Ryan Holiday reposted me. Here’s why it doesn’t matter.

Yesterday, Ryan Holiday reposted one of my carousels on his Instagram Story. As a younger creator, this would be all I could have daydreamed about. My favorite living author reshared my work. I made it. But now that I have more experience, I realize this is just another day. 

My carousel post categorized his book The Obstacle is the Way as one of six books creative freelancers should read. I tagged him in the post. He reshared it. (Also, another one of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, was tagged in the post and commented on it, too.) While I’m happy about this, I realize it doesn’t do much for my business or my audience. They may help a little bit, but social media reposts aren’t what matters. Bringing real value and connecting with real humans is what matters. Yes, social media posts and book sales are ways to do that. But I know Ryan Holiday doesn’t know me yet. I know his audience doesn’t automatically trust me because of the repost. There’s no fooling anyone about that. 

In fact, Ryan Holiday could invite me to speak on his podcast tomorrow, and it wouldn’t change my life that much. The work is still in front of me to develop my own readership, to bring value to my own audience, and to grow my own platform. While reposts help in that effort, the work is still ahead of me. And it always will be.