Would Anyone Notice
If You Stopped Posting?

Transcript from the episode recording, with speaker names added and paragraphs formatted for readability. Automated transcription may contain errors; the audio is the original record.

Brad Hauck 00:14

Welcome to the Experts Journey Podcast. What would your industry lose if you stopped speaking, writing, or publishing content? It's a confronting question because it separates from being seen to being significant. In this episode, we're talking about true influence, the difference between having a presence and having a real impact, and whether your voice is adding more noise or actually shaping the direction of your industry. Good morning, Dixie.

Dixie Carlton 00:40

Good morning, Brett. What a fantastic topic. Tell me, what inspired you to come up with this as a topic for today?

Brad Hauck 00:48

Well, I think I was just looking around and everybody's kind of trying to make impact and they're trying to cut through. And I was looking at the results of some social media stuff I was doing, just looking at your stats, as they say. And sometimes you ask yourself, Am I really making a difference? Am I actually changing people's lives? Am I helping them? And some days, like everybody, I question that. And I think that it's a really good question. What would happen if I walked away and I was gone? Would it actually make any difference in the world?

And I think that's a good question we should ask ourselves because sometimes being in business for yourself, whether it's writing books, publishing, speaking, being online, whatever, is it's it's very hard work and it really does get to you some days. So I think it's really worthwhile sometimes standing back and actually questioning, are you making a difference? And sometimes it's yes, sometimes it's no, sometimes it's a little. I think depends on where your business is and what circles you're in too.

Dixie Carlton 01:54

I think you you've raised a really good few points there. Every now and then, and of course, this year, we're noticing that there's a downturn in certain areas of business across lots of different types of industries. And obviously our industry is taking a hit for that as well. And so every now and then when it does get tough, or if you have that particular situation with a client or a project that just doesn't gel, or those moments where you sit there and think, oh, I should just go and get a real job, or I'm so over this, I'm tired.

I don't know if I want to keep doing this for another 20 years. Am I making a difference? Maybe it's time to have a complete change. And we all have those moments. And when you start having those moments often and at closer times together, then you need to start really thinking about it. When you start looking at the logistics of how to change or how to pivot away from what you're doing, one of the biggest things that we don't think about is the impact it's going to have on everybody else.

Brad Hauck 02:49

Yeah, I think you've got to look at the impact it's going to have on other people, but also the impact it's going to have on you too. Lifestyle is one aspect of being in business. And if you give up and go back to a job or whatever, how will that affect your lifestyle? Sometimes one of the hardest things is to keep going when you really want to quit. Um because long term it's worthwhile. There's always tight times in business. You it doesn't matter who you talk to and how successful they are, they'll tell you about the times that they ate baked beans out of a can or something similar and question their own sanity if it's worth going on.

You know, we all go through that.

Dixie Carlton 03:24

We've known a lot of speakers come and go through the years, both of us, where they've been even quite dominant and quite successful in the industry, and then have decided to go out and do contracting or consulting again and move beyond a speaking or move back to what they were doing. And some of them have been really happy doing that. As far as how it impacts on the rest of the world, for example, there will always be topic experts that probably speak about what you speak about if you were to exit. But the reality is no one's gonna do it the same way as you because you build your brand around being unique in your specific space.

And that's a big part of our personal and professional branding is being that unique voice, that unique messenger of the topics that we talk about.

Brad Hauck 04:12

I think sometimes you've got to think back to what it was like to actually work for somebody. And I remember my first job was working for a large corporation, one of the biggest ones in Australia. And the fact of the matter was that if I left, someone would replace me next week. And that's true too for anyone who's in the influencer space like we are, where we're helping people, thought leaders, and that is that you will leave and someone else will take your place. Now they won't do it like you do it, and they might not have the same impact as you, but they will fill the space.

And you've got to question, is it really uh worthwhile sometimes? And I think that's the question that everybody struggles with. I think it is worthwhile. I think that I was put here for a purpose, and that is to help people succeed, and only I can help certain people. Now I can't help everybody, but those people I do help, well, it makes a difference to them. It's the old starfish story, isn't it? I really feel that I have helped people along the way, and that's what I really want to do.

