Ep 78 - How I Built My Confidence on Social Media (After a Few Epic Fails!)

Episode Show Notes

When you trained as a healthcare professional, I bet “how to show your face on Instagram” wasn’t part of the curriculum.

But if you’re like many of my clients, you’ve realised that growing your business means learning to be visible online. And suddenly, it feels like you’re being asked to do something completely unnatural.

“I feel unprofessional posting about myself.”
“What if someone from my NHS job sees it?”
“I hate my voice on video.”

If you’re a healthcare professional trying to grow your business online, and the very idea of posting makes your stomach do flips… I see you. I was you.

And in this post, I want to share the real (and slightly embarrassing) story of how I went from completely freezing on Instagram Live… to confidently showing up, building two six-figure businesses, and now helping others do the same.

Let’s rewind to the beginning, shall we?

The First Post That Made Me Cringe

I still remember my first Instagram post.

I’d just started building my Children’s Nutritionist brand online, and my business mentor told me I had to be on social media. So, on a family minibreak in Stratford Upon Avon, I saw some health promotion posters on a wall in a car park. 

I snapped a photo, uploaded it, and thought: job done!

Was it strategic?
No.

Was it relevant?
Not really.

Did it make me want to hide under the duvet?
Absolutely.

But I posted it anyway. And that small, imperfect step was the start of something much bigger.

Then There Was The Live Video Incident 😳

About 18 months later, I decided to finally go live. I sat in my kitchen, took a deep breath, and hit “Go Live” on Instagram.

Within seconds, 93 people had joined.

I froze. My heart was racing. My cheeks went red. And then… I hung up on myself.

I literally ended the live before it even started. Blamed it on a bad internet connection, posted an excuse in my stories, and spent the rest of the day hiding. I was mortified.

At that moment, I thought: “Maybe I’m not cut out for this.”

But something shifted. That “failure” became a catalyst.

Why Healthcare Professionals Struggle With Social Media

If you’ve been feeling anxious about posting online, it’s not just you - and it’s not because you’re not “techy” or “influencer material.”

Here’s what I see happening again and again with the health professionals I coach:

• You’re used to helping others - not putting yourself in the spotlight.
  
  
• You feel vulnerable showing your face, sharing your ideas, or using your voice.
  
  
• You’re trained to be cautious, regulated, and accurate… not to “just press post.”
  
  

The pressure to be perfect can be paralysing. Especially if you're coming from the NHS, where professionalism is everything and visibility often feels unsafe.

But here’s the truth: Your clients aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for someone who gets them.

Four Things That Helped Me Build Confidence Online

These are the mindset shifts and practical tools that made the biggest difference for me:

1. I Had a Word With Myself

Most of my fear came from worrying what other people would think - colleagues, old friends, other dietitians. So I asked myself: “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Turns out… not much.

People are busy living their lives. And even if someone did judge me? That wouldn’t stop me from helping the people who need me.

2. I Made Peace With Being Imperfect

Your early posts will be awkward. You’ll worry about lighting, weird background sounds, whether you sound boring or if people will like your lipstick! That’s normal. 

Think of social media like a muscle - you build it by using it.

I stopped obsessing over every detail and focused on showing up consistently, even when it wasn’t perfect. That’s where the real growth happens.

3. I Focused on Connection, Not Performance

When I stopped trying to “be good at social media” and just started helping people, it got so much easier.

As health professionals, we’re naturals at connecting and educating - that’s all social media really is. Just in a different format.

4. I Practiced Privately First

I made a “test content” folder with practice videos and drafts. I watched myself back. I got used to my own voice and face on camera - which felt weird at first, but helped massively over time.

Want to Feel Confident Posting Online, Too?

If any of this has you nodding along, I created something just for you.

Social Media Made Simple is my self-paced course that helps healthcare professionals show up online with clarity, confidence, and zero cringe. No pointing. No dancing. Just real connection and a strategy that works for our regulated world.

Final Thoughts

Confidence on social media isn’t something you’re born with - it’s something you build. Post by post, live by live, moment by moment.

And if I can go from hiding in panic after a failed Instagram Live… to building two -6-figure businesses and teaching other dietitians how to grow online?

You can too.

