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Baring your soul on social media

I wanted to write about something that a number of my clients have brought up with me. 

First of all, I want to say that this message is coming with a lot of love for people. No judgment, no condescending but just a little bit of loving advice. 

When we are slightly depressed and maybe our businesses are not going so well or as well as we'd like them to go, some people can use social media as a way to talk about their feelings and their worries, their concerns, the fact that their business isn't working, the fact that maybe they are very depressed.

But here's the thing. Social media is a wonderful place, but it is full of people that know you as a business owner, that may have bought your products or may be interested in buying your products. And by using social media as a kind of therapy tool, if you like, to talk about your feelings, you are in essence putting people off buying your products.

If I was to come on write here and tell you about a day when I was feeling particularly horrible about how that felt, and I did that continually over a long period of time, you probably wouldn't want to work with me or buy my products because you would lose some sense of me as an expert and as such able to run a business successfully. For me, on the days when I feel less than myself or I feel a little bit under the weather, I don't go on social media. I choose not to post my feelings out there, and I go to my group of friends, real people that I have a connection with that I've known for years that can hold my hand through that journey.

And we all have those people - even if we feel like we can't reach out, you can. If people love you, they will want to hear it. And it can seem harsh for me to say don't share all your thoughts and feelings, but it's going to negatively affect your business and your sales. And if one of the things you're struggling with is business success, the last thing that you want to be doing is putting off people from buying your products.

One of my clients said to me, "I love her products, but I'm not going to buy them because what if I wanted to take them back? I don't even know if her business is going to be there in a month's time. It doesn't look like it's going very well." And so that can be a real problem for you. If you're running a business and it's not going so well, and you're telling everybody it's not going so well, that's a whole lot of negative energy that you're putting out there.

And I know, I've been depressed myself. I'm not saying that I know everything, and thankfully my biggest moments of depression were in the '90s when social media didn't exist, and at the points where I was a single mum and I had cancer, I just chose to take myself off social media and just invest that time in my personal friends. So I know how feeling like that feels, but here's the thing. It's not that we have to be light and wonderful all the time, just don't be telling people constantly that you're having a shit time and that your products aren't selling and that your business isn't working. 

If you believe one iota about the lower retraction and mindset, you get what you put out into the world. So if you're putting out into the world negativity, that is what you're going to get back. And I truly believe that. I've just checked out my income for last year, the last tax year, and it is literally more than doubled from the year before. And I think a lot of that is due to me getting my head around money, mindset, affirmations, putting stuff out there and then putting it alongside actions, and being a positive force for good. And actively pursuing that, rather than focusing on the things that aren't going so well. 

So here's my advice to you. If you're reading this and you are the person or people that are posting about your mental health and about how things aren't going well, and how about your products aren't selling, please, please, please try and limit that. Find real life lovely wonderful friends that you can go and talk to about these things. If you're feeling shitty, just don't go on social media. And it totally comes from a place of love. 

I'd love to know your thoughts about this. This has been something that I've been thinking about for a long time. It's really hard for me to say that to people because you know, I want everybody to be happy. But it's the truth, essentially.