It’s time for another guest post!
Full disclosure: I kinda hated Jade Craven when I first encountered her. I couldn’t explain it. We had so much in common!
- She’s Australian
- Eight years younger than me
- We hang out in a lot of the same places
- She posted on blogs I read
- Pronounces “arse” correctly
- She has a great sense of humour
So why did I hate her?
*lightbulb*
I finally got it: Jade was like me, but much more successful. I was just starting out, teeny tiny with twelve subscribers, five of them family members. Jade was rocking it out: guest posting everywhere, making influential friends (and they were friends, she wasn’t just “networking”, she was making meaningful relationships with people I was staring at in awe) building products and websites and – scarcity thinking in action – already filling the Quirky Youngish Australian Woman quota. Grr, Jade.
Once I realised that’s what was going on in the tortured carnival of my head I got over it and just started enjoying her company. I’m glad I did, because she has a lot to teach and is very generous with her advice. Also, we can chat in the same timezone! With the same accent! About the same issues! And maybe I can help her as much as she helped me…
Take it away, Jade…
I have a confession: I am shit scared when I connect to new people. See, I used to have this crippling anxiety disorder. I’m recovering, but I worry about rejection. So do many of your idols. In this guest post, I’ll talk about specific social fears I had to overcome – and the awesomeness that ensued. I’ll also chuck in a discount to my awesome new ecourse at the end.
People say that I’m kicking arse online and that I came out of nowhere. The truth is that I had to challenge some of the huge fears immediately rather than build up my exposure. The first hurdle was a guest post on a HUGE blog.
My first guest post on Problogger
To have your first guest post on a top 100 technorati blog is like a guest posting crash course.. I wrote these at the height of my anxiety – about two months before I started on meds. And yeah, it was hard. Terrifyingly hard.
I wrote them because I was friends with Darren and he offered. I accepted because I thought it was an awesome opportunity. It was, but this bad boy scared the crap outta me. I barely slept the night before my post went live.
Guest posting anywhere is terrifying. You are putting yourself out there. You don’t know how their audience will react. You have to blog regularly to really understand the subtleties of how certain audience segments will respond.
But most of my success has come from leveraging that one opportunity. The guest post reviewing Dave Navarro’s ‘How To Launch’ ebook is the post that started everything. I’ve been able to leverage that one post, and what I learnt from it, to get where I am today.
Meeting people in Real Life
Tweetups. One on one meetings. Conferences. I do them all and they scare the shit out of me.
I find most social contact really draining. I struggle if I have to meet more than one person. It’s horrid when you are in a crowded bar or conference centre and have to shout to be heard.
Despite the ickiness, I’ve found that going to meetups is totally worth it. I:
- Got my first job thanks to a tweetup organizer
- Met my business partner at a tweetup
- Stayed at the house of a friend while I was in Sydney. I met him at a tweetup.
Tweetups have been great for personal and professional gain. It has opened me up to so many opportunities
Thank you Catherine.
I’m very open about my anxiety, but I am terrified that it will cause people to reject me. Catherine helped me realize that my pesky little mental illness has actually been a good thing. Its made me push past fears that would paralyze most people.
I’ve released an e-course about networking with bloggers called ‘Beyond Networking – How to Get the A-Listers On Speed-dial.” It has been terrifying to challenge my fear of selling something but has been totally worth it.
As a thank you to Catherine, I’ve set up a special page for readers of Be Awesome Online. It has an exclusive discount on my course. You can also hit me up on twitter if you need social media help.
Thank YOU, Jade!
*sniff*
Now I feel really bad about hating her back then.
Our interview for the Awesome Fear-Wrangling resource is inspiring as hell. Jade has a LOT to say about fear and her triumphs over it.
Come say hello to her in the comments! She’s definitely someone worth getting to know.
[Disclosure: Jade gave me a free review copy of her resource, which she describes as "how to connect with the big guns without being sleazy". I thought it was awesome, although I was furious she didn't go back in time and release it six months ago when I needed it most.
Also, if you purchase a copy through the e-junkie link, I get paid a percentage. If you want to give all of your money to Jade (and why wouldn't you?) buy it through this link instead. Either way, you can use the super-special discount code.]