The Master Plan:

Helping you build the business of your dreams. Get your 22 point step-by step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

Connect with me:

Website: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beyondtheclinicbusiness

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

Episode transcription:

Sarah Bushell (00:46)

Do you wish you felt more confident showing up on social media? Do you wish you didn't feel awkward or freeze at the thought of posting, showing your face or hitting that live button? Well, you're not the only one. Most of the health professionals I work with tell me the same thing when we start working together. They'll say something like, Sarah, I love helping people. I love what I do, but I just don't feel confident posting on social media.

Well, let me tell you, as much as I'm confident and comfortable on social media now, there was a time when the idea of posting and showing my face online would fill me with absolute dread and horror. I remember when the thought of pressing publish would make my stomach do flips. Now, in this episode, I'm going to tell you about my first ever time pressing publish on a post and a little story about the time I went live and literally hung up on myself because I panicked so much. If you think you struggle with having confidence on social media, just wait until you hear this story. And I'm also going to share a few practical things that help me go from being absolutely terrified to post to being able to show up confidently and consistently. So grab a cuppa and let's get into it.

Okay, let's start by talking about where you might be right now. Maybe you've taken the leap and left your NHS role to focus on your business full time, or maybe you're still juggling part-time hours whilst building your dream business on the side. Either way, you have the skills, the experience and the knowledge to make this work and you know you can help people and make a huge impact.

But suddenly it's all eyes on you. Chances are you're not used to posting about yourself and it feels a bit weird. You don't know what to do, how to look, what to post, and the nerves, while they start creeping in, you feel exposed. Like every word, every photo, every video is under a microscope. Does that sound a bit familiar? Maybe every time you open up Instagram, it feels like a completely different world.

Everyone else on there is doing stories and reels and lives and pointing at text bubbles. And you're sitting there thinking, why does everyone else seem to know what they're doing? And I feel ridiculous even taking a photo of myself. Now, the first thing to know is you're not alone. All the time I hear things like this from other healthcare professionals. They might say things like, I just feel too shy to post about myself online. I don't want to show my face.

I cringe at the thought of hearing my voice back. I don't want to sound silly. And I hate the thought of putting myself out there. Now I know those thoughts aren't just little butterflies in your stomach. They're heavy and they can really weigh you down. These thoughts don't just sit there quietly either, do they? They start looping in your mind every time you even think about opening Instagram or planning a post.

Your mind goes wild picturing your colleagues, your old NHS team, your family members, friends, or even strangers scrolling past silently critiquing you. The worst part is your mind then starts to really spiral. You start questioning things and thinking to yourself, am I really cut out for all this? Do I have what it takes to build a business if I can't even post without panicking? I know these feelings all too well because I've been right there. Now I know some of you might be sitting there thinking Sarah you just seem so confident on social media it must come really naturally to you but the truth is it's been a bit of a journey to get here.

Honestly, I used to be terrified of social media. When I first set up my business, I felt awkward posting about myself, scared of looking silly and ended up doing a few crazy things out of sheer panic, which you'll hear all about in this podcast episode. So let's rewind to the very beginning. I had just moved my children's nutritionist business online and I'd hired my first mentor. She told me, Sarah, you need to be on Instagram. That's where all the mums are. And I thought, okay, I'll give it a go. But when it came to posting, it just felt really unnatural. I remember staring at that blank screen, scrolling through everybody else's perfectly curated content and thinking, there's just no way that I can do this. But I told myself, just start, Sarah.

I remember my first ever post. It was half term. My family and I were on a mini break up in Stratford-upon-Avon and we'd gone for a walk. And I saw these health promotion posters on a wall. And so I thought, that'll do. I took a photo of them. I uploaded it. And I thought, there, done. I'm on Instagram now. Was it engaging? No. Was it remotely relevant? Not really. But I'd posted something and I felt a strange mix of relief, panic, and embarrassment all at once. Those first few weeks, I was posting absolutely anything. I posted anything vaguely nutrition related. I posted about my meals, what the kids and I had baked, and a few quotes here and there. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But every single time I posted, I learned something new. Sometimes it was about what content worked best for my business.

