Hesitations around sharing numbers in public
I’m curious if anyone else feels hesitation around sharing numbers in public.
I became an independent consultant last year and I really like the idea of sharing numbers publicly for educational purposes, but it also kind of intimidates me to share them. I’ve been sharing the rest of the journey publicly on my twitter and in a podcast, but I have refrained from being too public about my consulting revenue numbers.
To be honest, the hesitation is less about sharing with strangers on the internet (like on indie hackers); it is more about sharing them in a place that people close to me, like friends and family, would see them. I did really well this year and surpassed my previous salary significantly but I avoid talking about it on Twitter because I have family and friends on there who would likely come across it.
Is anyone else in the same boat? I am sure my family would be nothing but proud of me for my accomplishments, but I can’t get over the initial awkwardness.
Would love to hear other perspectives on this subject. Do you share any of the same concerns? Do you think this is nonsense? Lemme know!
Cheers,
Cam
There are also some downsides I'd assume. Scroll down to "On the darker side, some very real issues"
https://tim.blog/2020/02/02/reasons-to-not-become-famous/
His scope is much bigger, but according to what he writes that only means there would be less of it versus none of it.
This is something I've often wondered about when thinking to share. I haven't found a solid answer yet...
Thanks Chris. I have heard this post referenced before by others. I think this is a great time to finally read through it.
Definitely would be much smaller scale for me but like you said, it probably doesn't fully eliminate the issues. I think even Paul Jarvis (not nearly as famous as Tim) has mentioned some issues around having a sizeable audience: stalkers, replies to newsletters from random strangers being rude.
I certainly need to think more on this before setting up a life for myself that I don't really want.
This comment was deleted 6 years ago
Yes, I was wondering recently if I would do that or not.
A lot of people share and gives readers a lot of motivation and them recognition and audience. So it seems like a win-win, but on the other side it feels that by making yourself vulnerable can bring some potential threats as well. Such as competition (which a lot of people already proved that's not that big of an issue), hacking attempts (sounds silly, but it's possible -- depends on the product), negativity (although I'd worry about this too much).
Hey Cam, such a good topic! I don't currently have a project on hand as I'm taking a break so I'm not in the same boat, but still want to share how i feel.
It reminds me of a feeling I had when I watched Ali's new video about how much he made in 2020, I was like "OMG this guy made 1.3 million USD in a year and he shared it with the whole world? Would that "drive" people to want to be his friends? Would families/friends expect him to pay for dinner because he is so much richer?
But ultimately, as he said in the video, this is a topic that everyone wants to watch/view, so by sharing it publicly, he is getting a lot of views/fans.
That shows me that because it is such a big hurdle, the one who is brave enough to be at that level of transparency will get some benefits for doing that. Because not many people enter that zone. But by going into this zone, you take on some risks (what we're concerning here).
So, it is down to weighing the pros and cons. Would sharing the numbers get you a lot more clients? Ali is pretty sure about that. Are your families and friends going to treat you differently once they know the numbers? My 2 cents. Too bad I haven't gotten to this stage yet!
Oh wow thank you for sharing this video kevon. I haven’t heard of this guy, but I really like how he prefaces the video with some reasons why the content can be valuable, and event gives a “trigger warning” for those who don’t want to watch.
And your questions are great as well. Gives me something to think about.
Wishing you the best of luck to getting to that stage as well. Don’t forget to enjoy the journey on the way though!
Thank you - yes taking some time off content creation + social media this week to be with family :)! Feels good. Followed you on Twitter, love to hear more from you!
My advice would be to do what you’re comfortable with but try pushing the boundary once I awhile. Rather than share complete numbers, you could say something like “15% revenue bump this month” or share revenue numbers for a particular promotion.