But here's the thing. There's so much noise in the world that just because you're really good at something doesn't mean everybody's going to find out about it. Not unless you tell people. So you’ve got to be visible. And you can do it in a way that's not sleazy, not spammy, not yucky.

I see so many really talented coaches, healers and entrepreneurs who don't have full practices because they're uncomfortable letting people know they even exist. I think we all have that sleazy salesperson in our mind, the one we've dealt with at some point in our lives. We think, “I don't want to be that person,” so we go too far the other way.

And it's not just entrepreneurs. If you're in corporate, just because you sit down and do good work doesn't mean the higher-ups are going to notice you and promote you. Visibility matters everywhere: in a job interview, on the PTA, even in your own family. The challenge is the balancing act. How do you get visible and still be yourself?

I recently talked about exactly this with therapist Kim McLaughlin on her Feed Your Soul with Kim podcast. (Kim was also a guest on my podcast, The Courage to Be Visible, where we talked about being uncomfortable in your body and how that can hold you back.) You can watch our full conversation below, and keep reading for the big ideas.

Kim’s episode: https://youtu.be/76C26fFXEss?si=fhUAU1w-N9ukvq0M

What are we really afraid of?

There are a bunch of things wrapped up in the fear of being seen, but judgment sits at the centre of it. And we need to acknowledge that women are judged differently than men. So that fear of looking stupid or saying the wrong thing has real roots.

For me, those roots go back to school. I was the A student, and you got bullied for being a good student. If you raised your hand, if you showed off how much you knew, you'd get beat up. Not physically in my case, but emotionally. So for a lot of years I really tried to be invisible.

It took a long time for me to grow up and say, “You know what? I'm good at what I do. I'm going to tell people, and if somebody doesn't like it, I'm not for them.”

There's also a feeling of losing control. Once you put yourself out there, you can't control the narrative of how people see you. But here's what I'd remind you: there are probably people talking about you already that you don't know about. If you don't step up and steer the conversation, you have no control over it at all. You can't control what people hear when you say something. But if you say nothing, they're only hearing the other voices.

Another thing to consider is that most people aren’t judging you as harshly as you judge yourself. When I was in school I thought of myself as a painfully shy, nerdy bookworm. I recently ran into a classmate who thought I was an audacious wild child.  

Self-worth and the willingness to be seen

Self-worth is a huge part of this. I've been in business for 20 years, and 20 years ago it was a lot harder for me to stand up, offer my services and talk to people. I was new, and I genuinely didn't have the confidence.

If you don't have confidence in yourself, it feels like you're lying when you tell people you're good at what you do. And for the record, nobody is fully confident all the time. Unless you're a sociopath.

Now that I've been at this for decades, I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses. When I have those moments where my brain says, “Andrea, you're crap,” I can stop and say, “Wait a sec. I've helped this person, and this person. I'm not actually crap.”

Kim had a great piece of advice here: tell people the part you actually believe about yourself. Don't make up the other part. The more you share what you truly believe, the more you start to see yourself differently.

“Can I learn this?” vs. “Have I done this before?”

When I was in my early 20s, a friend who ran a headhunting business with her husband told me something I've kept in the back of my mind ever since. She said that when men look at a job description, they ask, “Can I learn this? Can I figure it out?” When women look at the same job description, they ask, “Have I ever done this before?”

That's the difference between getting ahead and not. How do you grow if you only do things you've already done?

Nobody knows how to do everything. The real question is: Is this something I could learn? Could I hire somebody, take a course, read a book, or use ChatGPT to figure it out? Over the years you learn that you've figured out new things before, and it worked out okay. Confidence grows from that balance of experience and trying.

The day I met “fake Andrea”

I'll be honest. Even though I teach people how to show up on video, I didn't start out confident on camera either.

Back in 2018, when I first started taking video seriously, I found the whole process painful. And somewhere along the way, without even realizing it, I developed a “fake Andrea voice.” Remember the old Mary Tyler Moore Show? Ted Baxter had this deep voice he used on camera. I think I was channeling that character.

I didn't do it on purpose. It was an unconscious performance of who I thought I should be on video, instead of just being myself.

But when I watched the replay, it was a little horrific.

Here's what I realized. Fake Andrea wasn't protecting me. She was getting in the way. The people watching weren't connecting with me, because I wasn't really there. And the effort of performing was exactly what made video feel so painful.

