August 26, 2025 • 20 mins
Episode Summary:
Influence looks shiny on Instagram—but what you don’t see are the hidden costs. In this episode of Online Business for Christian Creators, Jim exposes 7 dark realities of chasing influence—from applause addiction to curated vulnerability, clout-chasing, burnout, and brand silencing.
But this isn’t just a takedown of influencers. You’ll also hear the flipside: how to build influence that actually lasts, rooted in relational leadership, Kingdom purpose, and integrity.
If you’ve ever wondered “Am I chasing influence the wrong way?”—this episode will give you the clarity and courage to lead differently.
🗝️ What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Why applause and vanity metrics can rob you of purpose.
- How curated vulnerability is often a trap—and what true vulnerability looks like.
- Why clout-chasing erodes your identity (and how to root yourself in Christ).
- The connection between success and isolation—and how to fight it.
- How monetizing morality can corrupt your cause.
- The reality of performance burnout (and why rest is a Kingdom principle).
- How sponsorships can silence your convictions—and what freedom looks like.
- 4 practical flipside practices for building influence God’s way.
📖 Scripture Referenced
- Proverbs 29:25 – “The fear of man lays a snare.”
- Romans 12:2 – “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.”
- Matthew 6:1 – “Do not practice your righteousness before men to be seen by them.”
- John 8:32 – “The truth will set you free.”
🌐 Resources & Links
👉 Main site: https://www.leadwithjim.com
👉 Free resources & tools: https://www.leadwithjim.com/links
📩 Join 400+ leaders in my free weekly newsletter: https://www.leadwithjim.com/nl
✨ Key Insight for Creators
Influence isn’t evil—it’s powerful. But if you chase it without integrity, it will eat you alive. The good news? You can build influence that heals, restores, and points people to something greater than yourself.
That’s relational leadership. That’s Kingdom purpose.
🎁 Resources & Links:
🔗 Join the Newsletter: www.leadwithjim.com/nl
🎧 Catch more episodes + extras: https://www.leadwithjim.com/podcast-2
📣 Connect & Engage
- Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio
- Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
- Share this episode with a friend
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever just beenscrolling through the phone and on,
you know, on your favoritesocial media app and you've noticed
some people and you're like,man, I want the life that that person
has.
I want the life that they'reshowing me, the story that they're
telling.
If that has been you, thentoday's episode is one you're going
to be want to really tune intobecause we're going to talk about
(00:22):
the seven secrets thatinfluencers don't tell you about,
but you should know as you tryto go after the life that they have.
Welcome to Online Business forChristian Creatives, the show that
helps you build a businessthat honors God, fuels your creativity,
and actually pays the bills.
I'm your host, Jim Burgo,leadership coach, Faith first, entrepreneur,
(00:48):
and a guy who's made justabout every mistake so you don't
have to.
Let's get into it.
Hey, welcome back to the show.
I'm so grateful that you arehere with me today.
Today, as we have thisconversation around influencers,
what it really cost us to haveinfluence on that level.
And I want to preference thisas this is not an episode about bashing
(01:12):
influencers.
This is an episode simplyabout what is the cost.
Because remember, even Jesussaid, count the cost.
And if we're going to beinfluencers or people of influence,
then we've got to reallyseparate from what these people on
social media we see versuswhat is truly influence.
And so I want to unpack withyou in the conversation about what
(01:36):
relational leadership has todo with influence and the seven dark
secrets that influencersaren't telling you.
Because at the end of the day,influence is trust.
The more influence I have, themore trust I have.
And it's all built on relationships.
So if I'm not leading from arelational standpoint, then I won't
(01:58):
build the influence that Ineed to do the life that I want.
With that being said,influence is also fragile.
These guys who are online,their life is out there being the
influencer you and I want orshare or desire to be.
Their life could be over thelife that they've built with one
single decision, one singlemove that goes in a direction that
(02:22):
they were never meant to gointo, even if it's an accident, could
lose their entire platform.
So we want to operate inintegrity because this is what the
Holy Spirit calls us to, sothat when as we gain influence, we're
developing character so thatwe can maintain what God gives us.
By the end of this, you'regoing to know seven really deep dark
(02:45):
secrets that there nobody'sreally talking about, that you need
to be aware of so that youdon't fall into these traps and.
And you don't live in theemptiness and the loneliness of influence
without relationship.
So let's begin.
So the first one is addictedto the applause.
Have you ever noticed that weare in a generation currently that
(03:07):
is desperate to be noticed?
