What will sound cooler? Founder and CEO or Founder and Managing Director? I was thinking about what to complete in the title for my LinkedIn profile. Like everyone else, LinkedIn is the place to show off your dream job and perfect career.

I used to be an audit associate at PwC Tanzania. I also interned with KPMG Tanzania and studied at the University of Dar es Salaam. That’s quite a LinkedIn profile! I was a tech entrepreneur, and it felt cooler than other types of entrepreneurship.

I was also a CEO and a founder of my own company. Anyone looking at my profile would reach the conclusion that I have got my life figured out.

I felt the same when looking at all the first, second, and third degree people I am connected to on LinkedIn. Everyone was an expert in something. We all seemed to start something or achieve a lot in our careers. Then one day a bubble burst in front of my eyes that gave me a reality check.

“Hi Rogers, I’m a seasonal marketer with four years of experience, and I’m job hunting,” said part of a LinkedIn message I got. “I have been out of a job for the last three years; I am willing to take any position that you can offer,” he continued.

I went straight to his profile. I saw he wrote “An expert in marketing and advertising. He’s a full-time freelancer with 10 years of experience. He also founded MarketZone Company Limited.” I felt sorry for him.

This took me back a few years when I got an unexpected LinkedIn request from my father. I went straight to his profile; it said, “I have got 29 years in the banking industry. I have spent 21 years at NBC Ltd, starting as a clerk grade I and moving up to a managerial role. I have worked for 8 years at Barclays Bank. My ambition is to run my own entity and support my community.”

Well, that was my father’s dream, shared on LinkedIn. In real life, he looked like a typical executive from an international bank. On LinkedIn, he aimed to run his own business. If he were young like us, he would have added “a founder or CEO” of the company he was aiming to build.

My father died without making that ambition a reality; may his soul rest in peace. After the funeral, I learned he was retiring soon. He had begun registering his business, which he named EMAKAT.

Here I was, a few years later; I was thinking about a cooler name for my LinkedIn profile. I founded a company called EMAKAT, in honour of my father’s legacy. It made me rethink the importance of believing what I share on social media. Most of it doesn’t reflect real life.

Then I evaluated my own interaction with social media. 

Have I ever shared all the days and months that I was struggling to pay my team their salaries? No. 

Have I ever posted and shared the frustration I was having when raising capital? No.

Have I ever shared how uncertain I am about my business, which I claim to be the CEO and founder? No. 

I only share pictures when I’m out handing out business cards or with friends. We wear t-shirts with our company logo at tech events.

I started believing in my social media profile more than in my real life. Outside of social media, my company was struggling. I was having fights and arguments with my co-founders. I was facing rejection after rejection in raising capital. Clients were not easy to get.

The one we managed to get were not paying. The business was in crisis, but my social media was on top of the mountain. And I started to believe that it was easier to wake up and go on social media than to go to the office.

That was way back when social media were not as impactful and addictive as they are now. Things are worse now, and people tend to believe everything they post and see on social media.

You might write anything on social media about what you wish, hope, and aspire to. You can share so much filtered life on there that your life would seem almost perfect. Your career seems well figured out. And you can start believing in it.

In social media, you might say you have a perfect relationship, like those in romantic movies. But every night, you cry from the pain your partner causes you. 

You often post about your awesome friends on social media. But when you face problems, you know you are on your own. 

You showcase a fantastic and growing career on social media. Yet, in private, you often complain and seek something new and better.

When you get back home alone, your phone out of internet or charge, the reality haunts you. Learn to accept your profile in real life. If it is cool and good enough to share on your social media profile, then you are good. 

If you need to spice up your profile, it’s time to put in real effort in your life. If you need a photoshoot for social media pics, your life might not be exciting enough for casual, cool shots.

If you think your followers and likers are your fans, you might start seeing yourself as a celebrity. But life may show you a different story.

Your profile doesn’t define you, so don’t let it shape your identity. If your social media doesn’t show your true self, it’s time to let that go. 

#iThinkSo

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you find peace and joy.

If you have learned something, subscribe on the homepage to get these articles in your email. You can share them with one person whom you care about.

Rogers Katuma

Financial Artist, Senior Adventurer, Occasional Storyteller, Amateur Golfer, Baby Pianist, and Rookie Chessman.