…if you struggle writing on LinkedIn
The biggest shift that I made when publishing articles for this newsletter or LinkedIn was stopping to pretend that I knew the answers, that I was the expert in X or Y topic. Instead, I decided to write only from my perspective, my experiences, and what has worked for me or hasn’t worked for me. That was very tough!
At first, I was afraid of raising some eyebrows; I thought my writing had to be perfect; I thought my followers would see the cracks and my reputation would plummet. That might be the biggest hurdle for anyone trying to write on a public platform.
What changed for me was pushing through that discomfort, writing the same way I would talk to a friend or colleague, and not worrying if my claims weren’t universally true. There are no cracks to see, because I talk about my experience: things that have worked for me, things that are running inside my head, and things that I’ve observed. I’m not challenging anyone’s claims; I’m sharing my experience.
A year or two ago, I stopped following freelancing advice coming from others in medical writing and translation, and looked at creative fields like visual artists, photographers, and novel writers. There’s a phrase that stuck with me:
“Don’t pretend to be the expert; bring people on your learning journey.”
This is the single thing that changed how I present myself on LinkedIn. I realized that clients come to me because of our interactions, whether through email or a video call or at a conference, not only because of what my credentials mean to them.
Which brings me to another hurdle: being ”mid” in a world that has told us to be exceptional. Sharing your growth online means that you are willing to show your lack of experience in a specific thing, and detaching our value from our skills is a difficult thing to do for those of us who grew up being told to be top-tier students. After all, that’s what gave us so many opportunities. And now we are supposed to show how imperfect we are? Scary!
In any case, what has worked for me is getting out of the habit of being the expert, and I hope it helps you, too.
Photo: Jade Stephens on Unsplash