It's not even a question of tobe impactful to do any of those.
It's to be noticed.
That's why you see peopledoing all these dances and all these
things.
Is those.
Are those things inherently wrong?
No, they are not inherentlywrong, but we are obsessed with chasing
the applause, chasing thelikes, chasing the follows, which
(03:30):
honestly, all these vanitymetrics are empty and meaningless,
especially when you're notable to convert these likes and follows
into paying customers to buildthe life that you want to build.
But what we've developed orwhat is being developed now is that
likes and views are the newdopamine hit.
Where a generation ago it wasgoing out in nature, having adventures.
(03:54):
Now it's getting online,whether it be live podcasting or
whatever, and getting somebodyto acknowledge that you did something
that they liked.
This is a really bad dichotomythat we live in because guess what?
What happens when the likesstop coming in?
How will you feel about yourself?
What will your.
(04:14):
What will you do when youridentity is stripped from you because
you've put your identity inchasing other people's opinions?
You know, Proverbs 29:25 says,the fear of man lays a snare.
And we want to make sure thatwe understand that following likes
and all these things are asnare for us.
(04:35):
And as a believer, you're nothere to get likes and follows.
You're here to get impact andtransformation out into the world.
Now, do you need is likes andfollows feel good?
Yes, they do.
Is it inherently wrong to wantto have those?
No, it is not.
But where we struggle, andthis is where, where I want you to
hear is when you'reobsessively, compulsively need these
(05:00):
things in order to feel okay,to feel normal, or to feel of value.
You do not need these thingsto feel valued.
You have infinite value.
So instead of, let's chase,instead of chasing the applause,
let's chase after the HolySpirit and allow God to put us in
the places that we can havethe greatest influence.
(05:22):
The second dark secret aboutbeing an influencer is curated vulnerability.
What looks raw is oftenrehearsed, and it's rehearsed in
order for you to feelsomething so that you can be deeper
ensnared into their influencebecause they want to connect with
a.
Even with a pretend emotion,because the deeper the emotion, the
(05:46):
deeper the obsession.
And so I want to make surethat you and I understand that there
is a curated vulnerability.
Authenticity withoutaccountability is just another marketing
trick.
And what we have online with alot of influencers is, is one big
marketing trick to do, say andall the things to get you to fall
(06:09):
deeper in love with them.
I do want to make sure that weunderstand that we're not here to
bash influencers, because canyou imagine how lonely the life is
that you can't emotionallyconnect with anybody following you?
Do you imagine how lonely itis when your whole life is curated
to be an image and not anactual expression of who you are?
(06:31):
We cry authenticity.
We say, let's be our authenticself while simultaneously giving
you a version of ourselvesthat looks good, makes you feel good,
and will continue to have youfollow us.
True vulnerability beginsfirst in trusted relationships, not
(06:51):
algorithms.
Is it okay to share vulnerable online?
Absolutely.
So be careful, count the cost,because there is a cost to this.
And, and, and one of the highcost of being an influencer is a
curated vulnerability thatreally stifles the expression of
the true emotional depth ofthe human being trying to be the
(07:14):
influencer.
Number three in the dark sidesof being an influencer is chasing
clout while losing yourself.
And this one is.
Is hits home because I knowsome influencers who have completely
lost their identity whiletrying to chase after clout because
it's addictive.
You want to be the mostpopular person in the room.
(07:35):
That goes all the way back towhen you were in grade school, when
all of our friends in schoolended up in these little cliques.
And every.
And depending upon yourability to have the best time in
school was dependent upon theclique you were in.
There's no difference betweenthese influencers.
But when you're chasing clout,what are you willing to give up to
get the clout that you want?
(07:57):
Because there will be a cost.
And oftentimes, almost all thetime, what you're losing is yourself.
Because over time, youridentity bends to stay relevant.
Because as culture shifts asfast as it shifts to continually
stay relevant, you have tocontinually reinvent yourself.
And if you continuallyreinvent yourself, you'll never have
(08:19):
roots to go deep enough todevelop an identity that gets you
through the storms.
Romans 12:2 says, this says,do not conform to the patterns of
this world.
And if you're chasing cloutand you're chasing trends.
What do you think you're doing?
The cost of this is losingyour identity, losing who you are,
losing all that you are inChrist in order to chase a trend.
(08:43):
Because you're trying toconform to the patterns of this world,
not conforming to Christ.
Because if you don't know whoyou are in Christ, then the crowd
will define you.
