163: Why the fear of being seen is keeping your business small

In this episode of Online Business Uncovered, I’m talking about why the fear of being seen is one of the biggest reasons so many business owners stay stuck, invisible and small online (even when they are incredibly talented at what they do and have valuable expertise that could genuinely help other people!).

I think this is something far more entrepreneurs struggle with than what they openly admit because on the surface it can look like a consistency problem, a marketing problem or even a confidence issue but very often underneath all of that is the fear of visibility itself, the fear of being judged, criticised, misunderstood, rejected or simply putting yourself out there in a more public way.

Inside this episode, I share why confidence usually comes after action rather than before it, why visibility does not mean becoming a loud or performative version of yourself online and why you do not need to become somebody else in order to grow a successful online business, audience or brand.

I also talk about how the fear of being seen can directly impact business growth because when visibility feels uncomfortable, many business owners start hiding behind perfectionism, delaying launches, undercharging, avoiding promotion and staying stuck consuming content instead of actually taking action on the things they truly want to build.

I also share my own journey with launching my podcast, stepping out from behind my business name and the fears that came with becoming more visible online, especially now as I prepare to host my first 3-day online event, the Online Business Growth Summit.

If you’ve been holding yourself back from posting content, sharing your voice, launching your offer, starting your podcast, creating your online course or becoming more visible in your business then I hope this episode reminds you that you do not need to feel fearless before you begin… you simply need to stop letting fear make the decisions for you.

Because the people building successful online businesses are not necessarily the people with the most confidence… they are often just the people who decided to stop hiding.

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and let’s dive into this episode as we unpack why the fear of being seen could be the very thing keeping your business stuck, invisible and smaller than it’s truly capable of becoming.

Transcript

Karen [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Online Business Uncovered. This is episode 163 and in today's episode I'm going to be talking about why the fear of being seen is one of the biggest reasons why so many business owners stay stuck, invisible and small online, even when they're brilliant at what they do. So let's jump right in and let's get started. Welcome to Online Business Uncovered, the show that lifts the lid on what it really takes to turn your brilliance into digital products, passive income and time freedom. I am your host, Karen, an online business strategist, course creation expert and your go to for building a business that works for you and not the other way around. If you are an ambitious entrepreneur, feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or maybe you're just ready for a smarter, more sustainable way to grow, then you're in the right place. Because each week I'll be bringing you inspiring conversations, practical strategies and step by step guidance to help you create scalable, repeatable digital products that sell even while you sleep. So if you're ready to stop trading your time for money, reclaim your time and finally build a business that gives you the freedom that you deserve, hit, subscribe and tune in every Thursday.

Karen [00:01:24]:
Let's uncover what's truly possible for you, starting now. Hello and welcome to another episode of Online Business Uncovered. I'm your host, Karen, and I really do appreciate you hitting the play button to listen to today's episode. Now, today I want to talk about why the fear of being seen is one of the biggest reasons why so many business owners stay stuck. And I think this is something that a lot more people struggle with than maybe what they'll openly admit. Now, from the outside, it may look like a marketing problem or a consistency problem or maybe even a confidence problem. But very often underneath all of that, the real issue tends to be fear. The fear of putting yourself out there, the fear of being judged, the fear of saying the wrong thing, the fear of looking stupid, the fear of people from your past watching you, the fear of somebody disagreeing with you, or the fear of nobody responding at all.

Karen [00:02:43]:
And I think what's really interesting is that this tends to become even stronger when you really care about what you do. Because suddenly it can feel personal, almost like you're being judged. And that makes you feel vulnerable. So what then happens is that you stop posting content. You stop sharing your ideas or your expertise or your voice or even your story. And that can feel incredibly uncomfortable and unfair as well. Especially if you've spent years staying behind the scenes, working quietly, or perhaps building your business mostly through referrals or word of mouth. Now, the challenge is that if people don't know you exist, then they cannot buy from you.

Karen [00:03:40]:
And I think this is where so many brilliant business owners accidentally hold themselves back. Now, it's not because they are incapable or because they don't have valuable expertise, but because they are waiting to feel fully confident before they allow themselves to become visible online. And unfortunately, the thing with this is that confidence rarely comes first. Confidence usually comes after action, after repeating yourself and doing things, on repetition, after showing up consistently, and after realizing the world didn't end because you posted a reel with your face on it, or that you recorded the podcast that you've been meaning to record for a while, or shared your opinion on LinkedIn, or finally launching the thing that you've been sitting on for months now. I think social media has kind of created this pressure where people believe that they need to suddenly become this loud, polished, hyper, visible version of themselves over night. Like visibility is about dancing on TikTok seven times a day or sharing every single detail of your life online. And I think social media also can make us feel like we have to be on all the time, we have to be posting all the time. But I think visibility doesn't actually have to look like that.

