“Everyone is doing it”. That's exactly why you should

“Everyone is doing it, and I don't want to be like them.” It's the sentence I hear most from experts when we talk about being visible. My answer is always the same: true, and that's exactly why you should do it.

The story

I sit with a lawyer, an engineer, a doctor, or a business owner. We talk about showing up on social media, and five minutes in the same sentence arrives: “Everyone is out there now. What would I add?”

I understand the feeling. Nobody wants to be a copy. But whoever says it is mixing up two things: the method and the person. The method really is the same. The person never repeats.

The idea

For specialists, being visible today isn't a trend. It has become a basic. The lawyer writes, the engineer shares his work, the doctor explains, and the business owner tells his story.

And nobody expects you to be a genius. People want to learn from someone one step ahead of them. You have many ways to do it: articles, sharing your work, or your experiences on camera. All of them bring people closer to you and show them how well you understand your field.

So when everyone is present and you're absent, people don't say “this one is different”. People simply don't see you.

A real example

Take 10 people in your exact specialty and give them the same question. You'll get 10 different answers.

Why? Because your experience with a client, a project, or a hard decision will never be the same as someone else's. Same specialty, same question, but the answer comes out in your shape.

So even if 100 people have talked about the topic before you, none of them said it from where you stand.

How to apply it

1. Don't look for an idea nobody has done. Look for an idea nobody has said your way.
2. Start from your experience: a situation with a client, a mistake you learned from, a hard decision you made. Nobody can copy those.
3. Answer the questions you get asked every day at work. The people asking them in front of you are a fraction of those asking who never reached you.
4. Talk the way you normally talk. Don't imitate the style of someone you saw succeed.

What you gain

People get to know you, not “someone in the field”. You build an audience that trusts you before they need you. And when they do need someone, yours is the first name that comes to mind.

And there's something bigger than business: the purpose of being visible is to raise awareness. You benefit people with what you know. As the saying goes, the zakat of knowledge is sharing it.

The takeaway

If your goal is to benefit people, it doesn't matter that everyone is doing it. In the end people will see you, and get to know you, in a style that looks like nobody else's. The method is the same, but there is no second copy of you.

What question do you get asked every day at work, and have never answered in public?

Further reading: Show Your Work — Austin Kleon