Can you really “Be yourself”? even if you are new to online marketing?
I am going to be be utterly honest with you.
Yes, there is no other possible way to be.
Pretending to be perfect, to put on airs, to act in a different manner to who you really are? Exhausting. to say the least.
.
My online business finally took off as a direct result of being myself and doing everything just plain wrong in my business, if you listen to the normal set of rules.
I’m even going to go so far as to say that if I had continued to do things the “right” way (find a niche focus, try to sound on-topic and authoritative at all times, work with anyone who would pay me, sell hard), I would be looking for a RN job to supplement my income right now.
You do not have to follow this “out of a box’ cookie cutter approach. With all the “hoopla’ that Mike Klingler is bringing to the table, we know that the “standard practice” we have been taught is dying a quick death.
People are so accustomed to bullshit that when they see something or someone that is 3-dimensional and quirky and flawed and real, they know it’s genuine. They flock to it. They rally around it. No real, authentic, honest-to-goodness person is a niche.
No true human has only one interest. No genuine person is perfect. Change your paradigm.
The goal is not to sell your niche product or your niche knowledge. The goal is to sell yourself.
When clients ask how my “personality brand consulting” works, I tell them that the upshot is that I teach people how to make friends for a living.
I tell them that when you have friends, those friends will come to you instead of searching Google when they have a need that you can fill. I tell them that friends want to help friends, and that if you do things right, those friends will go out of their way to work with you even if your competitors cost less . . . and they’ll tell their friends about you.
I believe that the more honest you are — about who you are, about what you’re into, about your motivations and even your shortcomings — the more people will trust you. The more they will identify with you, even if it doesn’t make sense from a “business” perspective.
I mean that I don’t use my email list right, that I don’t upsell correctly, and that I’m terrible at closing sales in the traditional way.
I un-sell. I un-guarantee. I tell people that they won’t build their business quickly, that it’s really hard, and that there’s a pretty good chance they may fail a few times before finding something that works.
The more transparent you are, the more you’re beating your customers’ doubts to the punch. If you lay your cards on the table, people can be reasonably confident that you’re not holding any behind your back.
If you think you have to single out a niche interest, and be professional, and be perfect, and create an “image,” and only write about and do one thing to be successful online, I’m here to tell you that’s not always true.
If you think you have to build a persona and put on airs, I’m here to tell you that you may be better off just being you.
People will stop liking what you do and will start to like you. They won’t read your blog; they’ll read you. They won’t buy your service; they’ll buy you.
So carve out a new way of being and discover the freedom of being yourself.
Aloha
Emma
