B!Social with Sergey Helmar
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A case study on finding a way to promote oneself naturally on LinkedIn
Sergey's story:
"My key belief was that promoting yourself via social media is akin to 'showing off'.
As a change coach and consultant, I am working to establish my own practice and business. I see LinkedIn as a great platform to help build a personal and professional brand. However, I wasn't using its full potential.
Part of the challenge was my reluctance to promote myself actively and be visible. It didn't feel natural to me. For example, in the past I would almost never publish my photos on social media." |
"I realised that my inner attitude, framing, and resistance were blocking me from showing up and actually enjoying the process of growing my practice."
The challenge:
When Sergey contacted me to work together, his goal was to learn how to build his social brand, use social media to promote himself in a way that feels comfortable to him.
"I want to be able to offer my coaching, mentoring, and consulting services to a wider public. To achieve that, I want to be able to establish a credible, warm, and trustworthy persona to support this aspiration. When people see you, they get curious. I also like sharing things that I care about or find interesting. So, social media channels are just another way to do it - at a larger scale.
In early 2020, I launched an online course. I was being quite present on LinkedIn then, posting lots of things. This is how I got noticed by people for the first time. But I remember that developing the course and then promoting my services was taking lots of time. I was feeling anxious too - constantly checking out my LinkedIn posts and who has replied to what. At the end of this marathon, I felt utterly exhausted and burnt out. So, I just wanted to hide completely and not do anything on social media at all. As a result, I haven't really been active on LinkedIn for the last three years or so."
Sergey's biggest struggle when it came to visibility was:
"Actually being seen... Realising that people are watching your photo/video, reading your posts and ... judging. Anticipation of criticism breeds anxiety. Also, I don't like it when people are too pushy with promoting themselves online and 'how great they' are. It smacks of 'Vanity Fair'..."
"I want to be able to offer my coaching, mentoring, and consulting services to a wider public. To achieve that, I want to be able to establish a credible, warm, and trustworthy persona to support this aspiration. When people see you, they get curious. I also like sharing things that I care about or find interesting. So, social media channels are just another way to do it - at a larger scale.
In early 2020, I launched an online course. I was being quite present on LinkedIn then, posting lots of things. This is how I got noticed by people for the first time. But I remember that developing the course and then promoting my services was taking lots of time. I was feeling anxious too - constantly checking out my LinkedIn posts and who has replied to what. At the end of this marathon, I felt utterly exhausted and burnt out. So, I just wanted to hide completely and not do anything on social media at all. As a result, I haven't really been active on LinkedIn for the last three years or so."
Sergey's biggest struggle when it came to visibility was:
"Actually being seen... Realising that people are watching your photo/video, reading your posts and ... judging. Anticipation of criticism breeds anxiety. Also, I don't like it when people are too pushy with promoting themselves online and 'how great they' are. It smacks of 'Vanity Fair'..."
The solution:
Sergey, a coach himself, was instantly ready to dive deep and do the self-reflection. We looked at fears and anxiety when it came to posting and building his presence on LinkedIn. An imposter syndrome to a degree... "who am I to preach to the world?" - a belief that is so common among many of us and holding us back from our full potential.
We also worked out a personalised social media strategy and looked at 'smarter' and more efficient ways allowing Sergey to build his social presence. Something that takes less time but produces more impact and is also much more authentic and fun.
What Sergey really liked about the program:
1) Bea's warm and caring personality.
2) Flexibility of the approach, great advice, and tips. Structured, yet personalised.
3) Creating very safe space for reflection and learning.
Sergey, a coach himself, was instantly ready to dive deep and do the self-reflection. We looked at fears and anxiety when it came to posting and building his presence on LinkedIn. An imposter syndrome to a degree... "who am I to preach to the world?" - a belief that is so common among many of us and holding us back from our full potential.
We also worked out a personalised social media strategy and looked at 'smarter' and more efficient ways allowing Sergey to build his social presence. Something that takes less time but produces more impact and is also much more authentic and fun.
What Sergey really liked about the program:
1) Bea's warm and caring personality.
2) Flexibility of the approach, great advice, and tips. Structured, yet personalised.
3) Creating very safe space for reflection and learning.
The outcome:
"I was able to reframe my own attitude towards social media, discover how I wanted to present myself and how to do it in a way that is natural and fun for me and inspiring for others. I also learned a lot about content creation, positioning and some tools.
What was the obstacle in your mind that would have prevented you from engaging with this service?
"There were no obstacles. I saw value clearly and how the program could help me."
Sergey's Top Tip:
"'Dance like no one is watching' :) Meaning, first and foremost ENJOY creating your online content. Write about what you really care about and want to say. And then... if you feel so - publish it, so that others can enjoy your gifts, too. :)"
Now here is an article for you to enjoy from Sergey.
Now here is an article for you to enjoy from Sergey.
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"While change is the ‘only constant’,
we can choose to be ‘the change we want to see in the world’."
Sergey Helmar is a certified professional coach and a change practitioner across multiple industries and countries. He coaches and trains people to be confident navigators of the changes they are facing or creating. Over years, he has offered change guidance and support to numerous individuals, teams, and organisations. His very journey has granted him a valuable gift of knowing what is essential to navigate changes intentionally, effectively, and elegantly.
Both Sergey and I hail from the same continent and found our way to call NZ home now, we both have a strong interest in languages, and he also loves nature and flowers like me ☺️
He is an amazing person, please welcome him to the B!Social network, connect and link up if you are drawn to each other, maybe you will even have some business opportunities to explore together, too. Here is to good people finding each other!
You can find out more about Sergey's work, read his articles and connect with him here:
"While change is the ‘only constant’,
we can choose to be ‘the change we want to see in the world’."
Sergey Helmar is a certified professional coach and a change practitioner across multiple industries and countries. He coaches and trains people to be confident navigators of the changes they are facing or creating. Over years, he has offered change guidance and support to numerous individuals, teams, and organisations. His very journey has granted him a valuable gift of knowing what is essential to navigate changes intentionally, effectively, and elegantly.
Both Sergey and I hail from the same continent and found our way to call NZ home now, we both have a strong interest in languages, and he also loves nature and flowers like me ☺️
He is an amazing person, please welcome him to the B!Social network, connect and link up if you are drawn to each other, maybe you will even have some business opportunities to explore together, too. Here is to good people finding each other!
You can find out more about Sergey's work, read his articles and connect with him here:
Sergey Helmar
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Thank you Sergey for sharing your story!