AskPat 569 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody, Pat Flynn here and welcome to Episode 569 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.

We have a great question today from Ben, but before we get to that, I just want to thank you all once again for those of you who picked up my new audio book, which is called Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money. I've been promoting it here this week on AskPat, I know you guys listen to content and this is a great way to listen to my book.

I know a lot of you don't have time to necessarily read, but you would love to have audio in your life through workouts that you do, or when you walk with the dog, or when you're in the commute. You want to pick up my book and listen to my book instead. Head on over to WillItFlyBook.com, you can check it out on Audible, it's available there, or just directly on audible.com too. So check it out, thank you so much again. It's called Will It Fly? and I look forward to hearing what you think about it. I think you'll love it. I did narrate it myself too. Okay, here's today's question from Ben.

Ben: Hi Pat, my name is Ben Reeve, I live over in the UK. I run a blog called TheAmateurCyclist.net, which is website to help time-pressured cyclist get more time out on the road. My question is around how can you be personal on your blog, but also stay safe online? What I love about you is how open and honest you are with your listeners about you and your family and what you do. It gives to me a real connection to you. I try to do the same, sharing rides I've been on, videos from my garage, alongside all my articles. My real worry is someone could use this piece of information, piece it all together and use this information maliciously against me at some point. So my question is, how have you managed to be so transparent on your blog, whilst keeping yourself online? Thanks for everything you do Pat. See you soon.

Pat Flynn: Hey Ben, thank you so much for this question, I think it's a great question. Even my executive assistant, Jessica, was like “You have to answer this question,” because it's such a great question, so I appreciate this. You know, there is a line, obviously. Everybody's line is different, of how much they can feel comfortable sharing and what's right. I think I've been able to stay safe because I don't share things that I wouldn't mind just everybody knowing. I think that's really what it comes down to, keeping it simple. Would it be okay if everybody knew this? I think it is perceived that I share a lot, because, relatively speaking, I do, but I also feel like I don't. I do hold back a lot of things that I could potentially share and I don't share those things because I knew it would put myself and my family and my business at risk, so I don't do those things.

I think I'm very strategic about what I share. For example at the beginning of every one of my podcast episodes, I share a fun little fact about me. That's not going to change anything except make people feel more like they know me. I don't share things that are security questions on logins, I don't do any of that stuff. I share the fact that I have fitness goals, doing triathlons last year, or that this year I'm trying to jump higher in dunk, even though I'm only 5'8.” I share my videos on Instagram and I think those particular things that I do share, I do share quite a bit, but I don't share everything, that's for sure.

I think that in your mind, mentally, you have to decide “What is it that I'm gonna share that's gonna help me build a better relationship with my audience?” and just focus on those things. I also am very, very big on if you're going to do this and share a lot about your personal life, and again, when I say that it makes it seem like I'm sharing everything in the world that's happening, but I'm not. I'm very strategic about this and I'm very conscious about what I'm showing, but along the same lines I'm also very open with my wife about those things too, because it's not just me. It's my family also being involved. I communicate with my wife on those things, what is okay, what is not okay, what makes sense, what doesn't make sense. I always get her permission on some things if I feel like it may be questionable and she always comes at it from a very realistic point of view too, and she said no to some things too.

I think it's important to have a sounding board, kind of like how you're asking here, Ben. I think that's smart. If you could have other people in your life that you could run things by first, before actually putting them out there in the world, I think that would be really cool to have. Just be smart. Be aware. Be conscious about what it is that you're doing, but also be proactive. I'm very proactive with sharing those things. I'm not afraid to share things that I then make the commitment to be okay with sharing, if that makes sense. Not really much to say about that. The other part of being open and honest is sharing my failures, I think more than anything. Those other things we're talking about, we're talking about things that aren't related to business, but have everything to do with actually building relationship, therefore it does have everything to with business in this day and age.

The other part of it is that even business-related topics that I share, I'm open and honest about. A lot of times people are like “Wow, how could you share that?”, but I feel like that makes me more human. What I mean by that is, my failures. A lot of people are afraid to share their failures and I think it's okay to do that. I think it makes you more human. It makes you more relatable and likable. That's the kind of stuff you would learn about a friend. It's the stuff that not only the good things that happen to them, but trials and errors that they go through also, and that's how you could be there for them or vice versa.

Ben, I hope that makes sense. It's a simple answer, but I hope it does make sense and I hope it gives you some clarity moving forward. I'm going to send you an AskPat t-shirt for having your question featured here on the show. Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.

Again, one more time to finish off the week, please, if you haven't gone so, or done so yet, check out my audiobook for Will It Fly?, narrated by yours truly. A lot of hours in this studio spent actually, a lot of you saw me in the studio on Instagram and on Snapchat. It was a lot of fun to do. I think you're going to enjoy it. Go to WillItFlyBook.com, you can check it out on the Amazon page, it's available on Audible through there, or if you already have an Audible account just go through there and you can use one of your credits or pay for it from there. Check it out, Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money. Thank you so much all of your support for it.

To finish off the week here's a quote from, it's actually a proverb, and that is “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.” Beautiful. Take care, I'll see you next week in the next episode of AskPat. Thanks, bye