What I’ve learned since launching my own business this year is this: regardless of the product or service you provide, people are drawn to you based on your energy and essence. If you are genuine, trustworthy, honest, compassionate, kind and more than anything, conduct yourself and your business with the highest level of integrity (and are able to convey that) — well, that’s step one. (And I mean, obviously having a good product or service is important too). But how do I make a bigger impact.
You’re probably thinking: that’s great, I’m nice, I’m honest — I have everything you listed, but what I really want to learn about are the tangible skills and strategies that I can use to grow my business even further. How do I get noticed? How do I earn social credibility and how do I prove to others that I’m “legit”?
I’ve been very fortunate to experience some early success with my business that I just launched earlier this year. I’ve been asked to be featured in over a dozen media outlets, podcasts, interviews and as a guest blogger. I now conduct sold-out events and work with multiple clients online that range in age from their early twenties to late sixties from all over the world. I’m also making twice the amount in my own business a month than I did at my previous job as a senior manager in a professional sports organization. (Something I had been working over a decade to do).
I’m not telling you this to brag by any means. More than anything, it is to show you that it is possible to achieve success in the early stages of your business in an honest and genuine way. And though I attribute a lot of that early success to the above heart-centred approach I take with each of my incredible clients, I’ve also (because of the training I’ve received and through working with my own life and business coaches), learned a number of strategies and tangible tricks and tools that have helped me further my reach.
The strategies have allowed me to help and impact clients in different countries, and have been offered multiple opportunities to participate in projects, books and interviews that have allowed me to get in front of a bigger audience. I’m going to share them with you in hopes that it’ll help you do the same.
1. Create a professional bio
People are busy. They don’t have time to scroll through your “about me” page and the rest of your website to determine if you’re a right fit for their brand. With the help of my own mentor, I created a bio that included what it is that I do, the people that I help, how it is that I help them and an example of how I actually made an impact (kind of like a before and after screen shot). Keep it to a page and make it short, simple and straight to the point. Cut out the fluff. I also included a photo of myself so the brands I approached can get a sense of my energy and essence (as I discussed previously).
2. Get professional photos taken
Use these photos for your bio and update them on your website prior to reaching out to media outlets and other features. People want a sense of your energy, and that want to know that you take your brand seriously.
3. Get in front of as many audiences as possible
Send your bio (quite literally) everywhere. Reach out to local media outlets, online and print publications, groups of people in your community. Share with them what it is that you do and what you are trying to achieve. We, as business owners, sometimes assume that we first need to be successful before media, projects or stories come to us. We fail to realize that we still have an important message to tell regardless of what stage we are at in our business. If you have the right tools in place (i.e. bio and professional photos) all that’s left is working up the courage to ask.
4. Ask for help
I am very fortunate to have a number of incredible people in my life that have helped me along my own journey. But I had to ask for it. Along with the incredible Coaching Academy that I studied with, I also have a personal development and a business coach. Quite often we think it might be considered ‘a waste of money’ or a weakness to reach out and ask for help. Consider it instead, to be a strength (and a very worthwhile investment) as the right coach/mentor can help avoid the obstacles and challenges they faced on a similar path while guiding you to achieve greater results in a fraction of the time.
