There's No One Size Fits All Way To Be Awesome On The Internet
There is a whole lot of noise out there online about how to be awesome on the internet - I’ve even added to it myself with my blog, podcast, and weekly letters. It can be exciting, encouraging, and motivational, but it can also be overwhelming and detrimental to our own creative process at times too. The thing is - there is no one size fits all way to be awesome on the internet. There are a whole bunch of awesome theories, methods, strategies and formulas that can help you along the way to making awesome things happen online, but the best path to take will always be the one you carve out yourself.
The work I do every day is to help creatives unlock the potential of their online space and bring their big and beautiful ideas to life, and what I’ve learned from working one-on-one with creatives and small business owners so far is that no two creatives are made the same. You all have different needs, ideas, visions, and adventures to embark on, and to believe that there is one set way to do this whole internet thing would be to do yourself and your awesome ideas a huge disservice.
Today I want to share three steps I think can make all the difference when you’re working hard to unlock the potential of your online space as a game changer for your creativity, your business, and ultimately your life. Rooted in the idea that there is no one size fits all way to be awesome on the internet, these three steps are all about carving out your own path, because if we just replicate what has already come before us we’ll then find ourselves limited and unable to really do bold and beautiful things online.
Choose Purposeful Strategies Over Quick Fix Formulas
Quick fix formulas are probably one of my least favourite things on the internet. They create the false idea that all it takes is some quick fix implementable steps to make big and awesome things happen online. My best advice? Throw those formulas to the curb and embrace purposeful strategies instead. They take more work, energy, and time to implement. They’re riskier, they’re scarier, and they really require you to show up and do the work. But they can also unlock your potential to do big and beautiful things with your online presence. And the secret to them? There are no one size fits all purposeful strategies. There are techniques you can adapt to your own business and/or online presence, there are methodologies that are rooted in some serious research that definitely deserve your attention and time, and there are approaches that make sense for you and your goals, but ultimately the best kind of strategy is custom built for you, your online presence, and your own intentions, values, and goals.
You may be wondering - how do I tell the difference between purposeful strategy and a quick fix formula? Quick fix formulas usually feel icky and sound too good to be true. Purposeful strategy is rooted in the needs of your business and goals, and it’s tailored and personalised to your specific needs and intentions. It will push you out of your comfort zone, will take some serious hard work and hustle and grit to make happen, but it has the potential for long term growth, sustainability, and it’s completely ick-free. And how to build purposeful strategy? Research, experiment, learn, and then experiment again.
Chase Your Own Goals
The thing about a lot of the noise out there is that it assumes you’re chasing the same goals as they are. If I’ve learned anything from working with and talking to awesome creatives every single day, it’s that we’re all chasing different goals and visions for our own big and beautiful lives. With all the noise around about topics such as building a six figure business, only having to work 4 hours a week, and doing what you love so you never have to work a day in your life, it’s hard to make space within it all for your own goals and dreams. I touched on this a little in my recent It’s Okay If Your Dream Doesn’t Look The Same As The People You’re Inspired By post, and I think it’s so important to chase your own goals every step of the way.
It’s okay if building a six figure business isn’t one of your life goals. It’s also okay if it is. There is no one size fits all way to dream - whatever it is that is motivating and moving you right now to do make things happen, give yourself permission to just be whoever it is you are. Chase your own goals, don’t make yourself fit around the advice and ideas that you consume, know that it’s okay if your dream is a little against the grain, and also that it’s okay if it’s not.
Build Your Own Methodology
This one can be a game changer. If you’re always following the advice, lessons, and methods of others, you may struggle to build an online presence and business that can unlock its potential to do big and beautiful things online. If you’re always one step behind, following instead of leading, your brand will never have the opportunity to stand on something bigger and bolder. If your work, business, and strategies for marketing, growth, and profit are based and built upon the words and ideas of others, you’ll struggle to say or do anything different than what has already come before. When you start to build your own methodology, that’s when you’ll start to stand out and have the weight of your own ideas behind you, guiding you every step of the way.
It’s okay if the methods and ideas of others encourage you and your work - that’s what they’re there for. Learning from the thought leaders in our industry is fantastic and I’m crazy grateful for all of the knowledge out there available to us online. But it’s when we start to build our own ideas, view points, and methodology that we really start to switch things up and unlock our potential to do big and beautiful things. How do we do this? We experiment every single step of the way. We stay curious, we never stop learning, and we invest in ourselves and our growth and personal development.
Albert Einstein once said, “be a voice, not an echo”. Say something different, create something new, and carve your own path every single step of the way.
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