When I let fake Andrea go and started talking to the camera the way I'd talk to a client over coffee, video got easier. Not perfect. Easier. And people responded to the real me in a way they never did to the performance.

So if you've ever watched yourself back and thought, “Who is that?” you're not alone. Confidence on camera doesn't come from getting better at performing. It comes from being willing to stop.

You're not for everyone (and that's perfectly okay)

Part of being visible is being okay with the fact that you're not for everyone.

I was reading a book recently (A Women’s Guide to Claiming Space by Eliza VanCort) about how women are raised to be nice girls, polite girls, friendly to everybody. We're supposed to be likable. So when somebody doesn't like you, or your offer, it feels like a personal failing.

But think of all the people you've met in your life. You don't like everybody. And it's not that they're bad people. Their interests are different from yours, or their style is different. There's a whole slew of reasons that have nothing to do with their worth as human beings. You just didn't hit it off.

It's taken me a long time to accept that I'm not for everyone, and that I shouldn't try to be. As Kim pointed out, when we try to please everybody, we aren't visible in an authentic way. People sense that, and it pushes them away, which makes us think we did something wrong. And then we don't want to be visible at all.

“How can I be visible if I don't know who I am?”

There was a period when my child was young that there was a whole swath of people in my town who probably didn't know my name. They knew me as Mom. Other people knew me as my husband's wife. Others knew me through the organization I volunteered for.

I felt like I didn't know who I was anymore. I was the mom, the wife, the volunteer. But who was I? That was a difficult time, and I had to rebuild my sense of who I am and who I want people to know me for.

I've had a bunch of conversations recently that tell me this is a common theme for women. When you're so busy focusing on everybody else, you forget who you are. And then you start a business and suddenly you're supposed to be visible, how can you do it when you don't know who you are?

What we see when we look in the mirror

Then there's physical appearance. I have a photo of me from when I was 17. A friend took it at the cottage. I'm in a bikini, and I distinctly remember thinking in that moment, “Oh my god, my thighs are so fat.” I look at that picture now and think, “I was this skinny, beautiful young girl!” Everybody looks beautiful at 17.

One of the joys of getting older is that I don't care about that stuff anymore. I've got a double chin. I don't like it, but I don't spend all day thinking about it. When somebody snaps a picture, I'm not thinking, “Don't look at my chin.” That took some work to get to.

How to stop spiralling when the camera turns on

When you're worrying about how you look and how you sound, it's because you're thinking about yourself. And when you think about yourself on camera, you get in that spiral where nothing's good enough.

So here's what I do, and what I urge my clients to do. Think about that one person you can help. Think about the pain they're in and what they're struggling with. Think about how happy they'll be when they discover you're here to help them.

As soon as you start thinking about somebody else, so many of those fears go away. Because it's not about you anymore.

The Generous Experts I work with, the coaches and healers, didn't start a business because they wanted to get rich. They started because they had a burning desire to help people, and thought, “I can make money at this while I'm helping people.” That's why visibility is service. When you focus on helping one person, the fears never disappear completely, but that weight lifts off your chest.

Let them see you're human

In the professional world there's a push to sound like everything's perfect. But particularly for coaches, letting your clients know you're not perfect, that you've made mistakes and kept going, is inspirational.

One time, just after I hit record on a video, I sneezed. One of those massive, full-body sneezes that blows your socks off your feet. My first instinct was, “Nobody can see this.” Then I thought, “You know what? Everybody sneezes.” I kept it in. It was funny, and I got lots of comments from people saying, “Yep, I've done that too.” It's okay to be human.

And it works both ways. Kim talks about this in her therapy work: “when you share a little, and the other person shares a little, you both feel more connected. That's the know, like and trust factor. When someone is visible and a bit vulnerable with me, I think, I like her. I want her to be successful. I want other people to know about her.“

When nobody likes your post (or someone says something mean)

A lot of people pull back because a video didn't get likes, or nobody shared it. Suddenly being visible is about an end result you have no control over. Here's how I think about it.

You don't need to go viral

I had a video go viral once. Not millions of views, but 20 to 30 times my average. The vast majority of viewers were 18- to 24-year-old boys. They are never going to be my clients. I have no idea why they watched, unless they were looking for a mom.

