When visibility feels scattered, it’s tempting to look for a better tactic or a smarter tool. But most of the time, the real issue isn’t effort or knowledge. It’s that focus keeps drifting.

I hear this question a lot from solo business owners who are doing many things right and still feel unsettled. If you could only focus on one thing, what should it be?

The answer isn’t about choosing the perfect platform or keeping up with trends. It’s about committing to a single, repeatable visibility action that builds momentum instead of restarting every few weeks.

The core insight

Consistent, high-value content on one primary platform creates more visibility than spreading attention across many places.

Visibility grows through repetition. When you show up regularly in one place where your clients already pay attention, trust builds. Familiarity builds. Traffic and engagement have a chance to compound instead of resetting.

This only works when the message is clear. A strong core message answers one question fast. What’s in this for me? When that message stays consistent, every piece of content reinforces the last.

Why this keeps showing up

Smart business owners often keep options open because it feels responsible. Multiple platforms. Multiple ideas. Multiple directions.

But open decisions create friction. When nothing is fully chosen, everything feels provisional. Content becomes harder to produce, and consistency starts to feel heavy instead of supportive.

Without a clear core message, even frequent posting can miss the mark. People hesitate when they don’t immediately understand the value or who something is for.

What changes when this is addressed

When one platform becomes the priority, effort lands. Content starts to connect instead of float by.

A clear message reduces hesitation for both you and your audience. Decisions close faster. Planning gets simpler. Engagement feels more natural because people know why they should pay attention.

This is where visibility stops feeling like constant motion and starts feeling steady.

Who this is for

This perspective is especially helpful if:

• You feel pulled in too many visibility directions
• You’re posting but not seeing steady traction
• Your message feels harder to explain than it should
• You want momentum without adding more to your plate

Read the full article

This post summarizes a longer, guided piece published in Your Visibility Edge, including a framework for defining your core message and choosing one primary focus.

Read the full article here → If I Could Only Focus on One Thing, What Should It Be?

The post One Focus Beats Everything Else appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Two weeks ago I was near Bass Lake, just south of Yosemite National Park, three miles into a half marathon when I tripped and fell flat on my face. I knew I was going down and was cursing all the way. Thankfully several runners stopped, helped me, and called the sweeper truck to come get me. 

A few hours later I was in the ER at a small hospital getting X-rays. The entire right side of my body was banged up good, but the brunt of my fall was taken by the fifth metacarpal of my right hand. A “boxer’s fracture” was revealed in the X-rays. I’m right-handed.

Now what?

I was told to take some time off work. I laughed.

I’m self-employed. I’m a digital marketing consultant. I work on a computer all day. I’m right-handed. I know, I said that already. I don’t get paid sick days or vacation time. 

And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I carry on. Because that’s what we entrepreneurs do, right?

When I got home I recorded this video. The transcript (edited for clarity) is below the video (8 min) if you prefer to read.

[ssp-video]

Greetings from Los Angeles, checking in to do my live video for the day. I am co-hosting a 10-day live video challenge with Lou Bortone and of course, I need to model what I teach and that is, doing a live video every day. Now we’re talking about Facebook Live and that’s why I’m here. We’ll also be talking about Instagram and Twitter live video, but for today I want to talk a little bit about something that’s come up for me in the last few days.

I’ve been faced with a challenge and the challenge is that I broke a bone in my right hand, which is my dominant hand. I broke a bone while I was running a half marathon up in the Sequoia National Forest near Yosemite and that has created an interesting situation for me. My left hand is very weak I’m finding out, and it’s hard to do a lot of things with only one hand that’s not your dominant hand. Now I talked about this a little bit on my personal profile the other day about adapting, and I’ve had to adapt a lot.

Two of the ways I’ve been adapting is in the form of my communication. I have been doing a lot more video when I’m responding to emails to my clients and colleagues. I’m doing them as video emails with a tool [Chrome extension] called Loom. The other thing I found that sometimes doing the video was not as fast as I would like it to be, so I started taking a look to find some free online voice to text software and I found a couple of Chrome extensions that I’ve been testing. [I ended up going with VoiceIn Voice Typing]

I’ve had to figure out how they work and I am now doing some voice to text typing and that is also interesting. They’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. So if you get something from me, if you see a comment on Facebook, or get an email from me that is a little bit weird and doesn’t have a lot of punctuation or capitals letters, it’s probably because I’m doing voice to text since it’s easier than typing with my left hand, which is not easy.

But the main thing that I’ve been grappling with, and you might have grappled with this as well, is the whole idea of how you show up. How you show up when you’re doing a video for example. How you show up online, how you show up at networking events and what that says about you.

