As with any area of pursuit – including visibility – the why behind your desire is just as important as the what. Meaning; if you’re going to work toward visibility, it’s useful to understand the deeper reason for doing so.

In the video I visit the three aspects of visibility we’ve been exploring over the last few weeks vis-a-vis running your own business; authority, connection, and traffic.

Today I invite you to consider the light and deep of each.

We pursue authority for a very different reason than our reason for pursuing fame.

Fame is about being known. Sometimes it’s about being loved. There’s often a good deal of ego attached to fame. See me, want me, desire me. It’s like trying to fill a bucket that has holes in the base. You can never get quite enough water in it to feel satisfied or like it’s ok to rest.

Authority has a different driver. It’s about establishing yourself in an industry. Ruth Bader Ginsberg has authority. Kim Kardashian has fame.

Many seek fame thinking it will bring them authority but authority carries with it a certain dignity, a gravitas, wisdom and experience. Once you gain authority, you generally have it for life. Fame on the other hand is much more fleeting and fickle.

CONNECTION v FOLLOWERS

The most superficial level of connection is the assumption of connection that comes with having followers on social media. You can have 100,000 followers and technically you’re connected to each of them through your social media account, but if you’re not engaged with those people, if you don’t understand them and give them an opportunity to understand you (through sharing of yourself, being vulnerable at times, letting them in) then it’s a more fleeting kind of connection. They’ll be fans of course, but fans who don’t feel deeply connected to you are just as likely to start following someone else tomorrow and leave you with nothing, if you don’t give them an experience that touches them in some way.

Connection – depth of connection – is about engagement. It’s about being yourself and allowing yourself to be seen just as you are, and not as some shiny, polished, fake version of yourself. When you’re willing to let people see that it gives permission to others to show up as themselves without apology. And the person that gives you that permission is a person you feel grateful (and connected) to for life.

VANITY METRICS v FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Traffic can be a huge source of vanity for some people. It makes them feel important to be able to let everyone know that they are being seen. But what if you could flip that on its head? What if you could make it about the people who are looking for you? What if your visibility efforts could be inspired by a desire to serve rather than a desire to have your ego stroked?

Everything in business can be viewed through the lens of what you can get or what you can give. When you focus on the latter, your efforts reward your business so much more. Your efforts are sustaining and more than that, they’re fulfilling.