If you're looking for three new clients, you don't need a million people to see your video. Thirty of your ideal clients is much more valuable than a million 18- to 24-year-old boys.

Silence doesn't mean nobody's watching

A client of mine was getting frustrated because nobody was commenting on her videos, even though her analytics showed people were watching. Then she was out in the community, and people started coming up to her saying, “Oh, I saw your video!”

Back in the chat room days, we called them lurkers. They read everything, but they never comment or engage. That doesn't mean they aren't getting value. And if you're a therapist or a healer, your people may not want the world to know they're interested in therapy or have health problems. They won't comment, but they may watch everything you do.

Have a plan for the negative stuff

Some people seem to have made it their whole purpose in life to say mean things to others on social media. I saw this up close when I ran a workshop for a local organization encouraging women to get involved in politics. Some of the things people said to those women politicians were shocking.

My advice to them: find a thick-skinned volunteer on your team to read all the comments. Have them flag only what you need to see, like a real question, a kind word, or someone offering to volunteer. And tell them never to pass along the nasty stuff. A lot of it is mean, but it's also stupid and pointless.

For most business owners, it doesn't get that bad. I put videos everywhere and I don't get many negative comments. When someone says something inappropriate or gratuitously mean, I've gotten very aggressive about blocking. I want people to feel good after spending time with me and my content, and I don't want my audience seeing that negativity either.

How people react has very little to do with you

Back in 2020, when lockdown hit and everyone's business went sideways, I was cold calling organizations to offer virtual workshops. One woman acted like I was a criminal for daring to charge money for my expertise.

In my 20s, that would have had me in the fetal position on the floor, crying and second-guessing myself. But I had a goal of 10 calls a day, no matter the response. So I picked up the phone again.

The very next person didn't know me from a hole in the ground. I told her about my workshops and the price, and she booked all four on the spot. She didn't book one to see if I was any good. She booked them all and didn't bat an eye.

Same offer. Same type of organization. Two different people. That was the moment I realized how people react to my offer has very little to do with me. Now when someone reacts negatively, I think back to those two women and remember: it's not always about me.

Kim added two great ideas here. Keep a memory of the times it worked, so you have evidence when the doubt creeps in. And have your person, someone you can call and say, “They said this nasty thing and I don't like it,” so you get support instead of spiralling alone.

Keep a file of complimentary emails, screen shots of supportive social media comments, testimonials. On bad days, this proof of your worth will keep you going.

What becomes possible when you stop hiding

I have a client who really did not want to do video. She didn't want to post on social media. She didn't want to do any of it. After working together, she started posting, and finally, after pulling some teeth, I got her doing videos.

And now? She's getting invited to speak at summits, on bigger and bigger podcasts, and in people's private groups. People are booking calls to talk about working with her. She has the same level of expertise she had before, and it's a lot. This woman is well educated, experienced, and full of great ideas. She just wasn't getting out there.

Now she says, “Oh my goodness, this is so much easier. Why was I letting myself struggle by not being visible?”

I see the same thing in my own business. When somebody gets on a call with me to talk about becoming a client, and they've already watched my videos and seen my posts, they feel like they know me, even if it's the first time we've met. It's like talking to somebody you've known for a while. The conversation feels relaxed. It doesn't feel forced or fake. It's just two people having a conversation, and it's so much more fun.

That's the expert who grows. Not the one with the best answer, but the one who is actually visible.

How I refill after putting myself out there

Being visible is vulnerable, and as an introvert, it takes something out of me. So almost every day, even in the winter when it's really cold, I go for a walk.

I live four blocks from the shores of Georgian Bay. On a recent walk I saw swans, a turkey vulture, hawks and Canada geese. There's an older couple who walk their dog at about the same time I do. I don't even know their names, but we say hi every morning.

It's my time to slow down and look at nature. I'm not working. I'm not looking after my elderly parents, or my child, or the house. It's just for me, and it costs nothing but a little time.

Early in my business, I'd sometimes get my head down and work. At one point I looked up and realized I hadn't stepped outside my house in four days. That was the moment I said, “This is not healthy.” My walk is only three kilometres. I'm not running a marathon. But it gets me moving, and every time I spot a different animal, it brings me joy.

If you want to be more visible, build in the things that refill you too.

Not sure what to say on video?