Sometimes it was about how I talked on camera and sometimes it was just about proving to myself that I could press publish without my body completely freezing. Every tiny post, every tiny step was like a confidence building exercise. I want you to remember the next time you see someone with a perfectly curated Instagram feed with all the followers and engagement on their posts that everyone starts somewhere.

Everyone is unsure, hesitant and wondering if they're doing it right in those early stages of growing a business and posting on social. But the reason they are where they are now is because they started anyway. They pressed post even when their hands were shaking and they went live even when they felt awkward and they kept showing up consistently. Starting imperfectly is way better than not starting at all.

So fast forward 18 months later, then came the live video incident. And I don't think I'll ever forget this story. So I'd started to notice that other people that I followed were going live. And I was still working with this mentor who did it all the time. And I thought, okay, maybe that's what I need to do next.

But I was absolutely terrified and it took me a whole 18 months of being on Instagram to build up the courage to actually do it. But one day, sat in my kitchen, I decided this was it and I pressed go live. Now, looking back, it's funny because I'd already built a decent following at that stage without really knowing what I was doing. I was just sharing tips and stories and free advice. What I didn't realise was that I'd actually set myself up a bit like my mentor, a bit like an influencer, relatable and approachable and always helpful, but not really selling anything. So when I went live, quite a few people were already watching. Within seconds of the live starting, the number of people joining shot up. 10 people, 20 people, 30, 50. 93 was the number next to the little eyeball icon in the top corner of the screen. 93 people had joined and were watching me. And I just completely froze. My heart was pounding. My mind went blank. Every scenario I'd imagined, every what if raised through my head. What if I say something wrong or silly? What if they think I don't know what I'm talking about? What if I sound ridiculous? What if I get a question that I can't answer and there's no escape because I'm alive? And before I knew it, my cheeks became flushed with embarrassment and I panicked so much that I hung up on myself.

I ended the live before it even started. I quickly posted something on my stories about bad internet connection and then I hid. Yep, that moment I wanted the ground to swallow me up. And I can laugh about this story now, but at the time I was absolutely mortified. I could have burst into tears. That evening I remember thinking, well, that's it. Clearly I'm just not cut out for this whole social media thing.

Now that live incident, that could have ended my business journey right there. It would have been so easy just to give up. I could have packed it all in and told myself that social media was just too hard and I didn't have the confidence to do this. But did I do that? Well, of course not. And thank goodness I didn't. Even in that mess of panic and self-doubt, something else was happening. I was learning. I was confronting my fear head on even if I didn't feel like it at the time. I decided I was going to keep going. I was determined to get better and figure it out, even if it meant feeling awkward, even if it meant making mistakes and feeling a bit embarrassed in some moments. And that persistence is exactly what got me here today. And it's the reason why I now have two six figure businesses with a fully booked diary. So if I can survive those early disasters and still have successful businesses today, you can absolutely survive posting online too.

Looking back, it's funny to me now that I thought social media was this huge, terrifying monster. I thought I'd never find my voice. I'd never know what to post and never figure out the right strategy and never feel confident showing my face online. And yet here I am. What I've realized is the difference between the people who succeed and the ones who don't isn't anything really to do with talent. It's to do with courage. The courage to try, to fail, to learn and to keep going. And that's why I wanted to share a few stories with you today from back when I was in the early stages of starting my business and posting on social media, because if you're feeling stuck or shy or embarrassed or completely unsure about showing up online, I want you to see that it is normal and it's absolutely something that you can work through. So there's a few key things I want you to take away from this episode.

These are the little golden nuggets that really helped me to overcome my fear of posting and going live and allowed me to really build confidence on social media. So number one, I had to have a word with myself. I realized that my fear wasn't really about social media. It was about what people might think. I was worried. What if someone from my NHS job sees this? What if someone disagrees? What if I just sound silly?

So I had to have a reality check with myself. I asked myself, what is the worst that could actually happen? And the truth was probably not as bad as I was imagining. Most people are far too busy thinking about their own lives to judge mine. And even if someone did disagree or think I was silly, it wouldn't stop me from helping the people I could help. This mindset shift didn't make the nerves disappear completely. I still get them now, but it made them manageable.

