(For more Promoting Professional Geekery, see this Roundup of past columns.)
It’s time to share your progeeky successes with people. You need to tell people how you made it
Why would you do this, beyond sharing your own awesomeness? That’s simple:
- You’ll be a role model, which I’ve noted is very important. When people see someone and know they’re successful, they find it easier to emulate them.
- You’ll be inspirational. People need to see being a professional geek can work.
- You’ll be educational. If you can give detailed descriptions of what you did right and how you did it, people can learn.
- You’ll be a reminder that success is possible. Believe me, people need that.
What format? So what’s the best way to do it? That kind of depends on what’s best for you. Among these columns I’ve suggested the value of blogs, books, guides, etc. The best thing I’ve found is to:
- Pick a format that makes it work. What method works best to share your success stories?
- Pick a format that works for you. After all some methods just aren’t for you.
- Pick a format that reaches people. This is one reason I like blogs is they’re around for a long time if you pay your server bills.
How should I do it? This is actually simple – make sure you share your success story in ways that people can actually follow in your footsteps and apply your lessons. This means:
- List how you did it, what you did, what you did wrong, and what you did right. Let them see your path so they can duplicate it.
- Always, always include cause-and-effect when possible so people see how (and what) results should follow.
- Include resources you used so people no what to use.
- Include “Takeaways” and “To dos” to inspire people to action.
What about my ego? If you’re worried you look like an egomaniac, then make sure your work keeps the audience in mind first. Ask how you help them, what you can do for them, how this can pay off for them. It puts them in he foreground, your ego in the background, and you can stop worrying.
I’m sure you’ve got plenty of successes to share. Get to it!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/