So I guess the question thenbecomes, is who.
Who defines you?
Does the.
Does God define you?
Or do the people that you'rechasing, their applause, their clout,
(09:05):
all this stuff, do they define you?
Because the answer to thatquestion will tell you how fulfilled
or how empty you will be inthis life.
Number four on our list,success equals isolation.
Because the bigger theplatform, the smaller the circle.
I mean, have you ever seen alot of these influencers who are
(09:27):
out in the wild and they're.
They're in with theircommunities and they're crowded?
And what's happening is youhave an influx of people you don't
know.
You have an influx of peoplewho want your time, but don't actually
want the authenticity youbring, the emotional depth you bring.
They don't really want you.
They want the image thatyou've given them.
(09:47):
And so what happens is webegin to be isolated emotionally,
socially, because the biggerthe platform, the more isolated we
become.
And so we have to understandthat many influencers out there are
telling you the bigger theybecome, the less true friends they
have.
Trust is a commodity theydon't give away willingly.
(10:10):
And so it's.
It comes down to a question.
Who are you letting behind thecurtain so that you're not doing
this alone?
Who is that person in thatinner circle of your life who is
going to walk with you so thatyou don't get fallen into the trap
of getting so much successthat you push everybody out of your
life?
(10:30):
Remember, there's a cost toall of this, and we can fight the
cost, like the dark side of itwith the light side.
So if.
If isolation is what's goingto be the cost of chasing success,
then there is a.
There's a flip side of who canwe bring with us that we can enjoy
success with?
So remember that with everyone of these that I give you, there
(10:50):
is a side that I've beensharing that is the flip side of
the dark side.
Number five, monetizing morality.
Now, you may not think this islike, you're, like, what?
But here's the deal.
Most of the influencers willbegin to try to make good content
and good causes the same thing.
(11:11):
Which means they don't reallycare about the cause, they care about
the image that that isconnected to the cause that they're
trying to build.
So if we monetize morality,what we're doing, and it's a dark
side of this, what we're doingis we're using all the things that
we're serving people, servingcauses, as a way to get more influence,
(11:33):
to build better clout, tobuild more success without truly
being connected to the verything that we're driven to do.
I really want to bring thisback because Matthew 6:1 says, do
not practice yourrighteousness before men to be seen
by men.
And if the bigger yourplatform, the more you're going to
be like, everything is content.
(11:54):
You ever hear that?
Everything is content,including what God calls you to.
And I'm going to tell you noteverything is meant to be content.
There are things in your lifethat you need to be doing and giving
to that you need not to betelling anybody.
But then there are things inyour life that you should be telling.
If you have a cause that isvery near and dear to your heart,
and you give and you servethere, and you want to use your platform
(12:16):
as a place to say, hey, comeserve this, come give to this, because
it's a worthy cause, that's different.
Instead of trying to get intoall the trending causes to use it
as marketable content, youdon't want to fall into the marketing
machine person.
You want to be the extensionor the love letter.
God is writing to this world,the epistle that he's writing to
(12:40):
this world.
And you want to do thesethings because these are the things
that are on your heart.
God has gifted you, for God iscalling you to, and you do them whether
you have a platform or not.
And then as you build aplatform, you begin to share it so
that you invite others to dowhat you're doing, to do it with
you.
That is the essence of true influence.
(13:02):
Number six is performance burnout.
Now, this is a really bigthings because you're always on.
Every bit of it is always on.
It's all about performing.
It's all about the image.
We are a mask who are dying onthe inside because we're burning
out because of the performanceand because we got to produce more
and more and more and more andmore because that's what social media
(13:25):
demands, that's what the crowd demands.
The crowd is so addicted tothe dopamine hits of scrolling that
they want more and more and more.
And for the algorithm to keeppushing you, you have to do more
and more and more and you'reburning out.
These influencers are burningout because we take away from the
growth, we take away from thefulfillment of it.
(13:46):
We take away from all of thisso that we could put on this curated
image because we want the performance.
Because performance.
Performance equals influence,influence equals clout, clout equals
success.
At least that's what we tell ourselves.
And.
But the truth behind it iswe've told ourselves wrong.
That is not the definition of success.
Matter of fact, success is howyou define it.
(14:08):
But we also want to go make itone step forward further and say,
well, how does God define descent?
Success?
How does God define success inyour life?
And I will tell you one thingof a successful godly life as a Christian
entrepreneur and is rest.
If you're not prioritizingrest in your life, then we're already
out of balance.
