ASK me what I’ve learned during lockdown and I’ll start waffling on about how much my introversion has come to the fore and how much I’ve enjoyed the total lack of pressure to leave my house.
I’ve learned that I’d quite happily stay locked down forever more. And that I’d quite like a house with a moat. And sharks. And alligators. Perhaps, even, piranhas.
The good news is that you can still be really visible and enjoy your introversion without a moat and man-eating pet fish. You just need to understand how to time block and how to use all those social channels effectively, and I’ll go into that further in this article.
First, though, let’s explore that introversion a little more. I’m wild and funky and out there, with bright, pink hair, right? How can I possibly call myself an introvert?
Believe it or not, I’m a natural introvert who’s learned to adopt extravert tendencies for the good of my business (and to help me get my message out there). One man’s prison is another man’s freedom and, before lockdown, I’d forgotten just how much I’d built up my resistance and learned not to get my superhero knickers into a knot when it just feels too ‘peoply’.
NB: Yes, I really do wear superhero knickers. Asda does a great range. Wonder Woman today, in case you’re wondering.
Don’t get me wrong — it’s not THAT extreme. I’m quite happy braving crowds to get to the rides at Universal Studios or Disney, or elbowing my way through throngs of people at a festival to get to that vegan food stall I’ve spied.
I’m also absolutely in my comfort zone standing on stage in front of hundreds, even thousands, of people. That’s different. I have a purpose. I’m there to deliver a message to that audience and, anywhere, I’m here and they’re way over there!
I’m also absolutely in my comfort zone standing on stage in front of hundreds, even thousands, of people. That’s different. I have a purpose. I’m there to deliver a message to that audience and, anywhere, I’m here and they’re way over there!
So, it’s not so much the people I really have any introverted idiosyncrasies about. It’s more about my need for a ‘safe zone’.
Safe haven
My home is my safe haven. It’s where I go to switch off. Once I’m safely behind that door, I don’t want anyone to be able to breach that barrier.
Unless it’s an Amazon delivery man, with more stuff I don’t need, but felt compelled to buy during lockdown, obvs.
I spend so much of my time helping, supporting, motivating and inspiring others that my off-off time has become more precious that ever.
I’ve grown to crave that distance when I carve out holiday time, or switch off of an evening. There’s a reason I’ve designed my business to rarely receive phone calls, why I control the booking system instead of creating a live appointments calendar through Calendly, or similar. I like to control the time during which I’m available.
I have no problem responding to the occasional WhatsApp from a client in need, or replying to social media messages, but once I’ve finished my appointments for the day, I don’t want to be answering phone calls. Or Skypes. Or Zooms. If they’re not pre-booked, they’re not happening.
Just popping in for a cuppa
My idea of hell is someone just turning up for a cuppa unannounced. Seriously. I don’t even like giving my address out. Christmas? Birthdays? E-cards will do fine, thanks. I’m strictly an appointments only kinda gal, and the lockdown has reinforced that feeling tenfold!
I’m strictly an appointments only kinda gal, and the lockdown has reinforced that feeling tenfold!
I cannot tell you the relief at having 10+ weeks (11 for us — we self-isolated earlier) with no threat of anyone turning up unannounced and expecting to come in and invade our safe space. Me. My wife. Three dogs. Two cats. That’s it. Everyone else is barred.
Ubiquitous and safely locked down
So, how on earth, with personal boundaries like this (I mentioned my dream of a moat, right? I’ll let you imagine the drawbridge!), do I manage to be so ubiquitous?
As I write this, I’ve just been named as one of the world’s top 50 women in marketing to follow. Last year, I was named as one of the most inspirational business women in the UK and in 2018 I was crowned the UK’s best female coach. Clearly, one doesn’t garner a reputation like that by hiding.
Quite the opposite.
You see, when I’m not off-off, I’m really on-on…and I genuinely care.
When I show up, I do so 110% and I’m super tuned into helping as many people as power-fully as I can.
I don’t just make the right noises in all the right places (ooeer missus!). When I show up, I do so 110% and I’m super tuned into helping as many people as power-fully as I can.
If you’ve ever seen me speak at a live event, you’ll know how much energy and passion I bring to the stage, and it’s no different with my coaching clients.
I do commitment
If I commit to coaching / mentoring someone, I’m in it for the long haul and I will pull out all the stops.
Just during lockdown, and not counting online group coaching admissions, I’ve taken on an additional 17 one-to-one coaching clients. Count ’em.
