The Influencer Lie
There was a time when influence actually meant something.
It wasn’t a title.
It wasn’t a goal.
It wasn’t something you set out to become.
It was something that happened after you did something worth paying attention to.
You built a business.
You created something useful.
You led people.
You figured something out that others hadn’t.
And then, almost as a side effect, people started listening to you.
That’s what influence looks like.
It’s not declared.
It’s earned.
When “Influencer” Became the Goal
Somewhere along the way, that stopped being the definition.
Instead of doing something meaningful and gaining influence as a result…
People started chasing influence itself.
Followers became the metric.
Attention became the product.
Popularity became the proof.
And just like that, “influencer” turned from a byproduct into a job title.
That’s where things went awry.
Because now you’ve got an entire industry built around people trying to influence others… without having done anything particularly influential.
The Rise of the Hollow Authority
Scroll through any platform long enough and you’ll see it.
People giving advice they haven’t lived.
Teaching things they haven’t built.
Packaging confidence as credibility.
It looks polished.
It even sounds convincing.
But underneath it, there’s not much there.
That’s not influence.
That’s performance.
And there’s a big difference.
You see, real influence comes from experience.
Fake influence comes from presentation.
One is built slowly.
The other is constructed quickly.
One holds up over time.
The other needs constant validation to survive.
The Business of Looking Important
What makes this more than just annoying is that it’s become an ecosystem.
There are courses on how to grow followers.
There are agencies promising personal brands.
There’s no shortage of shortcuts, hacks, formulas, and templates.
Each are designed to help people appear influential.
Not actually become it.
And the irony is, the more people chase that appearance, the less actual influence there is.
Because influence isn’t just about reach.
It’s about trust.
And trust doesn’t scale the way followers do.
So What?
You could shrug this off and say, “So what, Joel? Let people play the influencer game.”
That’s fine. But realize that there’s a cost to it.
When influence gets diluted, it gets harder to know who to listen to.
It becomes noisier.
Real influence is hard to find.
People start making decisions based on who looks credible instead of who actually is.
And that’s where it stops being harmless.
How to Fix It
The solution isn’t complicated.
It’s just uncomfortable.
Stop trying to become an influencer.
Start doing something worth talking about.
Build something.
Learn something.
Fix something.
Lead something.
Then, and only then, talk about that.
If people pay attention, great.
If they don’t, keep going anyway.
Because the work is the point.
Not the audience.
The Reality Nobody Wants to Admit
Most people chasing influence don’t actually want responsibility.
They want attention.
They want the benefits of being listened to without the burden of being right.
And that’s not going to end well.
Because sooner or later, reality catches up.
It always does.
What Real Influence Still Looks Like
Real influence isn’t loud.
It doesn’t require constant posting.
It doesn’t depend on trends.
It doesn’t try to impress you.
It shows up in people who have actually done something… and can help you do it too.
You don’t have to guess if they’re credible.
You KNOW they are credible because you can see it.
The Question Worth Asking
If someone disappeared tomorrow…
Would anything they’ve done still matter?
Or was it all just content?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Fire away…