And performance burnout isjust the next natural step.
(14:29):
Because I'm going to tell you,there was a time in my life where
I was pastoring a brand newchurch plant.
I was teaching school, I was,I had my own blog, it was called
Soul Care for the Misfits.
I had like my wife who wasdealing with some illnesses.
We had a child and I just keptdoing, doing, doing, doing, doing,
performing, getting up thereevery Sunday, speaking a message,
(14:51):
doing this community, servingall this stuff.
And what it got me was burnout.
I ignored rest until my bodyrefused to ignore rest.
Because rest, I learned, isnot weakness.
It's a kingdom principle thatyou and I need to be able to use
every day, every week so thatwe're not burning out.
(15:12):
Because guess what?
If you're a flame, the lightof this world, if you're a flame
and your flame goes out, whatgood are we?
Because God wants us to be alight to draw people to him.
And if we're burned out, and aflame is no good when it's not lit.
So let's do this from a placeof rest, not from a place of performance.
(15:33):
Burnout.
And the last is number seven.
You can be silenced by your sponsor.
When you get a sponsor, thereare certain things that they ask
you.
The bigger the sponsor, themore they're like, you can't say
this because that's not partof our brand.
You can't say this becausethat's not part of our brand.
They will silence you on yourmost important issues if those issues
(15:55):
or those things do not agreewith their brand.
So this is a dark side thatrarely is talked about, is that if
you're going to take in astream of income that involves sponsorships
that a lot of these sponsorshave these big contracts that say,
don't say this, don't saythis, don't do this.
And there's many of them outthere that even put in the contract
that you're not allowed to saythe name of Jesus.
(16:18):
And so people will chase themoney instead of holding on to the
character in which they are building.
The money is not.
We like the money, don't getme wrong.
But the money is not the endall to be, all Christ is.
And if you're willing to sellyour soul to a sponsor that, that
you're able, that you're sowilling to give up your passions,
(16:39):
your convictions to say, giveme that money that we already lost
it to the dark side.
We need to be people ofcharacter who are going to stand
up and strong and say, if youwant me to sponsor this or to create
content around this, thatyou're sponsoring me for that I have
the freedom to say whatever Iwant about this thing.
(16:59):
And that's where John 8:32comes in.
The truth will set you free.
You've got to acknowledge thetruth and in that truth live and
walk in that freedom that youare not bound.
Buy that thing.
Now, could they say, I don'twant to sponsor you, then?
Absolutely.
And just let it go out becauseyou'll actually develop a reputation
that says, here's a person of character.
(17:20):
When he, he or she speaks,people listen.
We want them, let's sponsor them.
It may take a little extra,but guess what?
If when you live in yourcharacter and your convictions, you
don't let sponsors silence you.
And with all of this, thatwith the seven dark sides of influence,
we just want to give you aquick note on some of the things
(17:42):
that you can be doing.
Now, we did put some in theactual conversation, but here's just
a quick outliers that you andI could be doing in order to fight
against or to stop the dark side.
Right?
It's like the Jedi calling,we're going against the dark side.
Well, if the Sith Lords arecoming after you, then let's rise
up as the Jedi, or at least the.
(18:02):
At least the gray Jedi, if youare a fan.
So you'll know what I'mtalking about.
And here's the thing.
Let's anchor in our calling,not our clout.
Number two, choosevulnerability and wisdom.
Share your stories.
Share your scars.
Share them.
Number three.
Build deep before wide.
Go deep.
(18:23):
Because an oak tree thatbuilds roots is an Oak tree that
won't be falling in the storm.
So if you build deep firstbefore you build wide, you can build
a massive audience that evenif the audience left, you will not
be shaken.
Number and the fourth one, thelast one here is define success,
God's way.
And we did cover that a little bit.
You know, it's faithfulness,it's obedience.
(18:45):
Let's define success accordingto the way God would define it.
So, one last thought.
Influence is an evil.
It's powerful.
Matter of fact, Solomon evenprays that within the Psalms it says,
give me influence andaffluence, which means give me the
influence I need to reachpeople with the money I need in order
to do something with these people.
(19:07):
Right?
So there's nothing bad orinherently bad about influence or
affluence.
We can pray for both of thesethings, but if we chase it without
integrity, we have lost the game.
We have lost the whole thing.
It's like, it will eat you alive.
It will empty you, it will putyou in isolation.