I’ve had this tension because I typically try … when I’m doing a video, I want to look professional, I don’t want to have big sores on my face and swelling on my face from doing a face plant on a trail. I don’t want to necessarily be wearing a sweatshirt, but it’s the only thing that fits over this fiberglass cast that I have. So I’ve had to make some adjustments to how I show up.

 When you see somebody show up online and on my video, for example, you may be unconsciously judging what they look like and that may not be really how they want to be presenting themselves and maybe they don’t have a choice. Now with live video, there are two things going on, or there is something going on there that it’s usually more spontaneous versus a planned out, scripted presentation. So there tends to be a more casual feeling about live video.

I was talking about this with a friend of mine and she’s said, “Yeah, well that’s all fine and good, but what if somebody doesn’t know you and they see you casual and then they don’t take you as seriously as a business professional?” and that’s a good point.

The thing about live video is that you can’t get more intimate with people in terms of who you are behind the scenes, that sort of thing, but you also have to be thoughtful about how you’re showing up. So while this isn’t normally how I would show up in a video, I’d probably be wearing a different blouse instead of a T-Shirt, but a T-Shirt is easier to get on. I wouldn’t be wearing a sweatshirt. I might be wearing a sweater if I’m feeling cool, but it’s not so easy with this.

Sometimes no matter what, no matter how you feel, no matter what you think people may think, you've got to take a leap of faith and show up. Click to Tweet

So I have to take that leap of faith that you’re going to be okay with that, especially if somebody who’s never seen me before. This is where the content is really what’s the most important thing. Most people will forgive the visuals if your content provides some value. Of course, I am hoping I’m providing some value. I thought about this question quite a bit, because there are again, two sides to it. How are you showing up?

How are you showing up?

 You need to be prepared for people making judgements about you, especially if they don’t if this is their first impression, so you watching this, this may be the first time that you ever see me and you’re saying, “Wow, she sure is pretty casual, maybe she’s not that serious about her business.” I’m not saying that you think that or anybody else thinks that, but someone might and we just don’t know it.

 So my suggestion is that when you show up, and definitely showing up is an important thing to do to share your message with people. Showing up to serve people, showing up to have conversations with your audience, that’s all super important, but also give some thought to what the visual message they’re getting is too. Food for thought. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. What you think about how you show up, how you see others showing up, do you ever have some of that sort of feeling of judgment when you see somebody that may not look or sound as professional as you thought they were?

Food for thought. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think about how you show up, how you see others showing up. Do you ever have some of that feeling of judgment when you see somebody who may not look or sound as professional as you thought they were?

 Do you cut them slack or do you just say, “Mm, nope, not happening”? I’d love to hear your thoughts about that. 

I would love it if you post in the comments below… your thoughts and ideas about how you show up, how you think about other people and the way they show up. Let’s have a conversation about that. Okay? Comments welcome and I will reply.

I’m going to jump off now because I’ve got a class to teach in a little while. Take care. Have an adventurous day, and now I’ve got to figure out with my left hand … I’m using a right-hand mouse with my left hand. Very interesting. 

= End Transcript =

Sometimes no matter what, no matter how you feel, no matter what you think people may think, you’ve got to take a leap of faith and show up.

The post Showing Up, Modeling, and Taking a Leap of Faith appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Quick question: how many paying gigs have you received from your LinkedIn profile? 

Over the years, I’ve attracted a few students to some of my programs and one or two private clients. Moving forward, that could change with the launch of LinkedIn ProFinder.

When I started seeing an article on Inc.com circulating among my colleagues on Facebook, I was intrigued. The article, LinkedIn Just Made a Savvy Business Move and Nobody Noticed revealed that LinkedIn had quietly launched a new service called “ProFinder.” It’s a freelance-for-hire marketplace. I’ve not seen much mention of the service on LinkedIn, nor have I received any announcement, but they’ve been beta testing it since October 2015. So I checked it out.

LinkedIn bills ProFinder as the easiest way to find the expertise you need. And you, as a service professional, freelancer, solo business owner, coach, or consultant, have an opportunity to apply and then receive Requests for Proposals when the criteria meet your skills and experience.

My focus in this article is on you: the person who offers services for hire.

Sign Up for LinkedIn ProFinder

The application process couldn’t be easier. Go to the application page and sign in with your LinkedIn account. You’ll be asked to choose the category of service you provide and then click Submit. At this time, applications are all reviewed by ProFinder concierges. You’ll be notified by email when your application is approved. My application was approved in less than 24 hours and that seems to have been the case for many professionals I know.

Once you’re approved, you’ll get a link to your ProFinder page. You’ll see a link for your projects (for which you’ve requested proposals), and Client Requests, which is the list of requests you’ve received for proposals. Of course, when you first sign up, you will not have received any requests. What you’ll see is a list of the previous projects that matched your profile. This is a gold mine of information.

