Confident Influence Starts With Showing Up
- Jun 7
- 3 min read
By Eric Turney
Owner and Sales and Marketing Director, The Monterey Company
Building confidence in public spaces starts with getting comfortable being seen before you feel fully ready.
That has been true for me in business. I have had to talk to customers, post online, appear in videos, make decisions, own mistakes, and put my name next to things that may not land perfectly with everyone. A lot of people think confidence comes first and visibility comes second. In my experience, it usually works the other way around. You show up. You do it a little awkwardly. You survive it. Then your confidence catches up.
For me, confidence in public is not about being polished. It is about being grounded. When I am speaking on something I actually know, something I have lived, or something I have had to fix the hard way, I do not need to perform. I just need to be clear.
That takes a lot of pressure off.
The people who seem most comfortable in public are often not trying to impress the room. They are trying to be useful in the room.
I also think people get into trouble when they confuse visibility with access. Being visible does not mean everyone gets full access to your time, your family, your opinions, or your energy. Boundaries matter if you want visibility to last.
In my case, I am comfortable talking about business lessons, growth, mistakes, customer experience, sales, marketing, leadership, and what I have learned as an owner. That does not mean every part of my life is public. If you do not draw that line early, being visible can start to feel expensive.
One boundary that matters is deciding what subjects are yours to speak on and which ones are not. You do not need to have a take on everything. I think people trust you more when you stay in your lane and say plainly when something is outside your experience.
Another good boundary is protecting your pace. Every message, comment, request, and opportunity does not need an instant response. If you let visibility control your day, it can start running your life instead of helping your work.
On influence, I think a lot of people want it without wanting the repetition that comes with it. Real influence is often boring behind the scenes. It is saying the same core things over and over in a way people can understand and trust. It is showing up often enough that people know what you stand for.
The fastest way to lose authenticity is to build a public version of yourself that your real life cannot support.
I have found that influence stays real when it stays tied to actual work. If I talk about customer service, it should come from real customer situations. If I talk about growth, it should come from real decisions, real misses, and real improvements. If I talk about leadership, it should sound like someone who has had to make payroll, solve problems, and own bad calls.
People can usually tell the difference.
So my advice is simple. Speak from experience. Be visible before you feel ready. Decide what is private and keep it private. Stay close to the work that gave you a voice in the first place.
Confidence grows when you stop trying to look fearless and start getting comfortable being honest, clear, and steady in front of other people.
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