If you know you want to make videos for your business (or even your corporate career) but you're stuck on what to say, grab my free guide, Seven Essential Videos for Explosive Growth. It gives you seven videos you can make, and what to say in each one.

The Fear of Being Seen: How to Stop Hiding and Start Showing Up originally appeared on Andrea Stenberg's Andrea Stenberg

You Don’t Need to Be the Top Expert. You Need to Be a Few Steps Ahead. originally appeared on Andrea Stenberg's Andrea Stenberg

As I was networking to promote my own business, I noticed something interesting.

I kept meeting really talented people, usually entrepreneurs who had left successful careers to start businesses they were passionate about. They weren't just trying to make money. They genuinely wanted to make a difference.

What frustrated me was seeing how much they were struggling to get clients.

The clients they did have were getting amazing results. Their businesses were changing lives.

But they didn't know how to help the people who needed them find them.

I remember thinking, These people don't have an expertise problem. They have a visibility problem.

That realization changed the direction of my own business.

I stopped thinking of myself as a copywriter and started helping entrepreneurs become more visible. Because if I could help these talented experts reach more people, they could make a bigger impact on the world.

And by helping them, I could make an impact too.

It took me years to realize there was something else these entrepreneurs had in common.

They weren't just invisible.

They were reluctant experts.

A reluctant expert is someone who's genuinely excellent at what they do but hesitates to share their expertise because they don't feel qualified enough, don't want to seem self-promotional or assume people would rather learn from someone more famous. 

Over the years, I've noticed the same five patterns again and again… 

1. You're Waiting Until You're “Expert Enough”

One of the biggest lies reluctant experts tell themselves is:

“I'll put myself out there once I have a little more experience.”

Maybe it's another certification.

Another training program.

Another degree.

Another testimonial.

I've worked with entrepreneurs who have MBAs, PhDs and an alphabet soup of letters after their names. They've spent years building their expertise, yet they still feel like they need one more qualification before they've earned the right to be visible.

It's as though they're waiting for someone to give them permission.

So let me be that person.

If you're reading this, I'm giving you permission right now.

You already know more than you think you do.

Will there be things you don't know? Of course.

No one knows everything.

The difference is that successful entrepreneurs don't wait until they know everything before they get started.

I've also known entrepreneurs with very little experience who jumped in, found their first client and worked incredibly hard to deliver amazing results. They learned what they needed to know as they went. They built the plane while they were flying it.

Would I recommend pretending to know something you don't? Absolutely not.

But I do recommend trusting yourself enough to take the next step, knowing you can learn, ask for help or hire expertise when you need it.

Years ago, a friend of mine who worked as a headhunter told me something I've never forgotten.

She said one of the biggest differences she noticed between men and women applying for jobs was how they read a job posting.

Many women would ask themselves:

“Have I ever done that before?”

They searched their past looking for proof that they were qualified.

Many men, on the other hand, asked a different question:

“Can I learn that?”

Neither approach describes everyone, of course, but the mindset has stayed with me.

As entrepreneurs, we need to ask ourselves that second question more often.

• Can I learn it?
• Can I figure it out?
• Can I get help if I need it?

Because here's the truth:

There will always be someone with more experience than you.

But there will also always be someone who's looking for exactly the knowledge, perspective and support you already have today.

Don't let the pursuit of becoming “expert enough” stop you from helping the people who need you now.

2. You Assume People Would Rather Learn from Someone More Famous

Have you ever caught yourself thinking:

“Why would anyone listen to me when there are so many bigger names in my industry?”

Maybe there's someone with a bestselling book.

Someone with a million YouTube subscribers.

Someone who fills stadiums or headlines conferences.

It's easy to look at people like that and decide you don't have anything valuable to add.

But I don't think that's true.

In fact, I think beginners often learn best from someone who remembers what it was like to be a beginner.

My mom was a middle school English teacher, and one year the curriculum changed. Suddenly she had to teach grammar in a much more analytical way, identifying subjects, predicates and parts of speech.

The problem?

She had never learned grammar that way herself.

So every evening she stayed one or two lessons ahead of her students. She learned the material first, then taught it the next day.

Years later she told me she thought it was some of the best teaching she'd ever done.

Because she was just learning it herself, she knew exactly where her students would get confused. She anticipated the questions before they asked them. She could explain difficult concepts in simple language because she remembered what it felt like not to understand.

That's stayed with me ever since.

