappointed.
Speaker:' Cause if your intention is like, I just want to express myself and you start
Speaker:looking at likes, that's not gonna help.
Speaker:That's gonna stop you writing.
Speaker:So really be true to what that is, what you're trying to do, as opposed
Speaker:to feel like you're following someone else's script about what success means.
Speaker:And in this case, writing,
Speaker:building that habit as well.
Speaker:Like you said, it needs to be a platform that you feel comfortable
Speaker:with and actually enjoy using.
Speaker:'cause otherwise you're not gonna stick at it.
Speaker:So yeah, it's finding that cadence.
Speaker:I love
Speaker:the fact that you talked about habits there.
Speaker:'cause I wanna just show this thing before we, we end.
Speaker:Uh, this is something actually I, and we're gonna, and also this
Speaker:will be a good opportunity tomorrow we're gonna talk to Anne Laura Lako.
Speaker:She wrote a book called Tiny Experiments.
Speaker:The idea about tiny experiments is about how to, sort of play your
Speaker:way forward in exploring ideas.
Speaker:To find that maybe a new direction for work, for a new direction for your
Speaker:business, just a new direction in life, and to play in this liminal space.
Speaker:One of the things she talks about, and a lot of people talk about this is,
Speaker:is to create a habit, a small habit, and she calls it actually a pact.
Speaker:And so maybe it's a 90 day pact, a 30 day pact, in this case, a seven
Speaker:day pact to just try something out.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I'm just gonna try it out for a certain amount of time, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker:Oh, no.
Speaker:I have to think about, oh, I've gotta start a habit.
Speaker:It means like, oh my God, I have to keep this up for the rest of time.
Speaker:It's like, no, I'm gonna make a pact with myself and ideally with other
Speaker:people to do something for a fixed amount of time and to just turn up each day.
Speaker:And so in this case, this guide is about is actually to help you.
Speaker:And it isn't just about LinkedIn, it is about actually just writing in public.
Speaker:But to have constraints and just say, all right, I. Constraints on the structure.
Speaker:I'm gonna do it for seven days.
Speaker:I'm gonna post in a certain way, and I'm gonna stop and then see what happens.
Speaker:And whether that's a podcast, whether that's, uh, writing on Substack,
Speaker:whether that's wherever it is, but to find a group of people to have a
Speaker:pact with and say, do you know what?
Speaker:Let's do this together.
Speaker:We're gonna spend seven days doing this thing, and we're gonna
Speaker:see what it's like afterwards.
Speaker:Keep yourselves accountable.
Speaker:And maybe it's 20 weeks ' cause maybe you wanna launch your business.
Speaker:' cause if that's the case, maybe you should join us on Vision 2020.
Speaker:But whatever it is, if you struggled, if you've been sitting on an idea for ages,
Speaker:it means doing it alone isn't an option.
Speaker:Find others, find a guide, find a group.
Speaker:Try and, um, get momentum and safety by doing this with a bunch of other people.
Speaker:this is also like a sneak peek of what we do within the program
Speaker:and also how we are when we're.
Speaker:Thinking about the program and, uh, all the, you know, all the
Speaker:improvements, the upgrades that we did for the past five years.
Speaker:and so this sessions has been really like a consolidation
Speaker:of all the previous tribes.
Speaker:Then yeah, turning 11 now cohorts, So, so yeah, for me, I'm celebrating that
Speaker:we're able to share this message of how impactful and how powerful Vision 2020 is
Speaker:as a program, having guided so many, you know, founder founders and change makers
Speaker:for the past, past five years already.
Speaker:So I'm hoping that this sparks interest and also sparks curiosity
Speaker:for people and that knowing that this is just like a. A nudge, right?
Speaker:and hopefully those who would be watching the replace or accessing it in some
Speaker:shape, you know or form, know that you got to this series for a reason.
Speaker:So trust, whatever instinct, whatever gut is, uh, calling
Speaker:you to move your ideas forward.
Speaker:and in essence, if we hadn't started on this journey individually, I
Speaker:don't think we'd be sharing our work out loud like this week.
Speaker:So yeah, this is proof in proof of the pudding, I guess, that we
Speaker:walk the walk here and, and share as much as we learn as we go.
Speaker:Um, I. I would love to do more of these with some of the community as well.
Speaker:I dunno if we'll get time given we've got the next tribe
Speaker:starting in a couple of weeks.
Speaker:But, um, yeah, this idea of sharing some of these voices that have been
Speaker:on this journey with us over the last five years because yeah, for us it's
Speaker:as much about the communities as a, as is, as it is about us guiding people.
Speaker:But yeah, no, it's been great this week and I'd love to have everyone join us,
Speaker:so thank you for the comments or the questions, all the, all the prompts.
Speaker:Like Kala said, we could spend months on this and we do.
Speaker:So yeah, I'd love to, uh, help some of you that feel cool to, to
Speaker:go on this journey with us 'cause it is, uh, it's a lovely one.
Speaker:Over the past five years, I, I have.
Speaker:By practicing this stuff and doing it regularly, I've found myself deepening
Speaker:in the work and really understanding what it is, not only that we're trying to do
Speaker:for other people, but what I'm trying to do for myself and being able to, I.
Speaker:Share ideas and then also get questions and feedback and engage in conversation.
Speaker:That really helped us.
Speaker:You know, luckily there's three of us that we can talk and develop and
Speaker:deepen ideas together, but it's, it's becomes an echo chamber at some point.
Speaker:It's always really useful to have the thoughts and ideas of others.
Speaker:So really appreciate everyone who's joined the live sessions.
Speaker:thank you very much everyone.
Speaker:Thanks everyone.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:See you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you week.