Dixie Carlton 05:17

It's about legacy, isn't it? If you are on purpose and you have a mission and you are intent on leaving a legacy, then you will feel a responsibility to that legacy as almost a living, breathing thing of its own to follow through and make that become reality. And for me, I help a lot of people write their books. Those books, there's a huge ripple effect potentially for every speech that any of us ever give on stage. There may be one person who does or doesn't do something as a result of what they've heard you say.

And that can have life-changing consequences for people further down the path that we may never know about. So we have to believe in our sense of purpose and our sense of this is about a legacy, not just doing something to pay the bills.

Brad Hauck 06:12

Absolutely. I've written in my notes. What is the difference between being visible and being valuable? And I think that's a really good question to ask yourself. When we talk about social media and we talk about content creation and promoting our books and promoting our speaking and all that, that's all about visibility. But in the end, the most important thing we can be is valuable. It's a bit like I've been looking at what I'm doing, and I'm literally in a couple of weeks' time, I'm going to be running a face-to-face in-the-room workshop about Claude AI. Rather than going online, I'm actually going to do it face to face because I really feel the most valuable place, the place where I help people the most, is when I'm standing right beside them, teaching them something.

That's where my most value comes. So I would rather have two people in a room and spend the morning with them training them than put a hundred videos out because I think the value is so much greater for me and for those people. I think I have a greater impact on people when I do those sorts of things as well. Now, whether that's online or in person, that just depends on the circumstances. But I think it's a really good question to ask yourself. Are you just putting stuff out to be visible? Or are you trying to be valuable?

Because there's a big difference in the amount of impact you'll make when you're being valuable.

Dixie Carlton 07:32

I agree. And I think we get lost in that, even when we're developing our branding. Are we here to be visible or are we here to be valuable? And which is the more important? And I think valuable often gets reversed to the concept of being visible when we're trying to build a brand. And it's not like build it and it'll come. But if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing and you are providing great value, the money will follow, the recognition will follow. And it may not be the way you think it's going to be when you start planning this great life of what you're going to do to be highly visible, but creating value and bringing that as the primary essence of what it is that you're here for, then the rewards will be there.

Brad Hauck 08:18

Yeah, you can be pushing out stacks of content. But if you put your time into creating something really valuable, something really useful, it's more worth your time to do that than it is to try and push out little chunks of things all the time. Yeah, I understand that like the role of social media and the way we consume things these days is in small chunks, but I'd rather do a small chunk that is absolutely killer content than just do a generic chunk. And I think that's also the other thing is get away from generic, which if you're using it to write your content, you'll find it is more generic than if you actually get it out of your own head.

I think things like that, where you choose that value and really bring what it is that people need to hear.

Dixie Carlton 09:06

Yeah. And again, that comes down to why you feel your purpose is here doing this. And we've talked before, this is it feels like a call-in for a lot of us. It's not just uh, I'm going to go and grow up and become a professional speaker or an author that speaks about whatever. It feels like a call-in. And when you are on purpose, uh, I've said this to a number of people over the years. It feels like when you are really dialed into what your purpose is and you are here to make a difference, regardless of what that is and how far the ripples will go, you could just about jump out of an airplane and have the parachute fail, and you're still gonna land okay because you are on purpose.

You had are here with an intention to make a difference. And until your legacy is fulfilled, you're not quite bulletproof, but close to it, you're gonna have a lot more lucky escapes. Not that you should bank on that, obviously, but time and time again I've heard people say, I walked away from that write off wreckage. I walked away from this. This was what happened when I was in the midst of creating this. And then I've heard other people say, and then just after the legacy level was complete, they died in their sleep at the age of 47.

And I can cite several examples of where that's happened throughout the years. And so I think when we dial into our sense of purpose, we have something really powerful to offer. And we shouldn't discount the value of that and how it impacts on others. So walking away, deciding to not be here for that at some point, it takes a lot to really think through. And so one of the things I want to throw into this as a concept is if you were unfortunately struck out without it being the time that you want it to be, let's say through illness or accident or for whatever reason, you have to stop.

Do you have an exit plan? Do you have everything written up so that someone can either step in and take over to ensure that the exiting phase is smooth and that your clients are in some way contacted and made comfortable while you work through the transition or while someone else supports you through that transition? Do you have everything noted that you need to have so everyone can get what they need to complete the delivery if necessary or wrap up the process that you're stuck in the middle of it's if necessary.