All of these things, if youchase the dark side and you give
(19:29):
in to the darker desires, thesoul cravings that we have, instead
of understanding that God usesinfluence, he uses affluence for
his greater glory, hisgreater, you know, pushing of his
kingdom, and he uses you inthe midst of that.
So if he's going to give youinfluence, make sure you're always
checking these seven.
Are there more?
Sure, but these seven arereally big.
(19:51):
And if you look at a lot ofthe lives of the influencers you
follow, you'll see many ofthese show up.
So if you're going to build aninfluence that God wants to build
in your life, then you've gotto develop the depth of character
that God is trying to develop.
And if this episode hit home,then I would invite you to go to
www.leadwithjim.comnl and jointhe newsletter, where we've got a
(20:15):
growing list of over 400 otherentrepreneurs and faith leaders just
like yourself who arelearning, growing, getting wisdom,
getting biblical truth that donot show up in these episodes.
If that is you, go on over there.
I'll throw this in the shownotes in the comments section.
Go over there.
Let's join.
I promise not to spam.
You would love to get to meetyou, would love to get to have a
(20:37):
conversation with you.
And with that, we'll see youon the next episode.
Have you ever just beenscrolling through the phone and on,
you know, on your favoritesocial media app and you've noticed
some people and you're like,man, I want the life that that person
has.
I want the life that they'reshowing me, the story that they're
telling.
If that has been you, thentoday's episode is one you're going
to be want to really tune intobecause we're going to talk about
(00:22):
the seven secrets thatinfluencers don't tell you about,
but you should know as you tryto go after the life that they have.
Welcome to Online Business forChristian Creatives, the show that
helps you build a businessthat honors God, fuels your creativity,
and actually pays the bills.
I'm your host, Jim Burgo,leadership coach, Faith first, entrepreneur,
(00:48):
and a guy who's made justabout every mistake so you don't
have to.
Let's get into it.
Hey, welcome back to the show.
I'm so grateful that you arehere with me today.
Today, as we have thisconversation around influencers,
what it really cost us to haveinfluence on that level.
And I want to preference thisas this is not an episode about bashing
(01:12):
influencers.
This is an episode simplyabout what is the cost.
Because remember, even Jesussaid, count the cost.
And if we're going to beinfluencers or people of influence,
then we've got to reallyseparate from what these people on
social media we see versuswhat is truly influence.
And so I want to unpack withyou in the conversation about what
(01:36):
relational leadership has todo with influence and the seven dark
secrets that influencersaren't telling you.
Because at the end of the day,influence is trust.
The more influence I have, themore trust I have.
And it's all built on relationships.
So if I'm not leading from arelational standpoint, then I won't
(01:58):
build the influence that Ineed to do the life that I want.
With that being said,influence is also fragile.
These guys who are online,their life is out there being the
influencer you and I want orshare or desire to be.
Their life could be over thelife that they've built with one
single decision, one singlemove that goes in a direction that
(02:22):
they were never meant to gointo, even if it's an accident, could
lose their entire platform.
So we want to operate inintegrity because this is what the
Holy Spirit calls us to, sothat when as we gain influence, we're
developing character so thatwe can maintain what God gives us.
By the end of this, you'regoing to know seven really deep dark
(02:45):
secrets that there nobody'sreally talking about, that you need
to be aware of so that youdon't fall into these traps and.
And you don't live in theemptiness and the loneliness of influence
without relationship.
So let's begin.
So the first one is addictedto the applause.
Have you ever noticed that weare in a generation currently that
(03:07):
is desperate to be noticed?
It's not even a question of tobe impactful to do any of those.
It's to be noticed.
That's why you see peopledoing all these dances and all these
things.
Is those.
Are those things inherently wrong?
No, they are not inherentlywrong, but we are obsessed with chasing
the applause, chasing thelikes, chasing the follows, which
(03:30):
honestly, all these vanitymetrics are empty and meaningless,
especially when you're notable to convert these likes and follows
into paying customers to buildthe life that you want to build.
But what we've developed orwhat is being developed now is that
likes and views are the newdopamine hit.
Where a generation ago it wasgoing out in nature, having adventures.
(03:54):
Now it's getting online,whether it be live podcasting or
whatever, and getting somebodyto acknowledge that you did something
that they liked.
This is a really bad dichotomythat we live in because guess what?
What happens when the likesstop coming in?
How will you feel about yourself?
What will your.
(04:14):
What will you do when youridentity is stripped from you because
you've put your identity inchasing other people's opinions?
You know, Proverbs 29:25 says,the fear of man lays a snare.
