Who do you pay attention to? Especially online?

Me, I hope, of course :)

But think about the common characteristics of the people you pay attention to and are influenced by (because you want your audience to pay attention and be influenced by you).

For me, I used to pay a lot of attention to “big names”. Big name authors. Big name business people. Big name “gurus”.

As I got more experienced though, I began to realise that the real ideas and insights I needed weren't really likely to come from people 10 steps ahead of me. Or from people with an agenda to either sound smart or to sell me something. They were much more likely to come from people like me, but a few steps ahead.

And that's who I tend to follow mostly these days.

Sure, I still enjoy reading things from big names. But I get the most from people with shared experiences to me. Who can remember what it was like when they were in the same position as me and what they did that worked for them then.

And I look for people who are honest. Who share what things were really like. Who don't sugar coat how easy things were with “one simple trick”. But who also don't play the whole “oh no, things were so tough for me, it was almost the end of the line, but then I…” game.

Perhaps that's what your audience are looking for from you?

Or perhaps it's something else.

Either way, you'll benefit from thinking about what your audience want from you and who they want you to be.

Not so that you can fake it.

But so that you can be honest. So that you don't hide the things you think they might not be interested in or might not show you in the best light – but in fact are exactly what they want to hear and will help them bond with you.

My feeling is that most of us these days follow people we can relate to like this. Is that true for you?