Brad Hauck 11:35

Yeah, there's so many elements to that. Coming back to our original question, you know, what would your industry lose if you stopped being there? I think sometimes you've also got to look at whether you're bringing something unique or whether you're not. Are you challenging your industry or are you just saying the same things as others? So if you're challenging an industry, you're definitely going to make a difference. But if you're just saying the same things as everybody else in your own terms, you'll just disappear into the ether. And no one will even remember you were there because you weren't unique, you weren't being different.

Often people will say stuff and it gets nods from the audience, but you're really just saying stuff that they already know and they're just agreeing with you. Where maybe you need to be challenging people if you want to make an impact? I think people tend to notice you more if you're challenging. It's that old, you know, don't sit on the fence. You must pick a yes or a no sort of side to the argument sometimes.

Dixie Carlton 12:35

Do you think being controversial is a key component of what we should all be planning in that respect? Do you think we should be finding a means of pressing some of those hot buttons for people to get them really thinking hard about what it is that you're there for?

Brad Hauck 12:51

I think if you want cut through, it's absolutely essential. Now, whether you choose controversial or choose a side, that's different. I think some people get a little confused on this and they'll often go for controversial, like AI is a waste of time. Okay. That's a little controversial because everybody's using AI. But honestly, I would question whether that's true or not. It could be true. And when I look at it, I think about AI actually makes you detached from what you're doing because you just give it to the AI and it spits something out. So you're no longer actually attached to the content you're creating because you aren't actually creating anything.

So, controversial point of view, using AI is a waste of your time. Is it true? Well, no, it's not. But is it true? Yes, it is. Sometimes you can get caught in these stupid dichotomies like that, too. But I do believe that you need to choose a side. If you sit on the fence and you say IO is good and AI is bad, and here's why it's good and here's why it's bad, that gets you nowhere. If you say IO is good and this is why, people will lean more towards you. Or if they're an against crowd, they'll go with the other side.

So it doesn't matter what the topic is, of course, but I I do think you need to make a stand for what you believe in if you're going to have the cut through. And I think that also affects whether you're going to be missed if you do walk away because suddenly there's no voice there. And you might notice this. You watch TV and you think, oh, I wonder what happened to such and such, because they were amazing. They always used to talk about this topic, and now you don't hear them anymore, and then you find out they've been dead for 10 years and you didn't know that.

Do you remember those people that were controversial or super interest, interesting or something like that?

Dixie Carlton 14:43

So what do you think the answer is? Do you think that this comes down to how well you've built your brand and your and how well you're on purpose? Or do you think there's something more esoterical about the whole question of what would happen if you if your industry found you not there anymore?

Brad Hauck 15:00

I think that if you really want to measure whether you're making a difference and whether what you're doing is worthwhile, is you look at behavioral change. When you go and you talk about a topic or you put out a book about a topic or something like that, and someone does something different, that's a measure of how effective you've been. So if you're seeing people embrace what you're saying and change for the better, I would say also, then I think that's a great measure for that. I think looking at your audience, did they make a braver decision?

Did they rethink a strategy? Did they raise their standards? Did they stop being wasteful because of your message? I think that direction change is the key element that we need to be measuring.

Dixie Carlton 15:50

Yes, I could not agree more.

Brad Hauck 15:53

Because in the end, you can stand in front of a group of people and talk about a great topic and everybody gets out of the room and goes, Oh, that was fantastic, and goes home and does nothing. Did you really need to be there? Like it's a very good question for you. If no one changes, sometimes you know, it's about changing one person in the room. Could you know that person could be the next Mother Teresa because of something you said, or something like that, where they have a major impact on the whole world just because of something you said caused them to do something else and become what they needed to be.

Those things do happen. There is no doubt about that. You change lives. I've had this chat with my wife where I've said, Well, if I hadn't been there and talked with this person, their business would never have grown to where it is now. And now they employ 20 people, so that's 20 families they're feeding, plus their own families, plus the legacy of their children being able to go to the university they want to go to or the school they want to go to, or what if all those flow on effects. Yeah, that changes a lot of lives over a long time because what you set up now flows down.

So uh yeah, as I said, behavioral change, even if it's one person, uh, is worthwhile, I believe.