And we want to make sure thatwe understand that following likes
and all these things are asnare for us.
(04:35):
And as a believer, you're nothere to get likes and follows.
You're here to get impact andtransformation out into the world.
Now, do you need is likes andfollows feel good?
Yes, they do.
Is it inherently wrong to wantto have those?
No, it is not.
But where we struggle, andthis is where, where I want you to
hear is when you'reobsessively, compulsively need these
(05:00):
things in order to feel okay,to feel normal, or to feel of value.
You do not need these thingsto feel valued.
You have infinite value.
So instead of, let's chase,instead of chasing the applause,
let's chase after the HolySpirit and allow God to put us in
the places that we can havethe greatest influence.
(05:22):
The second dark secret aboutbeing an influencer is curated vulnerability.
What looks raw is oftenrehearsed, and it's rehearsed in
order for you to feelsomething so that you can be deeper
ensnared into their influencebecause they want to connect with
a.
Even with a pretend emotion,because the deeper the emotion, the
(05:46):
deeper the obsession.
And so I want to make surethat you and I understand that there
is a curated vulnerability.
Authenticity withoutaccountability is just another marketing
trick.
And what we have online with alot of influencers is, is one big
marketing trick to do, say andall the things to get you to fall
(06:09):
deeper in love with them.
I do want to make sure that weunderstand that we're not here to
bash influencers, because canyou imagine how lonely the life is
that you can't emotionallyconnect with anybody following you?
Do you imagine how lonely itis when your whole life is curated
to be an image and not anactual expression of who you are?
(06:31):
We cry authenticity.
We say, let's be our authenticself while simultaneously giving
you a version of ourselvesthat looks good, makes you feel good,
and will continue to have youfollow us.
True vulnerability beginsfirst in trusted relationships, not
(06:51):
algorithms.
Is it okay to share vulnerable online?
Absolutely.
So be careful, count the cost,because there is a cost to this.
And, and, and one of the highcost of being an influencer is a
curated vulnerability thatreally stifles the expression of
the true emotional depth ofthe human being trying to be the
(07:14):
influencer.
Number three in the dark sidesof being an influencer is chasing
clout while losing yourself.
And this one is.
Is hits home because I knowsome influencers who have completely
lost their identity whiletrying to chase after clout because
it's addictive.
You want to be the mostpopular person in the room.
(07:35):
That goes all the way back towhen you were in grade school, when
all of our friends in schoolended up in these little cliques.
And every.
And depending upon yourability to have the best time in
school was dependent upon theclique you were in.
There's no difference betweenthese influencers.
But when you're chasing clout,what are you willing to give up to
get the clout that you want?
(07:57):
Because there will be a cost.
And oftentimes, almost all thetime, what you're losing is yourself.
Because over time, youridentity bends to stay relevant.
Because as culture shifts asfast as it shifts to continually
stay relevant, you have tocontinually reinvent yourself.
And if you continuallyreinvent yourself, you'll never have
(08:19):
roots to go deep enough todevelop an identity that gets you
through the storms.
Romans 12:2 says, this says,do not conform to the patterns of
this world.
And if you're chasing cloutand you're chasing trends.
What do you think you're doing?
The cost of this is losingyour identity, losing who you are,
losing all that you are inChrist in order to chase a trend.
(08:43):
Because you're trying toconform to the patterns of this world,
not conforming to Christ.
Because if you don't know whoyou are in Christ, then the crowd
will define you.
So I guess the question thenbecomes, is who.
Who defines you?
Does the.
Does God define you?
Or do the people that you'rechasing, their applause, their clout,
(09:05):
all this stuff, do they define you?
Because the answer to thatquestion will tell you how fulfilled
or how empty you will be inthis life.
Number four on our list,success equals isolation.
Because the bigger theplatform, the smaller the circle.
I mean, have you ever seen alot of these influencers who are
(09:27):
out in the wild and they're.
They're in with theircommunities and they're crowded?
And what's happening is youhave an influx of people you don't
know.
You have an influx of peoplewho want your time, but don't actually
want the authenticity youbring, the emotional depth you bring.
They don't really want you.
They want the image thatyou've given them.
(09:47):
And so what happens is webegin to be isolated emotionally,
socially, because the biggerthe platform, the more isolated we
become.
And so we have to understandthat many influencers out there are
telling you the bigger theybecome, the less true friends they
have.
Trust is a commodity theydon't give away willingly.
(10:10):
And so it's.
It comes down to a question.
Who are you letting behind thecurtain so that you're not doing
this alone?
