Personal branding underpins business branding
There are two important aspects to building a strong solopreneur brand that attracts and retains great clients:The ability to skillfully solve your client’s problemsThe experience you create for them before, during and after you serve themAs a solopreneur, you work for the love of freedom, flexibility, choice, doing things “your way,” and the potential for making more money. More and more people are leaving employment and starting their businesses every…single…minute. That means there are a LOT of people coming into the marketplace—your marketplace.So what can you do to stand out in this growing sea of sameness? How can you distinguish your business, your service, your expertise when there are others claiming the same features, benefits and results?How you do that is to develop and showcase YOUR PERSONAL BRAND so it underpins your business brand. After all, as a solopreneur, the business IS you.
What is it to be YOU?
Here are ten ways you can develop and showcase your personal brand and build a Business of YOU, while doing great work and serving your clients:
Storytelling—Use story to take people on a journey. You can use story to share what made you go into business, why you do what you do. Also, use story to demonstrate how you helped a client or something you did along your business journey that was a learning and growth opportunity. Using the story model to communicate verbally or in writing—even in video—is engaging and powerful and allows you to be YOU.
Consistency—This is true for anything you’re communicating. If you are not consistent in your distribution, your style or your focus, you’ll come across scattered and unreliable. Whatever you commit to as you’re expressing who you are and what you’re about, make sure you stay focused and consistent with your message, style and rhythm of delivery.
Be a stand for something—When you are sharing more of who you are in addition to how you help clients solve their problems, stand for something. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a charity or global cause, although if your audience is wanting to see that, definitely provide it. What I’m referring to, however, is to examine why you are passionate about doing your work a certain way, or are passionate about the problem you solve, or are passionate about removing a specific challenge your client faces or changing how people deal with a specific problem in the marketplace.
Show vulnerability—What are you doing to show the chink in your armor? This has to be one of the most powerful bonding and branding mechanisms available to you. When you express your fear, mistake or lack of aptitude about something, you’re showing that you’re human. That it’s okay to make mistakes. To not know everything. To be real.
Demonstrate your process “show behind the curtain”—Find creative and fun ways to show how you do your work. What is it about how you approach solving your client’s problems that is unique? If what you do is truly something only YOU can do, there should be no concern about someone “stealing” your ideas or approach. Remember that if you’re truly connected with your gifts and approach, no one can copy exactly HOW you execute your work. This can be as simple as showing a video of what your office looks like to how you came up with your unique method.
Showcase role models that inspire you—There are authors, speakers, mentors and other thought leaders who have helped us grow along our journey as a solopreneur. Talk about a book that changed the way you work. Tell a story about something you saw another business owner do that inspired you to change or expand how you run your business. You can also tell stories about family members or friends who inspired you to be brave, take risks and be yourself.
Practice what you preach—It’s one thing to put into practice what you’re telling your clients to do, and another to showcase that and share that you’re doing it and how it came out to your audience. It will also help you see if there are any gaps or problems with your process or method so you can fix it. Just because you get it doesn’t always mean that it’s translating well to your clients and audience.
Model generosity, kindness and empathy, but don’t be a charity—We are in business to make money and support ourselves and our families. Having integrity and good business practices is important for sustainability as well as ensuring our business relationships with clients and vendors remain healthy. However, if a client is having a hard time paying, extend terms or work with them to support them as they go through a tough period. Offer assistance to fellow solopreneurs through sharing information, sending referral business or just shoring them up when they’re having a tough day. Don’t showcase acts of kindness as a promotional plug, share it in a discrete manner that helps who you’re helping so you don’t look like you’re bragging.
Capture quantitative and qualitative testimonials—When you are capturing testimonials from clients, capture the quantitative points and start with those, but also capture how you helped that client improve their emotional state of being. Measure the qualitative improvement as well as the quantitative improvement. When you connect the emotional changes as well as the physical/monetary changes your testimonial has more potency and impact. It also shows how working with you is a multi-dimensional experience.
Love your uniqueness—Don’t self-deprecate your shortcomings. What makes us unique are our weaknesses and flaws, not just our strengths. Openly appreciate your journey, your learnings, and what you witness in the world that is humbling to you. Express who you are, what you struggle with and what you’ve overcome. Tell the story of who you are by telling stories about small steps that added up to large achievements that have changed your life.
No need to prove anything
Many of us in business as solopreneurs try too hard to prove our value, worthiness and professionalism. What makes us unique and have a “Business of YOU” is to show our humanness, our flaws and our passion for the work we do and who we serve. As you do more and more of that openly, you’ll find that your ability to connect, serve and help people will help you enjoy your work more and enable you to attract better quality people to work with.You don’t have to work so hard at being “perfect” because when you’re real and show who you are using these methods I’ve described you’ll be able to build rapport and connect with people more readily. They’ll choose you because they feel like they KNOW YOU, which is the underpinning of a strong solopreneur brand: personal branding.
