One of the biggest obstacles people have when thinking about hiring a freelance ghostwriter is they’re scared of putting themselves out there. They say to me, “Rebekah, what if people judge me? What if they say mean things?”
I get it. It can be scary to broadcast your thoughts to the world because what if you get inundated with comments that are negative? What if people misinterpret what you said and then suddenly you’re being cast in a bad light?
I hear you, and as someone who has had a blog for 15 years (and I’ve written a post every week in that time!), let me tell you:
This probably won’t happen.
Unless you inadvertently fall into a MAGA den, no one is going to say mean things to you. I can’t guarantee that but what I can share is that not once in my 15 years of writing online has anyone called me a “see you next Tuesday” or said I’m a dumb b*tch that should just go kill herself. Do you know why? Because I don’t have a following in the millions. In other words:
Unless you’re already well-known, most people won’t troll you.
Again, I can’t guarantee that because these things do happen but by and large, if you don’t have a million Instagram followers already, you don’t receive these sorts of comments. If you happen to weigh in on a hot-button issue, then maybe, but most therapists I know are writing about healing and not something that sparks controversy.
Do you know what will likely happen instead?
People will be grateful you posted something.
Every human alive has a need to feel seen and heard. We all want to be understood. We’re yearning for that. C.S. Lewis speaks to this in his quote on friendship:
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
When you write something and share it with the world, someone reading it says, “Whew! Someone else feels the same way I do.” Or, “Wow, yes. This is how I think too.” Why do things go viral? Because they strike a chord with people. They see themselves reflected in the content and feel safe saying, “What this person says, I agree with.”
Not only that, by writing blogposts and books, you’re building your business. I advocate people have a blog because it’s one of the easiest ways to keep your search engine optimization (SEO) up. (In other words, where do you fall on the results page when people google a certain term?) When I’m blogging for someone, it’s easy to drop in certain keywords like “sex therapist in (fill in the blank city).” That means you’re attracting even more people to your business by putting yourself out there.
I know it can feel scary to have an opinion in the digital age because there’s so much strife and argumentativeness but for the majority of people, they don’t experience that. Instead, someone will contact them and say, “Thank you for your post on XYZ. It meant a lot to me.”
If you’re reading this, I know you’re a good person with wisdom to share. Someone will be THRILLED to read a post by you! Having time to write it, well, that’s another story. Good thing you know a freelance ghostwriter who can help with that. . .
If you’re ready to grow your business, connect with like-minded individuals, and live out loud, contact me. I only have a few slots left for ghostwriting clients. Are you one of them?