Who is that person in thatinner circle of your life who is
going to walk with you so thatyou don't get fallen into the trap
of getting so much successthat you push everybody out of your
life?
(10:30):
Remember, there's a cost toall of this, and we can fight the
cost, like the dark side of itwith the light side.
So if.
If isolation is what's goingto be the cost of chasing success,
then there is a.
There's a flip side of who canwe bring with us that we can enjoy
success with?
So remember that with everyone of these that I give you, there
(10:50):
is a side that I've beensharing that is the flip side of
the dark side.
Number five, monetizing morality.
Now, you may not think this islike, you're, like, what?
But here's the deal.
Most of the influencers willbegin to try to make good content
and good causes the same thing.
(11:11):
Which means they don't reallycare about the cause, they care about
the image that that isconnected to the cause that they're
trying to build.
So if we monetize morality,what we're doing, and it's a dark
side of this, what we're doingis we're using all the things that
we're serving people, servingcauses, as a way to get more influence,
(11:33):
to build better clout, tobuild more success without truly
being connected to the verything that we're driven to do.
I really want to bring thisback because Matthew 6:1 says, do
not practice yourrighteousness before men to be seen
by men.
And if the bigger yourplatform, the more you're going to
be like, everything is content.
(11:54):
You ever hear that?
Everything is content,including what God calls you to.
And I'm going to tell you noteverything is meant to be content.
There are things in your lifethat you need to be doing and giving
to that you need not to betelling anybody.
But then there are things inyour life that you should be telling.
If you have a cause that isvery near and dear to your heart,
and you give and you servethere, and you want to use your platform
(12:16):
as a place to say, hey, comeserve this, come give to this, because
it's a worthy cause, that's different.
Instead of trying to get intoall the trending causes to use it
as marketable content, youdon't want to fall into the marketing
machine person.
You want to be the extensionor the love letter.
God is writing to this world,the epistle that he's writing to
(12:40):
this world.
And you want to do thesethings because these are the things
that are on your heart.
God has gifted you, for God iscalling you to, and you do them whether
you have a platform or not.
And then as you build aplatform, you begin to share it so
that you invite others to dowhat you're doing, to do it with
you.
That is the essence of true influence.
(13:02):
Number six is performance burnout.
Now, this is a really bigthings because you're always on.
Every bit of it is always on.
It's all about performing.
It's all about the image.
We are a mask who are dying onthe inside because we're burning
out because of the performanceand because we got to produce more
and more and more and more andmore because that's what social media
(13:25):
demands, that's what the crowd demands.
The crowd is so addicted tothe dopamine hits of scrolling that
they want more and more and more.
And for the algorithm to keeppushing you, you have to do more
and more and more and you'reburning out.
These influencers are burningout because we take away from the
growth, we take away from thefulfillment of it.
(13:46):
We take away from all of thisso that we could put on this curated
image because we want the performance.
Because performance.
Performance equals influence,influence equals clout, clout equals
success.
At least that's what we tell ourselves.
And.
But the truth behind it iswe've told ourselves wrong.
That is not the definition of success.
Matter of fact, success is howyou define it.
(14:08):
But we also want to go make itone step forward further and say,
well, how does God define descent?
Success?
How does God define success inyour life?
And I will tell you one thingof a successful godly life as a Christian
entrepreneur and is rest.
If you're not prioritizingrest in your life, then we're already
out of balance.
And performance burnout isjust the next natural step.
(14:29):
Because I'm going to tell you,there was a time in my life where
I was pastoring a brand newchurch plant.
I was teaching school, I was,I had my own blog, it was called
Soul Care for the Misfits.
I had like my wife who wasdealing with some illnesses.
We had a child and I just keptdoing, doing, doing, doing, doing,
performing, getting up thereevery Sunday, speaking a message,
(14:51):
doing this community, servingall this stuff.
And what it got me was burnout.
I ignored rest until my bodyrefused to ignore rest.
Because rest, I learned, isnot weakness.
It's a kingdom principle thatyou and I need to be able to use
every day, every week so thatwe're not burning out.
(15:12):
Because guess what?
If you're a flame, the lightof this world, if you're a flame
and your flame goes out, whatgood are we?
Because God wants us to be alight to draw people to him.
And if we're burned out, and aflame is no good when it's not lit.
So let's do this from a placeof rest, not from a place of performance.
(15:33):
Burnout.
And the last is number seven.
You can be silenced by your sponsor.