Karen [00:05:28]:
You get to choose what visibility looks like for you and what you're comfortable with. Visibility can simply mean allowing people to understand who you help, what you do, what you believe, and most importantly, why your work matters. And I think there are so many different ways to do that. You don't have to do the dancing online and the funny things that people are doing now. You can just simply write a really honest post or record a podcast, or you can teach something, or you can do a video where you walk somebody through something. Maybe it looks like emailing your audience. It could be that you build your own community where you can share your stories and educate people about the things that are important to you. You do not need to become somebody else to grow online.

Karen [00:06:32]:
You can be your true, authentic self and build an audience and do what matters to you in your way so that you feel comfortable. I think you just have to be more willing to be seen, and I think that's when things get scary. I want to talk about the business side of this because I think this is really important. The fear of being seen doesn't just affect your confidence, it can affect your business's growth. Because when your visibility feels uncomfortable, people tend to avoid promoting their offers or they start hiding behind the creation of Something instead of selling it. Maybe they are constantly tweaking the things that they have in private so that they delay launching the thing that they've created. And the problem with this is they can stay stuck consuming content instead of taking action. And it can also play out where they undercharge.

Karen [00:07:45]:
They avoid talking about any results because maybe they're not aware of the results that they're achieving or not achieving, or they start minimizing their expertise like it doesn't matter. And I think the biggest one is waiting for things to feel perfect before actions even taken. Now, the problem with this is that other people are grown online, but they may not be the most qualified people to do that. They may be just the people that are willing to show up consistently, but they're getting the results because they're prepared to do what is uncomfortable in order to get what they want. And I think that's the uncomfortable truth really is that I think in business, the people that are prepared to put themselves out there and to do the scary stuff are often the ones that actually get the grice. I think staying safe limits what becomes possible. I think staying safe keeps you feeling comfortable, but you miss out on so much. And when people play safe, and I see this a lot when I go networking and I meet people and the conversations that we have, sometimes it comes out through what they say and their.

Karen [00:09:27]:
Their mindset, the mindset that they have about what is possible for them in their business. It's almost like they've accepted that they'll only ever achieve so much. And when you look at somebody online or within your space that is doing brilliantly and you're sitting there thinking, oh, you know, I wish I could have what that person has. I wish I had a business like theirs. The truth is, you can. It just requires you to get uncomfortable to have it by forcing yourself to be more visible and get out there and to try things, because everybody feels the same at some point. The journey of business is not easy by any stretch. It's the hardest thing or one of the hardest things you're probably ever going to do.

Karen [00:10:24]:
And I think the reality of running a business is that you can't avoid being uncomfortable. Because if you want to grow and you want to get results and you want to impact the people that you want to impact through the weather you do, in order to reach them, you have to put yourself out there. And I think if you are not prepared to do that, then you're only ever going to go so far in your business. And of course, with that comes personal growth. The more you grow in your business, the more you go personally. And the more you go personally, the more you grow in your business. And sometimes in order to achieve specific goals, we have to step into a version of ourselves that is prepared to do what it takes to achieve those goals. And I think that can make us uncomfortable as well, because it's stretching our comfort zone, and we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to get what we want.

Karen [00:11:30]:
So we have to be a different version of ourselves to achieve that. I see brilliant people sitting on amazing ideas for online courses, for memberships, coaching programs, and digital products, and nobody knows about them because the creators are terrified of being visible. But then I watch other people, sometimes with half the experience grow faster simply because they're willing to speak up online. They're willing to take those steps to getting what they want because visibility creates opportunities and it builds trust and it grows audiences and it creates authority. And visibility is often the bridge between having expertise and actually building a scalable business around it. Now, I think it's also really important to say that the fear of being seen is rarely just about social media. I think social media kind of almost puts a spotlight on it, because in order to be on social media, you have to be visible. But I.

Karen [00:12:48]:
But I. But I think it's more of a symptom rather than a cause. Usually it goes so much deeper. Sometimes it's simply about the fear of rejection. Nobody wants to be rejected. We're humans. We. We want to feel connected.

