What Happens When You Reveal the Real You?
A few weeks ago, I did a kind of funny thing. I listed 16 reasons to unsubscribe from Riskology.co. I came right out and stood up for 16 ideas that I deeply believe in. It was an attempt to give you a better view of the real me.
Although a few people accused me of it, I really wasn’t trying to be antagonistic. I just decided that, in the long run, we’d all be better off if you knew more about who I really am as a person than if I left you guessing.
Most of my writing gives a pretty accurate view of who I am, but this was an opportunity to nail it down with certainty.
Of course, I was nervous for a few days before I published that piece. To tell the truth, I’d written it well over a month ago, but held off publishing because I wasn’t quite sure how people would react.
“What if everyone actually does unsubscribe,” I thought to myself. “What if everyone disagrees with my opinions and I look like a fool?”
I struggled with that fear for days and almost didn’t publish the article. Luckily, I used one of my favorite psychological tactics on myself to make sure I did – I set the ball rolling before I was ready and scheduled it to post a week ahead of time. If I wanted to back out, I’d have to do a lot of work to come up with a new article and reschedule everything.
Side Story: The “Ready, Fire, Aim” Tactic
If you ever want to get started on something big and important, but you’re scared you won’t follow through, I highly recommend this tactic because it works like a charm. Schedule something that you can’t undo without a lot of hard work that would make you look foolish, and the rest will come together with a lot less friction.
I did this last month when I booked my flights to Africa and Europe for next summer. I’m planning to climb two of the world’s tallest mountains and run a marathon. When I booked the ticket, none of those things were actually scheduled because I kept debating the “best” itinerary. If I hadn’t bought it, I’d still be analyzing every decision. Now that I have a non-refundable ticket that’s worth thousands of dollars (booked with frequent flyer miles), things are coming together faster than ever. I have to make decisions and stick to them.
I used this tactic again when I scheduled the launch date for the Guerrilla Influence Formula. When I told everyone that it’s launching on December 14th, it was only about 25% complete. Without that extra motivation to launch on time, I’d still be fumbling along with it. Instead, I set the date and got in gear to be ready to launch because if December 14th rolled around and I wasn’t ready, I’d look like a damn fool.
Press the button, then figure out the details. Ready, fire, aim.
Back to Our Scheduled Programming: Revealing the Real You
So what happened after I scheduled that article to run? It’d be fun to say that no one at all unsubscribed, but that’s not actually true. To be honest, I actually did end up with more unsubscribes than usual. In fact, more people unsubscribed because of that article than any other in the history of the site. 200% more than usual.
Of course, that’s completely fine because what’s more important is that the people who stayed are closer to me now than ever before. I had a few folks email to say they really appreciated the piece and it made them feel like I was an honest person.
Well, I always felt like I was an honest person, but as you can see, it takes a little more effort to really show that to other people. That’s good to keep in mind – not everyone sees you the same way you see yourself. Sometimes you have to go out of your way to show people who you really are, especially on the Internet where a lot of other context is lacking.
Anyway, I put my cards face up on the table and a whole bunch of people went away, probably forever. That would be a sad story, except that I forgot to mention one other important detail:
For two weeks after that article was published, Riskology.co grew more than 1,000% faster than normal.
As it turns out, the people who decided to stay liked the piece so much that they shared it with all of their friends. I didn’t ask them to, they just did it because they wanted to.
So yes, I lost a few dozen people as a result of being honest, but I ended up gaining hundreds more. That’s a trade I’ll take any day. And it’s also important to remember that the people who left weren’t right for Riskology.co anyway. The real me would have come out eventually, and those people would have left eventually.
The people who came, on the other hand, came because they got to see the real me. They saw who I am and decided I was worth their time. I have no doubt that those new folks will probably stick around for a very long time. If you’re one of them, welcome to Riskology.co. Pleasure to have you here.
If you put yourself out in the public to be scrutinized, you probably think about this sort of thing a lot. It can be hard to broadcast the “real you” when a lot of people are watching.
If you’re willing to do it, though, you’ll probably find that some people do get upset and abandon you. But, more importantly, a whole army of others come to stand behind you.
Are you broadcasting the real you in everything you do? If not, I highly recommend it.
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Image by: KatB Photography