Don't become an influencer.

1 min 54 secs

I was walking along the beach with a successful engineer who was now building a tech company from scratch.

As we enjoyed the sound of the waves, we somehow ended up talking about marketing (ugh!).

I told him that sharing my ideas online had changed everything. It allowed me to connect with people who opened doors, offered support, and believed in my vision.

He looked at me, puzzled, and said:

"I hear you, but I don't want to become an influencer. I'm a private person, and I'd rather focus on building my company."

His response made it clear that he misunderstood my approach.

"Influencer" is such a slippery term. It's often associated with TikTok models who post short clips doing provocative dances or showing what they had for brunch, just for the sake of vanity.

But that's not what I meant at all.

Building a personal brand is more about attracting a specific niche audience that connects with your genuine deeper interests and values, not the values you think make you look cool, or worse, those who just think you look cool.

By creating a niche audience, you can turn every failure into a valuable public lesson, which helps build interest and credibility.

If your idea succeeds, fantastic! If it doesn't, that's still a win. You have a meaningful story that could lead you to the right opportunity.

This isn't about vanity or fame; it's about giving your journey a personal touch, making people more likely to become customers because they see a real person behind the brand, not just a faceless minimal logo that could belong to a secret society.

As Kevin Kelly wrote in his popular essay, you only need 1,000 true fans to build a successful business. There's no need to achieve celebrity status or become a mainstream figure.

I was feeling excited that morning, so I gathered the courage to tell him that, in my view, he was morally obligated to share the things he had learned with people who might benefit from them.

Is this true? Maybe not. But it's a useful belief because it reframes posting stuff on the internet from "I'm seeking attention" to "I'm being of service to others."

And for those who say they don't have time, there's no need to overdo it. Just share as you would with a friend over WhatsApp. Think of it as sending a quick, "Guess what I learned today?" text, not crafting a presidential speech.

Don't turn it into a full-time job or even a part-time job. Instead, make it an extension of what you already do, like jotting down a quick journal entry at the end of each day, minus the "Dear Diary" bit...

Sincerely,

Ash Lamb

(450 of 500 words)

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