Beginners often learn best from someone who remembers what it was like to be a beginner.

So don't assume that because there are people who sell out stadiums, have books on the New York Times bestseller list or YouTube channels with a million followers, you don't have anything valuable to say.

Those people are incredibly successful.

But for someone who's just getting started, they can feel out of reach.

Too far ahead.

Too intimidating.

Sometimes the most helpful teacher isn't the person at the top of the mountain.

It's the person who's a few steps ahead, reaching back and saying,

“I've been where you are. Let me show you the next step.”

If you're a few steps ahead of the people you serve, you already know enough to help them move forward.

And that's more than enough.

3. You'd Rather Keep Learning Than Start Sharing

If you're a lifelong learner, this one might sting a little.

I know it does for me.

Many reluctant experts are smart, curious people. We love reading books, taking courses, attending webinars and learning from people who are a few steps ahead of us.

Learning is our happy place.

It feels productive because, in a way, it is. Every course we take expands our knowledge and helps us serve our future clients better.

The problem is, learning is also our safe place.

When we're learning, no one is judging us.

No one can disagree with us.

No one can point out a mistake.

We don't have to risk putting ourselves out there.

In fact, I almost fell into that trap myself this morning.

I'm getting ready to start a new project that involves doing something new. I've already invested in training and sought advice from experts. I have what I need to get started.

Then an email landed in my inbox promoting another course on the same topic.

It had a slightly different perspective.

And for a moment I caught myself thinking, Maybe I should buy that first.

Not because I actually needed it.

Because buying another course felt easier than sitting down and doing the work I already knew how to do.

That's when I realized I was procrastinating in a very productive-looking way.

As an adult educator, I've learned something else over the years.

You don't truly understand something until you apply it.

Or better yet, teach it to someone else.

That's when you discover the nuances.

That's when you notice the gaps in your understanding.

That's when knowledge turns into wisdom.

And there's something even more important.

Knowledge doesn't change anyone's life while it's sitting in your notebook.

Your expertise doesn't help anyone while it's tucked away in another folder of course notes.

Information only becomes valuable when you share it.

So yes, keep learning.

But don't let learning become another way of hiding.

Someone out there needs what you already know today.

4. You Worry That Marketing Makes You Look Self-Promotional

This is probably the biggest reason reluctant experts stay invisible.

They don't want to become one of “those marketers.”

You know the ones.

Everything they post feels like a sales pitch.

Every conversation somehow circles back to buying their product.

They seem more interested in promoting themselves than helping other people.

If that's what marketing looked like to me, I'd avoid it too.

A client of mine was absolutely resistant to making videos or even posting on social media.

She kept saying things like:

“Who wants to listen to me?”

“I don't want to be a show-off.”

“It feels self-indulgent.”

“I don't want to spend my days shouting ‘Buy from me!' on social media.”

So instead of talking about video, I asked her a different question.

“Have you ever done a marketing activity consistently?”

She smiled immediately.

“Yes! I used to host a BlogTalkRadio show.”

“Why did you enjoy that?” I asked.

“Because I wasn't selling,” she said. “I was teaching. I was sharing what I'd learned and helping people.”

Then I asked her one more question.

“What makes you think you can't do exactly the same thing with video or social media?”

You could almost see the light bulb go on.

She wasn't resisting visibility.

She was resisting the version of marketing she'd created in her mind.

Today she's posting consistently, people are booking calls with her and she's being invited to speak at summits and on podcasts.

Not because she became more promotional.

Because she became more helpful.

That's when I realized something.

Visibility isn't about getting people to look at you.

It's about helping the right people find you.

The people who need your help can't hire you if they can't find you.

5. You Underestimate the Value of What Comes Naturally to You

This might be the biggest blind spot of all.

When something comes easily to you, it's tempting to assume it comes easily to everyone else.

Over the years, I've interviewed more than 100 entrepreneurs.

One pattern showed up again and again.

The thing clients valued most about them was often the very thing they dismissed.

Because it felt ordinary.

It felt easy.

It was just something they'd always been good at.

Meanwhile, their clients looked at that same ability and thought,

“How do you do that?”

I see the same thing with the entrepreneurs I work with today.

They'll spend ten minutes talking about something they think is obvious.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting there thinking,

“That's the most interesting thing you've said all day.”

They don't see it because they're inside the jar.

