A Curated Version of Yourself

N.I.N.J.A - No Income, No Job, or Assets

Often used in context with loans, it also applies to so-called social media “experts.”

There has been a ridiculous rise fo people claiming to be some sort of expert or professional or guru in social media in the past few years. How many? Try this on for size:

In 2009, the total was around 16,000.

So in the past three years, the number of social media experts has multiplied by 11 times. Either there has been legitimate, explosive growth in the need for social media marketers, or perhaps (just maybe) people are promoting BS and blabber.

These people are hoping, desperately, that someone will buy into their BS for long enough to pay them for it. Unfortunately, often times lawyers are some of the people who buy into it. You would think lawyers would know better – logical reasoning, analytical thinking, problem solving, etc. Nope. Lawyers seem to fall prey to these people as often, if not more so, as every other business.

Why? Because they’ve been told they need to “get on board” with the next new thing. They need to be everywhere. They need to be present. There are clients on social media. There are connections on social media. And we’ll show you how to navigate it all!!

So lawyers end up spending thousands of dollars on courses, and websites, and social media accounts. They furiously blog, tweet, post, whatever. It lasts two months, they get no clients, they quit. Or they outsource their marketing. Or they dwindle down to maintaining a lame Twitter account, re-tweeting local news reports on car accidents. Like that is somehow going to get them clients.

It’s a waste. It’s a scam. There’s no real point to it. The time, money, and energy that has gone into the black hole of trying to develop clients on social media is shameful.

I’m not against social media, I use it – frequently. I chat with people, crack jokes, find new information from time to time. You can, in time, develop relationships with people. But it is a s-l-o-w process. Will it lead to clients/referrals? Who knows. I doubt it. But is “getting clients/referrals” what you are thinking of when you develop relationships with people in real life? What can this other person do for me? Me me me!? Good luck with that.

Think about your best relationships. Are you puffing yourself up around them? Exaggerating your resume? Constantly boasting of yourself?

No. Instead, you let your guard down. You’re helpful. You’re honest. You don’t expect anything in return. You’re a shoulder to cry on, an extra hand to move a couch, a hand up when they’ve fallen down. It’s a two-way street where they help you just as much as you help them. The person you are in these private moments – is who you should strive to be all the time. You don’t need a curated version of yourself to display to the world.

Just be who you truly are. It’s the part of you that the rest of us need anyway.