There’s almost no visibility issue that isn’t solved by overcoming the societal conditioning which says ‘Don’t take up too much space.’

When we’re afraid to take up space we might:

• minimise ourselves in conversation so people don’t think we’re too much,
• launch infrequently so people don’t think we care more about our businesses than we do about their desire not to hear about our work,
• not speak up in meetings,
• keep an internal check on the amount of time we spend with others so they don’t get sick of us,
• not submit too many posts on social media (so as not to bother people too much),
• physically limit the space we take up in public, squeezing over on public transport so there’s plenty of space for other commuters (this, by the by, is something women do all the time. Men tend to spread their legs and declare to the world that the space is theirs),
• limit the number of times we pitch ourselves for an opportunity –...

In the years I’ve spent building a body of work around the topic of visibility, it’s become obvious to me that the journey of visibility is the journey of embodying personal power.

Because of this, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the link between communication and marketing approaches, and the embodiment of personal power.

Here’s a non-exhaustive, and not necessarily linear, grouping of some of the stages I see in relation to being visible as you build your business:

• A fear of speaking about your business
• A feeling of sickness in the pit of your stomach when people ask you what you do
• Learning, learning, learning about different business and marketing approaches trying to work out what fits and what doesn’t
• Attempts at marketing, launching etc in ways that don’t really fit your way of doing things
• A realisation; ‘Oh, perhaps I can do it my own way!’
• A settling into ‘your thing’ – what you’re here to share...

This morning I read this article. For anyone that’s spent anytime in the entrepreneurial world, you’ll be familiar with this line of argument; the path to female empowerment is to make enough money to pay other people to do things for you.

To be clear, I do think having money is empowering. Here’s where my problems lie in the article;

1. Where’s her husband?

She starts by saying, ‘About five years ago, I uncovered the secret superpower – asking for help.’ Initially I thought, ‘Oh great, this is going to be a post about how she and her male partner sat down and really worked through the mental load she’s been carrying on behalf of the family’.

No. She sorted out ‘her problem’ by outsourcing it and covering the costs herself. (I quote, ‘I now have a house manager/personal assistant, cleaner and gardener. In total, this costs me over $1,400 per month.)

It’s an expedient and effective...