… when you show up.

If you have worked with me at all, you have heard me say this phrase: “The magic happens when you show up.”

If you don’t show up, nothing can happen.

When you show up matters.

Where you show up matters. What you do when you get there matters.

Who you show up with matters. How you show up matters.

But none of it matters if you don’t show up at all.

The magic related to showing up applies to both our offline lives and our online ones.

Jason Seiden posted yesterday on Facebook:  If you don’t look better online than you are in real life, you’re doing it wrong.

While I don’t agree wholeheartedly, I do believe that we need to show up online with intention and in ways that match our in-person impact.

I don’t want to be a big deal online if I am not a big deal in real life.

And if you are a big deal in real life, you are not as big as you think if your online presence doesn’t match who you are online.

If you don’t show up online in a way that matches your real life influence, you are missing a massive opportunity to make a much bigger impact than you’re currently making.

The obvious and most impactful difference we can make in the world happens when we are present with people in real life situations.

Why? Because our in person impact is limited by geography, constrained by our personal limitations. We can only do so much in real life: speak, write, consult, train. As we show up in real life, our influence is limited to the number of people we can talk to and spend time with.

When we show up online, we release ourselves from the constraints; we can influence people anywhere, any time, through content, conversations, and the communities we create.

Showing up online means we can reach an unlimited audience. Showing up online in powerful ways creates the opportunity to make the biggest possible difference for our message and mission.

But when our online lives don’t match our in person impact, our ability to influence others is diminished.

A few years ago, my friend and client Karin Hurt decided to do a search to see how she was showing up online. She discovered that what Google knew about her in 2010 could be summed up by one photo — an image from a local road race.

How she showed up online didn’t match up with who she knew herself to be in real life: her knowledge and experience. It also didn’t coincide with how she wanted to show up: the difference she hoped to make in the world.

If you Google search Karin Hurt’s name today, you’ll find out that she has shown up online in very powerful ways since that day. The impact she is making and the influence she is building far surpasses the difference she made before.

She made a conscious decision to show up online. Through focused, consistent effort, creating content and engaging with others, she made magic happen, for herself and others.

Because the magic happens when you show up!

How do you show up online? Does your online presence match the real life difference you want to make? What does Google know about you?

Becky Robinson

I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.