They can't read their own label.

That's why I love interviewing entrepreneurs.

I get to open the lid and look inside.

I get to see the stories, insights and experiences they've stopped noticing because they've lived with them for so long.

The irony is that your greatest strength rarely feels extraordinary to you.

It feels normal.

That's exactly why it's so valuable.

Someone who's struggling with the problem you solve doesn't need perfection.

They don't need the world's foremost expert.

They need someone who understands where they are, believes they can make progress and is willing to reach back and help them take the next step.

That's you.

You may not feel like an expert.

But to the person who's where you were five years ago…

You look like a wizard.

Don't hide your magic simply because you've forgotten how hard it once was to learn.

You Don't Have an Expertise Problem

If you've seen yourself in these five signs, I hope you'll stop for a moment and consider something.

What if you don't have an expertise problem?

What if you have a visibility problem?

The entrepreneurs I met twenty years ago weren't struggling because they weren't good enough.

They were struggling because the people who needed them didn't know they existed.

I've seen the same pattern ever since.

Talented people who quietly change their clients' lives.

People who genuinely care.

People who are constantly learning, improving and trying to do their very best.

The irony is that those are often the very people who hesitate to talk about what they do.

Meanwhile, someone with half the experience and twice the confidence is happily promoting themselves.

The world doesn't need more loud voices.

It needs more generous experts who are willing to share what they know.

Because every time you decide you're not qualified enough…

Every time you convince yourself someone else is better…

Every time you stay silent because you don't want to look self-promotional…

Someone who could have benefited from your experience keeps struggling a little longer.

I want you to remember something.

You don't have to be the world's greatest expert.

You don't have to know everything.

You don't have to be perfect.

You simply have to be willing to reach back and help someone take the next step.

That's what visibility really is.

Not self-promotion.

Service.

And the people who need your help can't hire you if they can't find you.

Ready to Take the First Step?

If this article resonated with you, I'd love to invite you to my free live training:

The Courage to Be Visible

How to Attract Clients Without Feeling Salesy, Self-Promotional or Fake

Sign up here: https://my.thebabyboomerentrepreneur.com/courage-to-be-visible-training

In this free class, you'll discover:

• Why visibility isn't about ego. It's about service.
• Why you don't need to be the biggest expert to make a real impact.
• A simple, sustainable approach to becoming consistently visible so the right people can discover, trust and hire you.

If you've spent too long waiting until you feel “ready,” I hope you'll join me.

The Hidden Reason Talented Experts Struggle to Get Clients originally appeared on Andrea Stenberg's Andrea Stenberg

If you've been wondering how to become more visible online, you're not alone. Many talented coaches, consultants and service providers struggle with visibility because they worry about sounding self-promotional or pushy.

I think a lot of talented experts stay invisible because they're asking the wrong question.

They ask:

“Who wants to hear from me?”

Instead of asking:

“How can I help more people?”

It may sound humble to ask “Who wants to hear from me?”

But it can be surprisingly counterproductive.

Because while you're wasting time worrying about whether you're qualified enough, experienced enough or interesting enough, someone out there is struggling with a problem you could help solve.

Let's call her Jane.

Jane is frustrated.

She's reading articles. She's watching videos. She's downloading free resources.

She's doing her best to solve her problem, but she hasn't found the answer yet.

What Jane doesn't know is that you exist.

And that's the problem.

Visibility Isn't Self-Promotion

Many coaches, consultants and service providers feel uncomfortable with visibility and marketing.

They worry about sounding salesy.

They don't want to brag.

They don't want to become one of “those” marketers who are constantly talking about how wonderfully amazing they are.

I understand.

I've had those feelings too.

But what if we've been looking at visibility all wrong?

What if visibility isn't self-promotion?

What if visibility is service?

When you tell your stories, share your expertise  and talk about the work you do, you're not just talking about yourself. You’re not just showing off.

You’re helping people who have the problem you solve feel seen. Feel like they’re not the only one. 

You're helping your future clients discover solutions they may not even know exist.

Why Being Good At What You Do Isn't Enough

One of the hardest truths about running a business is this:

Being excellent at what you do doesn't guarantee people will find you.

I’ve seen it time and time again. People who are really good at what they do. True experts. People who change lives … if only they could get more clients.

Because you can be the best coach, consultant, accountant, therapist, trainer or service provider in your city, your country or even the world.