Dixie Carlton 17:10

You are so right and so on topic with that. And it is so timely to be talking about this because there are a lot of people I know personally that I've talked to in the last six months who have thought about should I just throw it away? Should I go back and get a job or change what I'm doing? And in 99% of cases, no. People do need to hear your message, people do need to hear the way you are talking about this particular thing. Whether it's resilience or leadership or how you interact with your teams, what sort of health and well-being philosophies you follow.

There is a reason why you are here. I had a great conversation with a guy the other day. He's a doctor and he's writing a fantastic book about wellness and integrative wellness and health. And he said, My biggest problem is I can't stop talking. I just want to keep talking. And he's very articulate. And he's I've sat in on a workshop that he did, and he was incredible. And he is brilliant at articulating what he's wanting to talk about. And I have been following some of the things that he talks about for a long time.

And I said, I still learnt so much. It was fantastic hearing what you had to say and how you said it. So we're now working with him on his book. But he said, My biggest challenge is I can't seem to shut up. I feel really bad about the fact that I just want to keep talking about this stuff. And I said to him, and I'll say this to anyone who feels that the reason you have this ability to do that is because the world needs to hear what you have to say. And sometimes you have to adopt that line of thinking and lean into that.

Don't shut yourself up, don't stand on your own credibility or your own passion just because you want to please other people. If you've got something really important to say and you know it's going to help other people, then keep saying it because the more you say it, the better you get at saying it, and the more people will start to listen.

Brad Hauck 19:11

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, the other side to that, I think as experts, we run businesses, we're trying to get paid for what we do, of course, like everybody does. Remember, you don't have to like give up a job if you want to be an expert in an area. You can stay at your job and still talk about things, you can still have a podcast, you can do all those sorts of things, whatever you want to do. No one's stopping you doing that. So, you know, think very carefully that it doesn't mean you can't be that expert.

It doesn't mean you can't help people just because you've taken a job. You can still be the expert in your field, you can still change lives. You've just got to work out how to balance it. So don't ever give up on what it is you're trying to do and who it is you're trying to help.

Dixie Carlton 20:00

And I think that's a great way to wrap this is that we have to have faith and confidence in ourselves. And if we feel inclined to say, Oh, I don't know if I can do this anymore, I think I need to exit out, or I need to change, or I need to pivot completely. You need to think about the fact that there will be, you know, it's like glass half full, glass half empty. Think about the glass being half full because there will be people who need to hear what you have to say, who do need your help that will miss you significantly.

And you have no idea how far the ripples might grow from the work that you're doing, be it one person in the audience who grows up to become Mother Teresa versus someone who goes and invents a whole new system for how to do business or get people on and off airplanes. It's you're there, you've got these great ideas, you need to follow through. You just need to get confident that yes, you'd make a difference. And yes, your inability to make a difference if you're not there would be missed.

Brad Hauck 21:01

Yeah, absolutely. Don't give up. I know it's not easy sometimes, but don't give up. Just look for other ways, look for different alternatives, look for the path that you need to follow because it's there. You've just got to find it. And sometimes that means taking a few missed steps, but eventually you'll find yourself on a good solid path if you just keep pushing forward.

Dixie Carlton 21:23

And if you're stuck and you're just feeling like a possum in the headlights, then just take a few really deep breaths. Take some time out, step away from your computer or away from your desk, take a couple of days, and go and walk the mountains or do whatever it is that you need to do to reset your thinking and just breathe deeply and trust that you know the answers will come.

Brad Hauck 21:43

Yeah. And maybe go and talk to someone about it. Go and get some advice. If you're really stuck, pay someone who knows what they're doing, a professional, for their advice. It could be game changing.

Dixie Carlton 21:57

Absolutely.

Brad Hauck 21:59

Excellent. Well, if this episode has you thinking about writing a book, but you're not sure how to shape your ideas, reach out to Dixie at indiexpertspublishing.com. She can help you turn what's in your head into a clear, compelling book that builds real authority. And if you want to get more out of AI and automation, join my authority multiplier coaching community at bradhauck.com. You'll learn how to use AI more effectively and turn your expertise into useful systems. Don't leave your best thinking sitting in your head. Turn it into something people can find, trust, and act on.

Dixie Carlton 22:32

Well said. And if you've enjoyed this, please remember to review us because reviews and shares is what we love to get. So thank you so much, Brad. It's been a great conversation, as always. We'll see you next week, everyone.