Se-ven-teen!
No wonder I’m so keen to keep my own time clear, right?
Honestly, I probably took on too many, precisely because I’m so committed to helping people where I can.
That volume (that’s additional clients, remember, not total) is not sustainable long-term, and only works right now because a number of them are short-run contracts.
How to do it
Back to my point… how could I possibly be attracting this level of demand given my natural introversion?
I time block every day to make sure I’m able to show up everywhere that matters.
Every morning, while I’m beavering away on my exercise bike, I’m posting valuable content on LinkedIn AND networking on the platform.
I show up there consistently and do my damnedest to give value.
That means I put some real thought into what people need at any given time and how I might be able to help, and it means I don’t post and run.
Social media is NOT merely a shop window — it’s a giant, global networking event and you need to engage and be interestED, as well as interestING, to make it work.
Social media is NOT merely a shop window — it’s a giant, global networking event and you need to engage and be interestED, as well as interestING, to make it work.
I know which demographics make up my key audience and I put in the effort to ensure I’m connecting to the right people and engaging with their content.
I’ve been consistently showing up with the same core messages and the same brand identity for years, so I’ve grown a tribe who know the content I create will be worth their time tuning into.
Even now, I still go back in and reply to EVERY comment. If someone’s taken the time to absorb my messaging, the least I can do is reply.
No short cuts
Yes, it does take time. I estimate I spend about two to two and a half hours on LinkedIn every day — about an hour and a half in the morning, on my own content and active engagement and networking, and up to another hour or so, at random intervals, throughout the remainder of the day.
If you’re serious about helping people and serious about growing your visibility, personal brand, audience and business, you need to be serious about carving out the time to work from the ground up.
This is why time blocking is so important! If you’re serious about helping people and serious about growing your visibility, personal brand, audience and business, you need to be serious about carving out the time to work from the ground up. There are are no short cuts here. There’s no point just buying followers — castles built on cardboard foundations don’t stand the test of time.
Facebook et all
When I’ve done that, I’ll check in on my Facebook audiences: engage with my groups, post on my pages, check in with other relevant groups I hang out in. Honestly, I could do with spending more time in those places; as it is, I’m there just enough to stay front of mind, but there’s always more I could be doing.
Anyone who tells you Twitter has had its day is full of twatter!
Between those times, I’m dipping in and out of Twitter. Please don’t underestimate the power of that platform, people — it’s full of influencers, celebs, key opinion leaders and journalists who have the power to elevate your visibility to another level entirely. Anyone who tells you Twitter has had its day is full of twatter!
I could use Instagram more than I do — it’s part of my business development plan. Same goes for getting far more strategic with YouTube. I could worry more about Snap, but hours in the day and all that jazz.
Honestly, I’m really not on social all day, but I build in enough blocks of time smartly and strategically to ensure I show up on all the right feeds.
Two-way communication
Engagement’s where it’s at, folks. If you get enough people loving your content and commenting, the algorithms will do the rest — but that’s where you have to be über committed to your mission and message.
It HAS to be about more than sales — you need to genuinely adopt a service mindset for this to work out in your favour and you need to be willing to play the long game.
So, what else helps?
Writing regular long-form content won’t hurt at all. You can blog. You can use Medium. You can post LinkedIn articles. In fact, because of the way Google indexing works, you could probably post the same content across all three platforms and it wouldn’t hurt.
Do NOT do that with your social posting though… your content needs to be relevant and tailored to each of the social platforms you’re engaging with. Once in a blue moon you might be able to get away with sharing the same content (I’ve done it myself, but sparinging!), but keep hammering all that sausage factory guff out from your favourite Hootsuite alternative and you’ll soon have egg on your face.
Mass spam blasts do not say ‘I care’ in the slightest! You need to walk your talk.
Be brave. Do video.
What about video content? Sure! That’s good! Livestreams work a treat. Vodcasts (like a podcast, but with video, because why wouldn’t you? Strip the sound out separately if you want audio-only, but why not kill two birds with one stone and appeal to those who like video AND audio in one fell swoop?) are great too.
You can even run webinars, giving some of your great content out to those who need it most — though, for the love of all things digital, don’t call them webinars!
Why?
A) ‘Webinar’ sounds about as exciting as toenails on toast, and
B) We’ve all signed up to webinars that give us sweet FA in terms of useful content and then found ourselves being bombarded with crappy emails we didn’t want. If YOU think that when you hear the word ‘webinar’, you can guarantee your audience will as well.
