Business Success Tip: To Thine Own Self Be True

This tip is also a personal development tip to having more happiness in your life. I was reminded by my good friend Kathleen Gage, master marketer, author, and speaker yesterday about the power of authenticity.

In my own personal journey, being authentic is a core value. It’s exhausting to continue to put on all on the faces to “look good” for other people at the expense of losing yourself. Surely, there is a way to show up in the world being true to who you really are (on the inside) and still be successful, right? You betcha!

Several years ago as I was preparing to launch my website, I solicited advice from several people who I considered to be marketing experts. I’ve repeatedly heard that if you need success tips, find someone who is successful at what you want to do, find out what they did and duplicate their process. Makes sense! Why reinvent the wheel?

Here’s where you can get lost in that formula. It’s so important to be sure that you are bringing your distinctive fingerprint – your unique value proposition into the brand you are creating out in the world in a way that is authentic and right for you.
That was my mistake. My home page had great copy with all the phrases folks suggested I use to attract my target audience.

Each time I clicked on the home page, I would cringe because I felt like a fraud. The language looked and sounded good visually and it wasn’t me. I was afraid to say what I really felt because I feared my words would turn folks off.

For example, of the thousands of people I’ve coached over the years, about 95% of them have all been spiritually-minded (like me). And yet, I had completely eliminated that reference from any of my pages as well as my offline marketing. I felt a huge sigh of relief and peace inside once I began to add spiritual coaching into my introduction. To thine own self be true.

Several weeks ago I renamed my fear audio program – Transform Your Fear into Power. Risky title as I market myself as a business and life coach? Nope. I speak about transformation vs. change all the time. The title is perfect for my message. It would be a paradox to market a product on fear and be afraid of using the title that feels right.

I could cite lots of examples where we give our power away because we fear being authentic. We can fool others and ourselves at the cost of personal happiness and spiritual joy. What a price to pay!

5 Advice tips to be true to who you are and your brand in the marketplace:

1. Invest in personal development. Prioritize learning about yourself intimately so that you make choices that match up with who you are (on the inside) and what you want (outside in the world). The results for you will be a whole lot less inner turmoil and conflict with more ease and happiness.

2. Collect info from experts, sift through what resonates with you and discard the rest. For example, I don’t send emails to my list every couple of days or even once a week unless I’m sending time-sensitive information or resources I think would be of value to them. Why? Even though marketers suggest sending tons of emails with regularity, that’s not my style. So, discover and play with ways to consistently stay in front of folks in a way that feel right. Lead a teleclass, write articles, publish an ezine, book yourself as a speaker, join forums, or write a blog. Limitless possibilities.

3. Keep listening and trusting your instincts. The more you develop that muscle, the better you’ll get at recognizing the difference between something you’re avoiding that would improve your life or something that isn’t matching up with who you are and your brand. Think of your brand as how people come to know you. The words and phrases people associate with you professionally and personally.

4. Gaining clarity is ongoing as you grow yourself and your business. Experiment with different language as you refine your message.

5. Remember that the first thing people buy is YOU before they consider your product or service. If your goal is be successful, happy, make a difference in the world…… having integrity, congruency, and authenticity might make a huge difference in having what you really want.