After I got laid off from my last job, I started working full time on my consulting business while applying for jobs as a product manager. I also started posting more on LinkedIn and Twitter (X) as a way to engage with the product management community.
I’ve been following Dan Koe and Sean McCabe (formerly SeanWes), both of whom have encouraged me (through their writing) to start with writing – so I wanted to share a few thoughts on what I’ve been doing and how it’s going so far.
A follower or connection doesn’t usually count for much of anything on its own. However, those followers only allow me the opportunity to say something interesting and possibly attract new consulting business or product manager jobs.
Trust Beats Consistency, and Consistency Beats Message
Ultimately, if people don’t trust what you have to say, the rest doesn’t matter. What you say needs to communicate trust. If you are consistent, you will learn what to do. Practice leads to improvement, which leads to success.
But the main reason I want to post every day is because I believe my income depends on it. But it’s also a form of journaling, which helps me think, create new ideas and synthesize thoughts; and it helps my brain work better.
Finding Your Voice
Most people don’t find their voice on social media because of consistency. It takes practice and time to find your voice. It is scary to post something where your friends at the companies you are posting about might find offensive.
Before posting, ask yourself these questions:
- “Can my audience learn something from this?”
- “Would I have liked to learn this earlier in my career?”
- “Do I have something unique or different to say about this issue?”
- “What are people in this industry thinking about but are afraid to say?”
- “Do I have a bias here, and is it apparent to both me and the audience?”
- “Is the intention of my feedback to tear down – or to guide improvement?”
But generally speaking, a good rule of thumb is to stick to what you know. When you find yourself overreaching your expertise, you risk your credibility.
My goal is to post every day at least once. Eventually, I settled into every business day posting something that I saw interesting in the industry.
I enjoy writing, and I have for most of my life. I’ve written many blog posts here and even some books, and although there were long periods of time when I didn’t write anything, I never lost my love for writing.
Consistency Pays Off
So far I’m in the early stages of developing the habits of daily writing, journaling, and posting, but I’m already seeing some effects from it in the form of increased interactions and direct messages. I’m going to keep doing it.
I don’t know exactly where I’m going to end up, but having a plan and working towards a goal with intention will put me in a better position than randomly doing things and reacting to the world around me. X marks the spot.