And that's how building real confidence starts, by taking action despite the fear, not waiting for that fear to vanish. Okay, golden nugget number two, I made peace with being imperfect. So at first posting will be awkward. You might fumble your words, your lighting might be terrible. You can hear background noise. It's always a squawk of seagulls on mine. And you know what? That's okay.

We expect to be good at social media straight away, but it's like any skill you learn by doing. So I started showing up anyway, and I stopped trying to make everything perfect before posting. Instead of overthinking and antagonizing over how I looked on camera, I started focusing on just taking consistent action.

Okay, number three, I focus on building connections and having conversations. I stopped worrying about being good at social media and just started showing up and chatting to people. I Focused on being helpful first. I really believe that this is one of the biggest things that helped my confidence to grow naturally stopped being about me and it started being about the people I could help.

And that's what us healthcare professionals are best at, helping people. So leverage that. You already know how to connect, how to listen to and how to support people. And social media is just another way to do that. So instead of thinking, I hope I don't look unprofessional if I post this or what might people think of me, try flipping it around and thinking, who could this help?

And then suddenly social media doesn't feel like a scary spotlight on you. Instead, it becomes a tool to serve and connect with the people who need you. Every post you share is an opportunity to reach someone who needs your expertise. So I really, really encourage you to shift your focus away from how you might be perceived to the impact you could have.

And last but not least, golden nugget number four, create a small safe place to practice. I actually found it really helpful to have a folder on my computer where I kept all my ideas, my drafts, my practice videos. I started by recording videos on my phone that I never posted. They were just for me. I watched them back and I noted what I liked and what I didn't like.

I think the biggest reason this helped was because it allowed me to slowly get more and more comfortable seeing myself on camera. Now, it might sound silly, but it really worked on me. So give yourself permission just to make mistakes privately first, and then the public posts, they just won't feel so terrifying. So remember, confidence is like a muscle. The more you flex it, the stronger it gets.

Imagine you're walking into the gym for the first time. You wouldn't start by lifting the heaviest weights immediately, would you? You'd start with the smaller weights. You'd get the techniques right. You'd gradually challenge yourself. And building your confidence on social media works in exactly the same way. So small, consistent actions that truly do add up.

Okay, just to remind you of those four little golden nuggers. First, have a word with yourself and challenge those fears about what others might think. Ask yourself, what is the worst thing that could happen?

Then make peace with being imperfect because each imperfect post is practice. It's a step forward to finding your voice and building your confidence. Number three, flip the script.

Shift your attention from worrying about you to helping and connecting with the people who need you most. And finally, create a folder for ideas and practice so posting publicly feels a little less scary and less intimidating. Now, I have a little action step for you. Here's one thing I want you to try. So pick one small thing that feels just outside your comfort zone and do it this week.

Here's a few ideas for you. You could maybe record a short clip answering a frequently asked question on video. You could post a short video about a common challenge that your clients face. You could even script this first and have it in the background to refer to. You could go live and share one really useful tip that people can implement straight away, even if it's just a really quick five or 10 minutes.

You could do a post to reintroduce yourself and share why you do what you do. So it doesn't have to be anything huge, just one small thing to stretch yourself a little. Confidence on social media isn't something that magically appears one morning when you wake up. It's something that you build step by step, post by post.

Okay, let's recap. At the start of this episode, I told you how terrified I was to post anything on social media, how I literally hung up on myself at the start of a live video out of pure panic. And now social media has completely transformed my business and my life. Getting past my fear of showing up on social has now allowed me to grow two six-figure businesses, help more people than ever, and have more impact in the world and live a life that actually I dreamt of when I was working in the NHS. Now, the craziest part of all of this is that now I'm the one teaching other health professionals like you how to leverage social media for your business. I have a brand new course called Social Media Made Simple, all about how to attract dream clients through social media and confidently show up online. Who would have thought it, hey? Well, certainly not me, that's for sure. Remember?

If I could get past all of my fears, my feelings of awkwardness and the self doubt around showing up on social media, then I know that you can do it too. Join me next week when I'll be chatting to my guest, Kel Bauer, a personal branding specialist. Now, what if building a personal brand online didn't mean oversharing, but finally being seen for who you really are? Sounds good, doesn't it?

If you like the sound of that, join me then. Bye for now.