As a business development coach I know how it feels to want something so badly that you would do anything to get it. Whether you want to work for a large corporation or whether you want to build your own business, you want it so bad you come to me to help you.
I know how it feels because I have been there and done it! I could talk about doing it but I did it, so I know what you are feeling, the struggle you feel every day when things don't go according to plan, how difficult it is to keep motivated, believe me I do know. The thing is people pick up on your excitement, or lack of it and your passion or lack of it, and we tend to act differently on line sometimes to the person we are off line.
As a people person I watch, listen and keep an eye on how other successful people succeed, I learn a lot and sometimes sigh a lot, not everyone does it right, all of the time. What is most disturbing though is this blinkered view of social media platforms, especially Facebook. I can still see you whether you are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, I can see how you present yourself, how you appear to other people, how you interract. If we take me as an example, I have the Linda Ockwell-Jenner Facebook Page and what you see is what you get online or off. I have a mixture of family, friends and business connections. Some days I might be ranting about something in the newspaper and another day I might gently hint that I am giving up alcohol because I attended a party. What I don't do is go overboard and say things I might regret the next day, or even be read by someone who might be looking at me as a possible keynote speaker for their event. What you put on Facebook stays on Facebook and can be read and passed on to people you might not even know. This is not a privacy issue, this is about conducting yourself in such a way that you never let yourself down.
I know for a fact that LinkedIn in particular is the place where most recruiters go now to find possible candidates for jobs, so these same recruiters may even be your friend on Facebook, but you may have forgotten that fact. It's ok to have a great reputation on LinkedIn, but that same reputation has to stand true on Facebook, or people may start to wonder exactly who you really are.
Ideally never pretend to be someone you are not, on the other hand always be aware that your friends might be the path to your success in some degree and how you interract on Facebook can also be a factor in your future success. Another example could be if I am friends with someone on Facebook and they message me privately to let me know one of their friends is interested in me speaking at their conference. I then go and talk about this possibility on Facebook, but it would have been better if I had waited to see if I got the gig and then announced it to the world in a passionate and productive manner.
I know I look at people I connect with on Facebook and this offers me an idea of who they are and it could be a good or bad thing, so obvioiusly people do it to you also. You are being watched, nothing to be scared about just remember to conduct yourself in a manner to be proud of and be authentic to who you are.
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