But if nobody knows you exist, your expertise can't help anyone.

That’s why adding another certification to your resume isn’t the answer to growing your business.

Visibility is how people discover you.

Marketing is how trust scales.

Most clients don't hire you because of one social media post or one email.

They hire you after seeing you consistently over time.

A post. A video. A podcast interview. An email.

Little by little, trust grows.

You Don't Need To Be The Biggest Expert

Another mistake I see people make is believing they need to become the industry's top expert before they start showing up. Believing that because there’s someone who is better known, more experienced, more celebrated that there’s no chance to gain visibility and no reason for people to listen to them.

The truth is, beginners often learn best from someone who remembers what it was like to be a beginner.

Because the top experts often share advanced strategies. They’re assuming their audience are further along and know more than they do. And beginners feel left behind and lost.

But if you’re closer to the beginner than the top guru in your field, you’re perfectly poised to fill the gap between beginner and guru. 

To truly help a beginner, you don't need to know everything. You don’t need to have done everything. You don’t need to have earned $1 million to help a beginner earn their first $100. 

You only need to know enough to help the person who's a few steps behind you.

Your experience has value today.

Not someday.

Today.

The Real Cost Of Staying Invisible

When you stay invisible, it doesn't just affect your business.

It affects the people you could have helped.

The clients who never found you.

The problems you could have solved.

The transformations you could have facilitated.

That's why I believe visibility and marketing isn't about ego. About showing off. About building yourself up.

It's about service.

The people who need your help can't hire you if they can't find you.

And they can't trust you if they never hear from you.

Ready To Become More Visible?

If you've been putting off creating content, making videos, posting on LinkedIn or sharing your expertise because it feels uncomfortable, I'd love to help.

Join me for my free live training:

The Courage to Be Visible

How to Attract Clients Without Feeling Salesy, Self-Promotional or Fake

You'll learn why visibility is an act of service, why you don't need to be the biggest expert in your field and how to create a simple visibility system that helps the right people discover, trust and hire you.

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The People Who Need Your Help Can’t Hire You If They Can’t Find You originally appeared on Andrea Stenberg's Andrea Stenberg

I frequently “write” by recording a voice note on my phone then uploading it to TurboScribe to create a transcript. It’s AI creating the transcript but it’s my words and ideas. It’s a bit lazy, but I talk faster than I type. 

Occasionally I still write by typing on my keyboard. However, I have a tendency to be a bit wordy, long winded, rambly, verbose or even redundant. I’ll take my draft and have AI edit out some of the excess.

Editing photos and Videos

I’m also using AI to edit my videos. Camtasia’s Audiate creates a transcript of my video and I can edit the text like a Google Doc. It speeds things up. StreamYard’s AI generates clips from my longer videos for Reels and Shorts.

I did play around with some AI images of me but I found them creepy. One friend said I looked a little Stepford Wifey in them.

The outfit I'm wearing in this AI generated photo is the exact one I uploaded to create the images but it still looks off to me. What do you think?

I recently came across an article addressing some problems with AI use that I hadn’t considered and I bet you haven’t either.

Disclosure of AI Use

First, it’s very likely that the EU will soon make it mandatory to disclose when something is created via generative AI.

So the thinking is to start disclosing now. After all, you don't want to have to go back and add disclosures to all your past images, blog posts and captions.

CAn AI Generated Content Be Copyrighted???

Second – and I think this is the big one – there have been some court rulings stating that AI generated content cannot be copyrighted. 

This is a big deal for people who create courses or monetize their intellectual property in any fashion. If you cannot copyright your work, anyone can steal it and use it for themselves.

And I don’t know where the line is.

Now I’m not a lawyer – nor do I play one on television – but I suspect the way I’ve been using AI does not negate copyright. Afterall, AI isn’t generating the content, the concepts or the media itself. I’m employing AI as a kind of digital virtual assistant.

But I don’t know this for a fact.

I’m currently hoping someone with more money than I consults an IP attorney and publishes a guide for coaches, course creators and other online experts so we do know where the line is.

You can read the article by clicking here.

I'd love to hear from you. Are you using AI? What do you do with it? Are you worried about copyright?

Can AI-Generated Content Be Copyrighted? How I Use AI in My Business originally appeared on Andrea Stenberg's Andrea Stenberg