I’ve deployed all of these strategies during lockdown and they’ve all worked a treat.
Celebrity followers
Did you see the #TazTalks series I created on mental health? A series of Zoom interviews with celebrities, who all gave their time to speak freely about their own emotional wellbeing and how to stay positive during lockdown.
How did I find them all? Twitter! Did I pay anyone? No! Well, apart from Rev.com for captioning!
In terms of time and captioning costs, that series wasn’t cheap to create — it’s not just the editing, captioning and time for the interviews, it’s the time spent networking to secure the interviews in the first place. For every lovely celeb who agreed, there will have been ten others who just didn’t reply. And who can blame them… maybe they’re dreaming of moats and drawbridges as well.
Was it worth it, though? You betcha!
Every one of those interviewees has a following of their own who, from nowhere, started to notice me and my content. Not to mention the media coverage off the back of the interviews — I’ve been on BBC radio three times from that already.
Every one of those interviewees has a following of their own who, from nowhere, started to notice me and my content. Not to mention the media coverage off the back of the interviews — I’ve been on BBC radio three times from that already. Oh, and two Taz Thornton fan sites popped up on Twitter and Insta off the back of it too — and they were genuinely nothing to do with my team.
We’re currently on a mid-season break with TazTalks Mental Health, but I already have more interviews lined up, as well as a new series — TazTalks Big Ideas. Watch this space.
Be the star of someone else’s show
Of course, as well as your own video content, get yourself guesting on as many relevant podcasts and vodcasts as you can, and promote the ass off them — they’re all great for visibility, personal brand and audience building — AND they’re great fun to be part of.
Networking
Don’t neglect structured networking opportunities either. Right now, you can join in business networking events all over the world without even needing to leave your sofa. How awesome is that? Some provide the opportunity for speaker spots as well. Grab ’em while you can!
Aside from all that, there’s good old email. I don’t create loads of complicated lists. I just send two types of email to the entire list — Awesome Sauce every week and The Tazvocate roughly monthly. The only exception? If someone’s signed up for first dibs on an event, such as The Heart Of Speaking. That’s it. Don’t try to turn a reliable vehicle into a spaceship — there really is no need.
Errm, what about clients?
If I’m doing all this, you might be wondering how on earth I have time to service my clients.
Well, let me tell you, it’s all entirely possible.
I keep the majority of my mornings free — as a rule, no clients before 11.30am, half an hour clear between each one (maybe a little longer for lunch) and I wrap by about 6pm. If I happen to be running one of my evening events, this gives me time to chill out and reset before kicking into action again.
Tuesdays are admin days — no clients on Tuesdays unless I absolutely need to.
I take the last week of each month off, too. Not always off-off, but client-free and light duties.
If you can do even a third of this, you should be able to create enough visibility and a viable enough client base for you to happily work from home for as long as you like.
Keep it real
The long and short of it: do something you believe in, something you’re really passionate about, something that will get you out of bed in the mornings; show up regularly, help as many as you can, and make sure you have options ready to go for those who would like to pay you to work with them.
Keep at it and who knows? You might be able to afford that moat in no time. I’m not so sure Amazon will deliver sharks though.
Until next time,
#UnleashYourAwesome and stay safe,
Taz
x
Taz Thornton is the author of Awesome Sauce — a free, weekly positive life and business round-up, with good news stories, positivity tips and visibility hacks for your brand. In a few minutes each week, you get a dose of optimism and some awesome advice to get seen and stay happy.
Taz is a best-selling author, inspirational business speaker and multiple TEDx speaker, consultant on confidence, personal brand and visibility, and an award-winning coach (UK’s Best Female Coach 2018 — Best Business Woman Awards). She is also the creator of the #UnleashYourAwesome and #BrandMastery personal and business development programmes, as well as #UNLEASHED — an affordable confidence, content and cashflow building programme for coaches, healers and therapists, and #LIFEFORCE — an affordable online spiritual empowerment and coaching programme for people wanting to bring more optimism into their lives.
Taz has been featured on BBC, ITV, in HuffPost, Diva, The Daily Mail and countless other newspapers, magazines and podcasts. Taz is also a regular columnist for the America Out Loud talkshow network. In 2019, she was named as one of the most inspirational businesswomen in the UK and, in 2020, she was named as one of the world’s top 50 women in marketing to follow.
