A short motivational talk by George Kao encouraging people who feel unready to publish work or offer services to put themselves out there. He shares an early-career story (2009) about landing a surprising coaching client—charging about $125/hr—because of his passion and energy, and argues that current knowledge and ‘beginner energy’ can be exactly what some clients need. He advises public journaling (writing/recording current experiences) to preserve mindset and to accept opportunities even when intimidated, warning of the ‘expert’s curse’—losing visceral empathy as one advances.
Chapters
This is for you if you are feeling not yet ready to put your work out there. This is whether you are not yet ready to launch your business because you still need to study more, prepare more, get more certifications. Does that sound familiar? Or it could be something a bit more micro, like you're not ready to start a video or to put this blog post out there, whatever, because you need to research more. You need to think more about how to, how to make this thing and, and how to prepare. You got to prepare more before you use. You publish it. So let me tell you. Let me tell you a story. From early, early on in my coaching career, I naively, probably at that point put myself out there as a coach. This is back in 2009 when I knew a lot less than now. And guess what? As I started telling people, I'm a coach, I'm a coach, I'm a coach, I started telling my, my professional network. And then I, I asked them if they would spread the word about me. And then, and then I met somebody at a, At a gathering and I told them that I was a coach. And they had heard from the person who hosted the gathering that I was a coach. And I was, you know, intimidated, actually, when they told me what their, what their role was. They are. They were a leader of non. A large Nonprofit organization with 20,000 members. You know, and I was like, okay, there's, you know, there's no way that, that they're going to hire me or I, I just, I was. But I was just talking about my, my passion. My passion for coaching. Right. Well, surprisingly, they reached out to me after the gathering and said, you know what? I'd like to take you on. And I was like, really? I mean, I tried to be professional about it and say, okay, that's great. And, you know, here's, you know, here are my rates when you want to start, that kind of thing. And my rates back then were obviously lower than they are now. And, And. But they were, they were not. I think, I think I was charging. I was charging him, I think, $125 an hour back then. And he said, that's fine. That's great. And then we, we worked together for several months at me as his coach. And this is again, surprising because it was one first clients. And I have never led a, an organization. I've, I've led. I've been, you know, I was the, I was the. I was leading a tiny, tiny company, but he. I've never led such a large organization before, so I didn't have that level of leadership, but he wanted. So why did he hire me as a coach? Because first of all, he felt like I did have some productivity expertise that would be helpful to him, number one, because I have the passion for, for productivity for a long time, even up to then. But secondly, he liked my, my energy. He felt like I could, my energy would be good for him as, as an organization, as a leader of an organization that's quite, you know, quite old, that my, my youthful energy would be helpful. And so the, the point of the story is that wherever you are now in your stage of your career or your business, there are people out there who appreciate the energy you have now. The knowledge you have already is good enough for a lot of people. Plus your beginner mindset, your beginner energy or what, whatever energy you have right now is already a good match for a bunch of people out there. And you'll never know who they are if you don't put the word out about your services. That's the point. And if I had not been spreading the word and asking my friends and colleagues to spread the word, I would never have met that person and gotten that experience. And once that, once I had that experience, oh my gosh, I was feeling so much more credible because, you know, he was telling me, no, this is, this is really helpful. I'm really grateful for your support. And also the fact that, you know, a non profit doesn't have much of a budget and probably getting people who are, you know, who are pitching, pitching him on all kinds of stuff and he chose to take me on. So think about that for yourself and how there's probably someone out there who is maybe, maybe intimidating for you who would find your existing level of knowledge and energy just what they need at this time. Okay? So please, if, if, if some, if. Spread the word, number one. Number two, if someone is reaching out to you, wanting your help, the fact that they're reaching out means that they already resonate with your energy signature at this time. Such a, such in such a way that you can, you have, you have total, you should have total groundedness to approach that opportunity and say yes, even if it intimidates you take on that client anyway. Of course there are things a client might approach you with that you might not know enough about. But the fact that they're approaching you or that they're open to you means that they resonate with your energy. And I encourage you to say yes to that opportunity because whatever they need, you can, you can research just enough before you meet with them. But they're probably hiring you because of your energy, number one. And number two, whatever, you're already existing. No, as long as you're not. Of course, the fact that you're in my audience, you're not lying to them. You're not saying, oh, I know all these different things. When you don't. You know enough, you are good enough. If your energy is a match to someone and they're approaching you or open to your service, then you are ready enough to say yes to them. The other important point is that as you keep growing and becoming more advanced, you are going to forget what it's like to be in your current state now. I mean, it's, I'm, I have to keep talking about these early stories because otherwise I forget what it was like. I'm, I'm sure I've already forgotten a lot of what it was like to, what it felt like to be, to be back there. And you're going to forget about what it feels like now also. So what's the solution? Create, write, record whatever it is you're experiencing right now. The things you're learning, the things that surprise you, the things that you are still struggling with, but you are, you are learning how to overcome, share all of that as much as you can. Now, I call it public journaling because you're going to forget what your mindset is like right now and what you're passionate about right now. What you're really energized for right now, you're going to forget unless you write it down, unless you record about it. And if you're going to write it down and record something, try to put it out there. Because the person who needs you, the person who is the best fit as a client for you right now is the best client for you right now. When you get more advanced, they might feel like you don't really understand them anymore. This is called the expert's curse. This is important to understand. Okay, I, I am feeling some of the experts curse now because when I, when I work with some of my clients who are really early on in their business, always have to, to, to like, work hard to put myself in their shoes. It's much easier to work with clients who are just a few steps behind me, who have already had a very stable business, but just a few steps behind me and then they want to go even further. That's obviously, I was just there or I'm there now or whatever it's. But for someone who's like, but I do have a passion for someone who is. I do have a passion to help people who are just starting because I'm like, gosh, there's a lot less you have to unlearn, right? But I have to work harder to put myself in their shoes, right? And they might not feel as understood as someone who is just a few steps after just starting. So right now, wherever you are, you're in the best position to help somebody who is either similar stage as you or just a few steps before you. And as you get more advanced, you're going to lose that visceral empathy that cannot be, cannot really be replaced by cognitively imagining what it was like. Where you are now, you are in the best place to help some people that you will not be in as good of a place to help later. So wherever you are right now, with your level of experience, you are ready, you are good enough, you know enough. So put yourself out there, just like I did in the early days, as much as you can, so that the people who are meant for you right now, the clients who are most ideal for you right now, are most ideal for you right now. I hope this is helpful and I look forward to seeing your comments below. Thanks.
