I took advantage of Carnival week to write a lighter post. One from the heart, and one that would be special for people that might have thousands of project ideas to do on the internet but are afraid to start. How do you lose shyness and the fear of exposing yourself?
I’m a very shy person, personally, and for a long time this kept me from making the content I wanted on the internet. The fear of being judged, of being annoyed, of having people disagree with me, of conquering haters.
We give such importance to those who may not like us that they ignore the vast majority of people who are much more likely to like them. People are nice, I swear! Try to see beyond your insecurity and think how much you can add to someone’s life with your tips, your content, in short, whatever you want to create on the internet.
There’s a phrase that has become a bit of a self-help cliché, but it’s very true: the only way you can’t upset anyone is if you don’t do anything at all. If you are a 100% irrelevant person in your life, you will not take risks or gain disaffection. But you will spend your whole life hiding and wasting your potential for fear of exposure. Stop and think if this security is worth it, because the cost of staying in the comfort zone is very high.
I think that creating this courage, this poker face, was a process that took place little by little for me. I remember once, not too long ago, that I did a poll in my Instagram stories asking if people wanted to know more about a specific topic that I don’t remember. One alternative was like “yes, love” and the other something like “no, forget it”, kind of stupid.
Then a friend of mine, Bia, said that she admired my courage, because she would be terrified of taking a poll like this and seeing many people voting for the negative alternative. And then I thought “dude, it’s true, isn’t it?” I realized that I don’t have that fear anymore, but maybe a couple of years ago I would never have done a poll like that either. And why am I saying this?
So you can see that it’s okay if you’re scared nowadays. Sometimes you need to start, and do some things out of fear, until they become more natural for you. Not everyone here speaking publicly and making fun of the internet is naturally extroverted. It’s something you learn.
And what I said to Bia, when she spoke about fear, is what I told you at the beginning of this text. There’s always going to be someone you don’t like, or who’s just there to tease you, but you can be sure it’s going to be irrelevant around the people who like you and support you. Don’t be afraid, people are more receptive than we think.
And the fear of looking at the video or text yourself later and finding shit? Be embarrassed? Look, this could happen – I have this fear too, but I see it differently. If I look at a video a year later and I think I could have done better, I’m happy, because it means I’ve evolved. I’m no longer in the same place I was a year ago, and thankfully right? Maybe if I hadn’t started right then, I wouldn’t have learned everything that made me better.
So okay, you are willing to face fear and expose yourself more on the internet. But what about when you have to deal with others personally? Going to events, networking and proposing partnerships are important things that can make you grow much faster. It’s fact. But look, my advice: if this is something that frightens you, let it worry you later. It starts creating you in your house, posting, without even thinking about who’s on the other side.
I’m still a shy person, I don’t go to events because of that and I know it gets in my way – from a business point of view. But I also know that I don’t need to become someone else just because I work on the internet! I don’t need to force myself to go to parties, or get close to people who can leverage me. And I wouldn’t even feel comfortable doing that, even though it’s the “rules of the game”.
The beauty of internet entrepreneurship is that you make the rules. You build your business according to what you like and are willing to do. It’s important to face fears, but also to grow in a way that you feel comfortable with. In your time, following your values ??and maintaining consistency. That way you end up attracting an audience that really has to do with you, who you are, because you didn’t create a character.
To close this text, I’ll give you a funny example that happened to me. I unintentionally created a personal brand in the stories because I always started the videos saying “hi guys” in a shy way, my way. And I only realized that I did this all the time and that I was becoming a catchphrase when people started to imitate me and mark me in stories. I found it fun and felt somewhat welcomed, to see that there were people who thought it was cool for me to talk like that and not in that exaggerated way GEENTE that bloggers usually talk.
So, be you and don’t hide, and everything will be fine. I hope this text has encouraged you to show your face and stop putting off your projects out of fear or shame. If you liked it, also follow the content about entrepreneurship on YouTube – this article was originally written as a video script.
