We just finished the 3rd week of a live 4-week Maximizing Conversions teleclass and, as program members do the assignments each week, I’ve been receiving one comment more than any other: “I’m so glad I can be successful and still be me.”
It’s almost as if we need permission to fully embrace ourselves and bring “us” to our businesses.
The picture for today’s article is “all wrong” from a business perspective:
• The shirt, one of my all-time favorites, is neither flattering nor in my color spectrum
• The hat has sat in the sun for one too many summers
• I’d been up almost 24 hours when it was taken and was simultaneously exhilarated and exhausted
And yet this is currently my profile picture on Facebook, where, I might add, not one of my almost 3,000 friends has said “great pic”.
So why am I using it?
1. This is me, Sandy, the person, the woman, the wife, the “mom”, the small business expert. No fancy photographers, just me on a Cape Cod beach.
2. I’m an introvert and having my picture taken is sorta like root canal without Novocain. This picture shows that I’m a *real* person with all my bumpy edges.
3. I love this picture with the wind whipping my hair and the memory of being in a crazy storm that required us to move camp twice to avoid being washed into the ocean.
4. And…People do business with people.
If you’ve ever been on one of my teleclasses, you know I have dogs (3 of them) and can easily count how many times in the last 6 years they were quiet throughout an entire call.
In the beginning, fresh from my years in the Federal Government and Corporate, I’d apologize and be horrified thinking the call was ruined. Now I, and my ideal clients, accept that this is life in my business – and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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My Request to You:
What makes your business uniquely you?
• Do your children occasionally pop in while you’re on the phone?
• Do you, like me, have a dog bed under your desk?
• Do you work “odd” (think “custom”) hours so that you can spend time with your family during the summer?
• Your values, your goals (not someone else’s) – your dream of a big, multimillion dollar business or, if like me, of a small intimate business where you get to work deeply with your clients?
• Your sense of humor?
List out everything that makes your business yours…and give free rein to that side of things. Your ideal clients will resonate and thank you.
The experience of your business – of you – should be found everywhere – from a prospective client’s first visit to your website, to the way you run your calls, to how they hire you. . .and beyond. It’s the power of you which makes your business successful.