I do happen to be an influencer / thought leader in my particular niche - with the network of colleagues and experience behind me that allows me to get meetings set - and I don't have many people reading my Posts on Medium.

My network, for the most part, doesn't read Medium -but I post there anyway just because it is another outlet for new people to find me on.

If you want people to take you seriously, you need to act the part.

I was recently at a very famous comedian's show, where he was testing new material. He was in a small room, not in the location he normally plays, and it was unannounced. Not everything was a hit (some was very funny), and he had a tape recorder to play it back later so he could further tweak.

As a professional, play to the smaller room when you don't have the spotlight so you can tweak your pitch and build that confidence. Then, when you call people, they will answer.