150,000+ followers on Quora!
This morning at exactly 4:53 AM, we crossed 150,000 followers with our “Tom on Entrepreneurship” page. That page began life on December 22, 2019 on a whim. It took us from that day until May 25 to reach the first 15,000 followers and from there until November 29, 2020 to get to that 150,000-followers milestone. I’m still surprised.
It’s hard to imagine what that means, or if it means much at all. We know it doesn’t all translate into readers, but it’s an indicator that we’re doing something right, so we’ll keep doing it. Other pages are growing faster, but we’ve taken a different approach where we limit contribution and focus on topics that matter to us.
“Will he ever stop writing? Ugh…”
I don’t want to be writing about business here but this is an important milestone in my personal life. You see, recently, I’ve been asked by colleagues and friends to reconsider how I position myself in the market. It would be a shift in my career. I’ve not made the decision yet, because it’s something I’ve never considered before and I know nothing about what it would mean to me, so I’m gathering opinions from others, and I’m thinking about it.
I love writing, yet writing has influenced how I speak. I always thought it would be the other way around, that I’d write the way I speak, and in some ways I do, but as I’d edit my work, I’d also edit the way I talk. It shaped me. So, now when I do my Zoom calls with groups, or speak live in front of a meeting, I’m different from what I was ten years ago.
It’s because of that way in which I deliver ideas that others have asked me to do more online. Their suggestion is that I get in front of a camera and do all the same stuff. What?
I’ve loved my life of managing from the background. I love that I can have positive influence without fanfare. Yet, the idea of going more public with my work, terrifies me. It’s not because of exposure, it’s because it’s a shift to a whole new planet for me, when I kind of like the one I’m on.
I’ve asked Nicci and others to talk among themselves without me there. I want to be separate from the product of “Tom Nault” and I’d like them to be critical and I’ll go with what they think, separate from me. It’s the only way I’ll make the right decision.
I remember the first time I played drums in public. I was terrified. I was making rhythm just from sitting there shaking. I didn’t actively look for the job, they found me. I was just fourteen when I started playing in bars and nightclubs. I was scared to my bones, yet I kept doing it and it wasn’t long before I was completely comfortable. I hope that’s how this goes, if it goes. It feels like that all over again.