Karen [00:13:04]:
We want to feel appreciated. We want to feel like what we are contributing matters. We don't want to be criticized. We don't want to be seen in a negative way. But also on the other side, there can be that fear of success and that fear of outgrowing people. I, one of my friends who was running a business, she had a fear of success, and she was really aware of it because she'd say to me that. Because I would notice her sabotaging herself, so she would do something really well. And then she would do something, and it would almost sabotage her results.

Karen [00:13:51]:
And when we sat down and we were talking about it, she opened up and shared that she does have a fear of success because she doesn't know what that looks like and how it will impact her, her and her family, because she likes her family as it is. She doesn't want anything to change that. So she was carrying this fear of success around because the fear was that if she was successful, it could change the dynamics of her family and she saw that as being negative, so she would, without realizing, sabotage her own success. I don't think it's often about the fear of failure. I think sometimes there may be that fear, but equally, I think the fear of success can really hold us back as well. It could be the fear of being misunderstood or even standing out, because if you stand out, then you're opening yourself up to be judged by. Or it could even be a fear of being fully responsible for the business becoming successful. Because visibility could change things.

Karen [00:15:08]:
The more visible you become, the more opportunities start appearing, the more people start watching, they start asking questions, they start recognizing you. And that can feel uncomfortable if you spent years trying to stay safe, small, or even unnoticed. So if you've been struggling with the whole visibility thing lately, I really want you to know this doesn't mean you're incapable of growing a successful business. It just means that you're human now. One of the biggest shifts I've had personally was realizing that visibility is not about ego, it's about service. Because if your work genuinely helps people, then staying invisible is actually helping nobody. Because there are people right now struggling with problems that you know how to solve. There are people looking for guidance, support, education, and solutions that you can provide, but they cannot find you if you are constantly hiding your brilliance.

Karen [00:16:20]:
And I think sometimes we make visibility all about ourselves. What if people judge me? What if this fails? What if nobody responds? But I think we need to reframe how we see this and start asking better questions. What if somebody really needs this today? Because that can change everything. I always put at the end of my podcast episode when I'm finishing, please share this episode with somebody that you feel needs to hear this today. Because the more people that hear my episodes, the more people I get to help. And it's not about ego. It's about showing up and serving and being that person that is going to support other people's growth so that they can move forward. And I think having that mindset can change everything.

Karen [00:17:21]:
I. Before I launched my podcast, I was sitting on my idea for probably a couple of years, and I didn't do anything about it. And then my friend and I, we were talking and we decided to launch a podcast. But we were going to do a collaboration. And I had this idea as clear as day, I had this idea, and I decided in the end that I had to launch my podcast, which was digitally. She does it. And for those of you that have been listening to me for a long time, you'll know I rebranded into online business Uncovered. But I had this idea to create a podcast to help people build their business businesses online, because that's what I'm passionate about.

Karen [00:18:08]:
I. I get up every single day and I do the work. Everything I talk to you guys about, I'm in the background doing this for my own business. And it's not easy. Sometimes it takes a lot of inner strength to keep going. Because when life is happening, it can feel very challenging and sometimes you just can't be bothered. But we have to dig deep and remember why we're doing it, and we have to connect to our why. And sometimes that can be sharing what we have to say with people because it matters.

Karen [00:18:50]:
So I think when you start seeing visibility as helping people and you stop seeing it as a performance, then it starts becoming impactful. And I think that is why it matters. I know that so many people right now are feeling overwhelmed. You do not need to be everywhere. You do not need to master every single platform. You do not need to post 5 times a day and you do not need perfect branding. You do not need thousands of followers before you start selling. You just need consistency.

Karen [00:19:27]:
You need to create a plan and you need to be consistent with that plan. Yes, it takes courage. Yes, it takes focus. But small, repeated steps builds momentum. When I started my podcast, I never thought in a million years I'd be standing here today with 162 episodes in my library. If I'm honest with you, I gave myself 10 episodes. But the more I did it and when I listened to the feedback, the more I realized how much it was helping. And people were listening because they'd reach out to me on social media or I'd be speaking to somebody at a networking and they tell me how much they love my episodes.