Primp Your Profile

There are five parts of your LinkedIn Profile that show up on your ProFinder profile. And, there are three segments that will be critical to your success in getting client work from ProFinder:

1. An awesome profile summary that matches the expertise you declared when you signed up* 
2. Recommendations from past clients*
3. Articles published on the LinkedIn Publishing Platform*
4. Experience
5. Education

As stated in the FAQ:

All the information in your ProFinder profile is sourced from your LinkedIn profile. So any changes made to your LinkedIn profile will be reflected in your ProFinder profile.

This is a good opportunity to fine tune your profile, add accomplishments and projects and update any relevant information. [I’m working on this! Below you’ll see the summary portion of my profile, my headshot, and the background banner.] 

Pro Tip: After you’re approved for ProFinder, spend time reviewing the expired requests that were made (before you signed up) matching your service expertise. Study the language used to describe the type of projects and the details, specifically. Make a note of the keywords that match your skills and experience. Knowing the language your prospective leads are using to describe the type of service your provide can help you tweak your profile. 

Next, take a look at clients, customers, and students who you can reach out to and request a current recommendation for the services you provided. I realized it had been over a year since the last recommendation I received. Yet, I’ve worked with many people since then, so I’m contacting former clients to get recommendations.

Get the full benefit of LinkedIn ProFinder by primping your profile, getting new recommendations and republishing your articles. Click to Tweet

Then, if you haven’t started publishing articles, or republishing your blog posts, on LinkedIn… start now!

LinkedIn Publishing

I’ve written about the benefits of publishing on LinkedIn and encourage you to take advantage of the platform for getting your content in front of more people. Now, with the emphasis on showcasing your expertise, publishing your articles is more important than ever.

Here’s what you’ll find in the LinkedIn ProFinder FAQ:

The quickest and easiest way to publish on LinkedIn is to repurpose your best, high value, evergreen blog posts. It’s unlikely that all of your LinkedIn connections have seen your content and I assure you, you will not get penalized by Google for having duplicate content.

Read: Repurposing Your Content – 13 Ways to Reach More People

If you need some guidance around how to repurpose your content, join the free 7-Day Visibility Challenge. You’ll learn five ways to republish and repurpose your blog posts on the top social platforms.

Get Started Now!

What’s the bottom line on LinkedIn ProFinder? 

It’s too soon to for me to give it up a thumbs up or down. Once I go through the proposal process, I’ll have a better sense of the value. However, in keeping with my nature and how I advise my clients, I do recommend signing up now if you are a professional service provider. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain if you increase the number of leads you get and close new business. 

Take some time to apply, primp your profile, get new, current recommendations and publish your articles on LinkedIn. And then, see what happens. [Please let me know if you get gigs and how well they match your expertise!]

Have you tried LinkedIn ProFinder yet? If so, what’s your experience been like? I love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

The post LinkedIn ProFinder Gives a Big Visibility Boost to Freelancers appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

One of my favorite conferences is the annual BlogPaws event for pet bloggers. Held in Nashville, this year, it was off the charts amazing with over 500 pet bloggers and activists in attendance. For the second year in a row, I was invited to present on how bloggers can use video to engage with their audience.

This year, I had a co-presenter, my colleague and gal pal, Mia Voss of The Mia Connect. At the last minute, something came up so Mia couldn’t attend, but that didn’t stop us from co-presenting. You’ll see what I mean in the presentation embedded below.

Nothing beats live video for creating buzz, engagement and amplifying your brand and message. In this session, Mia and I, both experienced live video hosts, cover why small and large businesses should consider adding live video to their marketing mix. You’ll learn how to choose what type of video show to host, tools you can use, tips for pre and post show promotion… how to build your brand with live video.

Click Here to Download Your Free Checklist

After you watch the presentation and download the checklist, post your questions and comments below. We’ll get back to you as fast as we can. 

Related Reading

Use Short-Form Content to Amplify Your Message

Use Hangouts on Air to Build Your Platform

The post How to Build Your Brand with Live Video [video and checklist] appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

It’s easy to romanticize self-publishing.

Indeed, self-publishing is an amazing experience for sure, but romantic, it is not.

I’d like to share with you a few realities of self-publishing learned while producing my first book, Content Warfare: How to find your audience, tell your story and win the battle for attention online.

Writing Content Warfare was my side hustle. I have a full-time job. I’m the managing editor of Agency Nation, a digital publication for the insurance industry. Not to mention maintaining my own podcast and blog.

