Until January of 2018, I wasn’t a fan of social media. As an introverted writer, I couldn’t think of anything worse than talking to a bunch of strangers about what I’d had for lunch that day.
I’d joined LinkedIn a few years before and found that was about as far into the strange world of social networking as I was willing to delve.
The silly thing was that I’d had some success with LinkedIn and landed a few lucrative jobs from some well-respected sources. But being the Luddite that I am, I failed to make the connection.
Social Networking Works
It all finally clicked for me just after Christmas 2017.
A bereavement in the family made me question and rethink what I was doing, and why I was doing it.
Well I say something clicked, it was more like an anvil being dropped on my head like in the old Warner Brothers cartoons.
(Damn it, I may be showing my age, there.)
If joining just one social networking site led to me landing more clients, what the hell was I doing by not joining any others?
What Was I so Afraid of?
I had this idea that joining Twitter or Pinterest would somehow lead to certain doom. Although, it’s hard to define now exactly what kind of doom I believed awaited me.
I think it made me feel vulnerable, the idea of putting myself out there for everyone to see.
But then it occurred to me that if I wasn’t prepared to do that, then I had no business being a freelance writer. Because everything I was afraid of is exactly what you have to do to be a writer of any kind. Well, a successful one anyway.
You Cannot Win if You do Not Play
To be a successful freelance writer, you have to expose yourself, leave yourself vulnerable to criticism and rejection, and hustle your business on a daily basis.
I think what I was really afraid of was trying to be a writer and failing at it.
You can’t fail at what you never try, right?
So for a while, I just bumbled along and ignored the voice in my head that was telling me that my business could be so much more than it was.
Sure, I had great feedback, a string of regular clients and was ticking over financially, but I had this clawing sense that I could have more. And for the first time in my life, not only was I ready for more, I wanted it.
So here I am, over 1200 Twitter followers later and what’s the most important thing that I’ve learnt? To list everything that I’ve learnt here would be another post in itself. But I will say this — this introverted writer is now a fully-certified Twitter convert.
My only regret is that I didn’t join sooner.
If you enjoyed reading this blog and fancy connecting in cyberspace, you can follow me on Twitter or connect via LinkedIn.
Or, if you’re yet to be convinced by the wonders of social media but would like to find out more about my services, you can do so by emailing me at hollie@thewritingproject.co.uk. Or, send me a message via the Contact Page.
Image Credit: Public Domain Pictures
This strikes a chord, I also have looked at Twitter from the outside, reading, consuming, thinking that I should be contributing but never actually doing it. Deep down i know that engaging will raise my profile and draw peoples attention to what I can do.
Thanks for reading, I’m glad you found the post useful. My advice would be to dive in and start interacting with people, it’s much less scary than it sounds!
Hey Hollie,
Thanks for the “confessions.” I’ve been tapping into Twitter’s power for networking and building relationships lately, and I’ve already been seeing some good results come in through it. Taking a perceived risk is an incredible way to grow, both as a person and as a business.