Karen [00:20:13]:
I was talking to somebody a few weeks ago who said that one of my episodes inspired her to start creating her online course. And so because of that, she's building a new income stream in her business. And that's huge because she's given herself the opportunity to build a freedom focused business rather than stay stuck in trading her time for money. And that's a massive step to take. But, but she, she credits my podcast because she's been an avid listener for a long time and it was one episode in particular that actually got her into action. Now when I hear things like that, I think, my God, you know, people are listening to me. Little old me, what do I have to say to really get people inspired? But I just stand here speaking what I know to be true in my most authentic Voice in the way. If you were to meet me on the street, I'd be no different there than I am behind this mic.

Karen [00:21:16]:
I show up with a willingness to support and to serve people, to help them make a difference in their own businesses. And I think when we approach something with somebody else in mind, things become a whole lot easier because it's not about us, it's about the people we are wanting to support. So what I want you to do, what I encourage you to do as a takeaway from this episode today, is to remember that your business cannot grow in private. At some point, people will need to see you, they'll need to hear from you, they'll need to know you exist, they need to be able to connect with you. Especially now in a world full of AI generated content, automation and noise. We need authenticity. We need people to show up as themselves, sharing the things that they are passionate about. Because I think people are craving real human connection more than ever.

Karen [00:22:19]:
Every time I'm on social media, I see more AI generate content than ever before. So personality matters, voice matters, perspective matters. And often the thing that you're most likely overthinking is the exact thing that makes people trust you. So if you have a fear of being seen and it's holding you back, I want you to stop waiting until you start feeling fearless. Because the reality is, most people never do. Most people think that they're going to be ready, they're going to wake up one magical day and they're going to be ready to be seen. And it doesn't happen like that. The goal is not to remove the fear completely.

Karen [00:23:02]:
We need the fear. The fear keeps us safe. The goal is to stop letting fear make the decisions for you and your business. Because on the other side of visibility is growth. It's opportunities, it's connecting with the audience that you want to help. It's building that authority, it's generating that freedom and it's creating that impact. And I think probably if you're really honest with yourself, the business that you want to build properly requires a version of you that is willing to be seen. Even if you're imperfect, even if you stumble over your words, even if you show up awkward or you don't feel fully ready, it doesn't matter.

Karen [00:23:52]:
Because the people building successful online businesses are not necessarily the people that have the most confidence. They are just simply the people who have decided to stop hiding. As you may know, in October this year I am delivering my first three day online event, the Online Business Growth Summit. It's a big goal that I've got for the year. And in order to make this event happen, I have no choice but to show up and be seen to be heard. I've had to reach out to so many speakers. I'm having to step into that leadership role in order to create something that I believe is going to make a difference. And it is scary as hell and I'm being really honest.

Karen [00:24:47]:
But I also know in my heart of hearts that this is something that needs to happen. And so when I stand here and I'm talking about visibility and the fear that surrounds it, it's because I know what that fear looks like. I spent many years hiding behind my business name before I ever stepped out of the shadows to launch this podcast. And it's a journey. But what I will say is, with the podcast, I've had amazing opportunities given to me and already with my summit, amazing things are starting to happen and I'm so excited for it. And I think when you look at what is possible and what you can have, if you're prepared to get uncomfortable, what you'll get in return will be far greater than you ever imagined. So I want to dedicate this episode to all of you introverts out there that that struggle to be visible, struggle to be seen, struggle to be heard. And I want you to know that you're not alone.

Karen [00:26:02]:
But I also want you to know is that you have it in you to achieve the growth that you want in your own business and to be visible. It's just about taking small steps in order to make that happen. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope this episode has given you some clarity and spark new ideas for your business. If you found this helpful, then please share it with a friend or a fellow entrepreneur who's also building their online business because this episode may be exactly what they need to hear today. And if this episode has you thinking that you're ready to start turning your expertise into income, then come and join my community. Sell your brilliance online where you'll get access to tools, resources, trainings, masterclasses, support, guidance, accountability. Head on over to www.sellyourbrilliansonline.com/membership.

Karen [00:27:06]:
I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a wonderful week. Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Online Business Uncovered. If today's conversation has sparked an idea of or gave you a dose of clarity, then please make sure to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned. 

New episodes land every Thursday, so hit follow or subscribe to stay in the loop. And if you're loving the show, a quick rating or review goes a long way in helping more brilliant entrepreneurs like you find this show. Until next time, keep showing up, keep sharing your brilliance. And remember, freedom in business is possible, and it starts with taking the next right step.