Self-publishing is a side hustle for many first-time authors. But as a first-time author, there are aspects of self-publishing you haven’t experienced yet.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t self-publish, but understand that…

1 – There will never be time to write

One of the first questions I receive about writing is always, “How did you find the time?”

You’re never going to have time. Never.

All writers have a troubled relationship with time. The reality is, you have to make time or there will never be time to write. It’s that simple.

Writing Content Warfare, (did I mention a one-year old son), meant writing till I passed out, then turning around 4:00 am writing sessions.

If you want to self-publish, you have to write.

Find time.

2 – You need to pay professional help

I don’t care how talented you believe yourself to be. To publish the best possible version of your work, you’re going to need help.

This means an editor, cover designer, interior designer, etc.

Is it possible your spouse is great with words and nephew has a bootleg copy of Adobe Photoshop? Sure it is. And maybe their work will be good enough.

 My recommendation is you don’t go budget. Pay professionals to help display your message in a format worthy of the time you’ve put into crafting it.

In particular I’d say an interior designer is money well spent. This is the person who’s going to make sure your book is easy to read and fits the various publishing formats.

Put your message on display.

3 – Other projects will suffer

As I mentioned in the intro, besides my work at Agency Nation, I also have a blog and podcast. I’ve been blogging for more than six years and podcasting for over two years.

When it came time to write Content Warfare, there was no realistic way for me to keep pace on the blog and podcast. Fat had to be trimmed.

If you’ve just begun to plan your book, think about stockpiling content for your other projects. This way you don’t feel the pressure to take time away from your book to publish content elsewhere.

The other option would be to let your audience know you’ll be dialing it back for a while as you work on the book.

Your True Fans will understand.

4 – No more TV

Your DVR is going to fill up with Archer, Parks and Recreation and Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Same goes for video games, leisure reading and any other hobbies you might have had. Side hustle self-publishing is going to consume every hour not spent on family or your full-time job.

Here is a quick tip for breaking yourself of the TV habit.

Every time you turn the TV on, slap yourself across the face.

Unless you’re a complete masochist, your TV watch time should diminish in short order.

Less TV, more writing.

5 – Your loved ones will hate you a little

Your self-publishing journey is going to become all consuming.

You’re out of bed early and in bed late. You’re going to be distant.

You’re going to be distracted. You’re going to be tired.

You’re going to be happy for no reason. You’re going to be pissed for no reason.

You will be on an emotional roller coaster, all by yourself. This will be tough for your friends and loved ones to handle. They are not going to understand your journey.

Take this as inevitable and keep pushing.

Your self-publishing journey is going to become all consuming. Click to Tweet

6 – Things will go wrong

No matter how well you plan your self-publishing journey, things are going to go wrong. In all reality, more than one thing will go wrong.

A file will get corrupted. Your cover design won’t fit the Createspace template. Your editor will miss a deadline.

Things will go wrong and you’ll have to carry on. You are the only person who is going to make your self-published book happen.

No publisher will be beating down your door for chapters or edits. No literary agent will be coordinating contractors to make sure everything gets done.

Things will go wrong and you are the only one that will fix them.

Get it done.

7 – Your first feeling will be relief

Self-Publishing is not a hobby. Its work.

When you’re finally done and the book is published, your first feeling will not be pride or joy, but relief.

Relief that its done.

Relief that you don’t have write anymore. Relief that you didn’t give up. Relief that you made good on all your promises.

Relief that you didn’t risk your relationships, audience and job for nothing.

Before you ever feel the pride of self-publishing you will feel relief.

Let the relief wash over you. It’s natural to feel relief.

Now get excited. You just self-published!

Self-Publishing is Worth It

Despite the realities, self-publishing is 100%, without a doubt worth it.

Whether the Content Warfare book becomes a bestseller is yet to be seen. Even if no one were to buy it, the process was worth every bit of energy expended, every tick of the clock and every stress felt.

I’m better today for having self-published my book.

I’m better at research. I’m better at strategy. I’m better at budgeting. I’m better at setting expectations. I’m better at building hype. I’m better at selling.

 Self-publishing isn’t a tactic. You leave a piece of your soul inside your book. It becomes a part of who you are (or at least were at that time).

Self-publishing is a pain in the ass, but it’s the most rewarding pain in the ass you’re ever create (outside of maybe children).

Now get to work.

Thank you and good luck,

Ryan Hanley

NOTE FROM DENISE: Last year on Adventures in Visibility, I interviewed Ryan Hanley about his crowdfunding project for Content Warfare. If you’re contemplating the self-publishing route for your book, the interview is worth watching (or listening to) to learn how Ryan exceeded his crowdfunding goal.

The post 7 Harsh Realities of Self-Publishing as a Side Hustle appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.