31. Change your mindset, start showing up
Over and over again I find that the main shift that has to happen for us to start showing as entrepreneurs publicly on social media for our businesses is in our mind.
I tell you what did it for me, it was a course I took on photography. Our instructor told us to stop seeing Social Media as a waste of time and start seeing it as part of our jobs.
I was like: “Wow! THAT makes sense!”
Up until that point, I did not understand the potential of what Social Media Marketing could do for my business. I was happy to hide behind my computer editing photos and waiting for customers to come to me.
I did not grow up with social media, I saw it as something just for my personal life, but I did not understand the power and benefits it could harness for my business.
Things like:
Sharing my core & brand values
Presenting my products and the benefits
Generating sales & collaboration leads
Establishing myself as an expert on my field
Creating a positioning in the market for my brand
Staying Top of Mind for my area of expertise
Story time…
Think about this. I told my husband I wanted to order some coffee from a company in Germany that has Costarrican coffee. But, you know, I procrastinate and I didn’t do it. Some days later a box shows up from that company. So, he went ahead and ordered some coffee, but he never asked me if he should order for me too. I was kind of upset that he didn’t, but was I right? Since it was a while ago, he assumed I had done it already. Was I wrong to be upset? Was he wrong for not asking?
The point of the story is not about who was wrong or not, it is more about communication, how do you expect people to know what you are about if you don’t communicate enough, how will people know?
What’s stopping you?
Is it the fear of being “exposed”? If you are the face of your brand, if things go well or if things go bad, it’s your name on the line?
This is a fair fear. We are out there and if we fail or succeed, it’s our name on the line. But think of all the good that could come IF we succeed and all the people you can help.
Are you concerned about what your family and friends will think or say about you?
Like my sons, they say I am “cringe”, whatever that means… I am assuming it’s embarrassing or something like that.
Or maybe your family or friend, don’t support you? or don’t understand what you are trying to do, why you quit your perfectly “safe” job with a steady salary and in “trying to be helpful” end up saying or making comments that don’t serve you? Like: “Are you crazy?!”, I’ve been there!!
We can love our families and disagree, we can love our families and respectfully ask them to let us be. Believe that what you are doing has a purpose and in sharing your gift you are serving more. In time, they will come around.
Haven’t you found your voice?
There is a moment in which it clicks and you find your voice and it’s like when you open a faucet and can not close it anymore.
You have ideas, you have things to say, and it’s all inside and you feel like you have to get them out or you will burst.
Have you ever felt that way?
Maybe you don’t know how to deliver the message?
As in you don’t know what is the best way of being heard? What to say? How to say? How often to say it? Where to say it? There are strategies my friend, depending on your ideal client, on the platforms they mostly hang out at, and also the ones you feel most comfortable in. But this we can figure out.
Are you suffering from imposter syndrome?
Because you think you should be more? You are not enough? Because you think you should be further than you currently are?
You know what? You are enough. If I could do it, so can you. True, I have not arrived where I want to go, but I am on my way, it is a marathon, not a sprint. And it doesn’t have to be one for you either.
Not everyone is running at the same speed, some get there faster, some need time and that is OK.
Start showing up. Let’s do this together.
I believe in you.
Hi there! I’m Blanca!
I’m a Brand Photographer and Personal Branding Coach, helping female entrepreneurs to create a Personal Brand online that STANDS OUT.
I bring your vision to life, help you come up with one and take you by the hand into the online World if you need me to.