When you get a sponsor, thereare certain things that they ask
you.
The bigger the sponsor, themore they're like, you can't say
this because that's not partof our brand.
You can't say this becausethat's not part of our brand.
They will silence you on yourmost important issues if those issues
(15:55):
or those things do not agreewith their brand.
So this is a dark side thatrarely is talked about, is that if
you're going to take in astream of income that involves sponsorships
that a lot of these sponsorshave these big contracts that say,
don't say this, don't saythis, don't do this.
And there's many of them outthere that even put in the contract
that you're not allowed to saythe name of Jesus.
(16:18):
And so people will chase themoney instead of holding on to the
character in which they are building.
The money is not.
We like the money, don't getme wrong.
But the money is not the endall to be, all Christ is.
And if you're willing to sellyour soul to a sponsor that, that
you're able, that you're sowilling to give up your passions,
(16:39):
your convictions to say, giveme that money that we already lost
it to the dark side.
We need to be people ofcharacter who are going to stand
up and strong and say, if youwant me to sponsor this or to create
content around this, thatyou're sponsoring me for that I have
the freedom to say whatever Iwant about this thing.
(16:59):
And that's where John 8:32comes in.
The truth will set you free.
You've got to acknowledge thetruth and in that truth live and
walk in that freedom that youare not bound.
Buy that thing.
Now, could they say, I don'twant to sponsor you, then?
Absolutely.
And just let it go out becauseyou'll actually develop a reputation
that says, here's a person of character.
(17:20):
When he, he or she speaks,people listen.
We want them, let's sponsor them.
It may take a little extra,but guess what?
If when you live in yourcharacter and your convictions, you
don't let sponsors silence you.
And with all of this, thatwith the seven dark sides of influence,
we just want to give you aquick note on some of the things
(17:42):
that you can be doing.
Now, we did put some in theactual conversation, but here's just
a quick outliers that you andI could be doing in order to fight
against or to stop the dark side.
Right?
It's like the Jedi calling,we're going against the dark side.
Well, if the Sith Lords arecoming after you, then let's rise
up as the Jedi, or at least the.
(18:02):
At least the gray Jedi, if youare a fan.
So you'll know what I'mtalking about.
And here's the thing.
Let's anchor in our calling,not our clout.
Number two, choosevulnerability and wisdom.
Share your stories.
Share your scars.
Share them.
Number three.
Build deep before wide.
Go deep.
(18:23):
Because an oak tree thatbuilds roots is an Oak tree that
won't be falling in the storm.
So if you build deep firstbefore you build wide, you can build
a massive audience that evenif the audience left, you will not
be shaken.
Number and the fourth one, thelast one here is define success,
God's way.
And we did cover that a little bit.
You know, it's faithfulness,it's obedience.
(18:45):
Let's define success accordingto the way God would define it.
So, one last thought.
Influence is an evil.
It's powerful.
Matter of fact, Solomon evenprays that within the Psalms it says,
give me influence andaffluence, which means give me the
influence I need to reachpeople with the money I need in order
to do something with these people.
(19:07):
Right?
So there's nothing bad orinherently bad about influence or
affluence.
We can pray for both of thesethings, but if we chase it without
integrity, we have lost the game.
We have lost the whole thing.
It's like, it will eat you alive.
It will empty you, it will putyou in isolation.
All of these things, if youchase the dark side and you give
(19:29):
in to the darker desires, thesoul cravings that we have, instead
of understanding that God usesinfluence, he uses affluence for
his greater glory, hisgreater, you know, pushing of his
kingdom, and he uses you inthe midst of that.
So if he's going to give youinfluence, make sure you're always
checking these seven.
Are there more?
Sure, but these seven arereally big.
(19:51):
And if you look at a lot ofthe lives of the influencers you
follow, you'll see many ofthese show up.
So if you're going to build aninfluence that God wants to build
in your life, then you've gotto develop the depth of character
that God is trying to develop.
And if this episode hit home,then I would invite you to go to
www.leadwithjim.comnl and jointhe newsletter, where we've got a
(20:15):
growing list of over 400 otherentrepreneurs and faith leaders just
like yourself who arelearning, growing, getting wisdom,
getting biblical truth that donot show up in these episodes.
If that is you, go on over there.
I'll throw this in the shownotes in the comments section.
Go over there.
Let's join.
I promise not to spam.
You would love to get to meetyou, would love to get to have a
(20:37):
conversation with you.
And with that, we'll see youon the next episode.
Host
Jim Burgoon
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