George Kao's Blog, page 25

Practice making decisions that disappoint people.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
As a kind-hearted person, you love helping others. You never want to disappoint people. As a result, you’re probably exhausted, or in danger of burnout.

I used to be so scared of people’s disapproval. This is in part from my Asian heritage, in part being an immigrant and trying to fit into the mainstream culture, and in part being predisposed towards kindness, as you are.

A trait that I’ve had to develop, in order to operate a joyfully productive and personally...

Aim for service, rather than fame.

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There is an unspoken assumption in marketing:

More followers = More clients, more fulfillment, more freedom.

Related assumption: More Money = More Happiness.

These ideas are seductive, because they contain some truth, and they appeal to our human ego. But they come with profound burdens and drawbacks that marketers rarely talk about.

I’ll share with you my experience of getting "more followers", and why that might not be a wise direction to aim for…In the first 3...

Why I don’t use images in my Facebook posts

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash
If you look at the posts on my Facebook Business Page (my social media platform of choice) you’ll notice that I basically post two things:

1. Text-only writings, without images or links.
2. Videos.

In this post I’ll focus why I don’t add images to my writings on my FB business pages.

Note -- this doesn’t apply to artists, photographers, sellers of physical products, or those whose business is very image-oriented. Thisdoesapply to anyone whose business is...

​Don’t fear the criticism of people you know — they’re NOT the ones you’re making content for…

Judgmental Corgi -- Photo by @izzyloaf on Instagram
To grow your audience, you need to create better content.

To create better content, you need to practice creating morecontent.

To create more content, you need to get over the fear of your audience.

When you are feeling afraid to publish content, whose judgmental voice or face are you thinking of?

Don’t make your content for that person or group.Make it only with your true fans in mind—they love you no matter what.

Think about this:If your...

​Don’t fear the criticism of people you know — they’re *not* the ones you’re making content for…

Photo by Jessica Lewis from Pexels
To grow your audience, create better content.

To create better content, you need to practice creating morecontent.

To create more content, you need to get over the fear of your audience.

When you are afraid to make content, whose judgmental voice or face are you thinking of?

Don’t make your content for that person or group.Make it only with your true fans in mind—they love you no matter what.

Think about this: If your audience is going to grow, it’s going...

Create only for your future true fans.

Create only for your future true fans

Consider this: Your audience will grow far beyond the people you currently know. Your network right now is tiny, compared to your eventual (big) audience. Your current people might not even be a good representation of your true fans! ​ So don’t make your content in fear of the judgment of your existing colleagues, friends, fans, or family. They are not your true audience. Create only for your future true fans.

Posted by George Kao, Authentic Business...

There is time for everything.

Photo by Social.Cut on Unsplash
An ambitious client was giving herself pressure. She felt that the end of the year was closing in so quickly, and there was an important project she hadn’t yet launched. Maybe you can relate.

The thing is -- she has been working diligently much of the year, launching various things. The feeling of pressure and time-squeeze now was due to making plans that were simply too ambitious.

“Why not just do those projects next year? There will be time!” I suggested.It was...

When you have so much material to share, how to get started creating content?

Photo by Charles on Unsplash
“I love the idea of free content. Do you have any suggestions for getting past the block of making my first video? Feel like I have so much material to share that I don’t know where to start…” — a reader.

For a long time, this kept me from making content as well.

Eventually, what liberated me was an inner question that wouldn’t let me go:"What if I had only 6 months left to live?"

If that were true, then I have an urgency to say everything I can, no matter if wasn’t ...

You are perfect enough. You know enough. You are ready.

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on UnsplashAre you hesitant about putting your work out there?

What if you get clients that you can’t help?

What if there’s another course that will finally give you the tools you need?

If you’re saying Yes to any of the above, you are under the illusion that there is an end or final destination to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and experience.

There isn’t.Forever, there will be more knowledge out there that feels like it could be “the key”. Even if you get...

You can achieve anything -- just do it step by step.

Photo by Niti K. on UnsplashIf success were easy, just about everyone you know would be successful in their chosen field. Unfortunately, success is rare. Most people avoid doing the "hard" work needed to reach their vision. 

Why is the work “hard”? It’s often because we intimidate ourselves. We imagine the entire project and how daunti...