You’ve heard the saying, “No one thinks about you as much as you do.”

It’s a funny phenomenon known as the Spotlight Effect (perfect illustration by Jono Hey at Sketchplanations).

The spotlight effect can manifest in many ways when building a remote, expertise business:

• Not wanting your video on during a webinar, for fear of being watched or cold-called
• Creating narratives on what you did to prompt a prospect to ghost you, when they’re actually just busy
• Thinking everyone will notice you if you take a week off from LinkedIn
• Not promoting your website or portfolio because it’s not “finished”
• Holding back early drafts of IP for some grand big reveal later on

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Well, here’s some good news and some bad news.

Bad news: there aren’t that many people watching your every move

Good news: there aren’t that many people watching your every move

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Put an idea out there that’s still in progress.

You can even label it:

• “Here’s something I’ve been working on”
• “I’ve been thinking recently about”
• “Curious to your thoughts on…”

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The world is not nearly as brutal as we make it out to be.

In fact, the world is quite forgiving of imperfections.

Especially when coupled with humility.

💡

-Wes

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(Btw, I highly recommend Sketchplanations’ weekly illustration.)