Are You…and Your Business Authentic?
Yesterday I attended the CRAVE Business Chat at Chicago’s Ruby Room on Division. The topic was “The Challenge of Authenticity™: Personal Branding for Entrepreneurs, Consultants & Small Business Owners.” Many of our clients are small business owners, so I like to keep up on the challenges and concerns of this demographic. Plus, I’m a big fan of what CRAVE Chicago is doing and who couldn’t use a refresher on personal branding?
You can’t be everything to everyone. Those are six very powerful words. Say them with me ladies, you can’t be everything to everyone. This phrase is also applicable to our male counterparts, however I was in a room with all women during this seminar so I can’t help but feel a kinship with my sisters. Kumbaya. The truth of the matter is, women struggle with this issue more so than males, and the experts attribute this to our programming. But that’s not the road I’m going down. I want to share what I took away from this seminar so that you can apply these strategies in your life and in your business, even if the differentiation between the two is barely observable to the eye.
The speaker, Fredda of FreddaID, started by discussing life balance and pointed out that you can’t be powerful in your work unless you are physically and emotionally strong. This includes nutrition, exercise, time with friends, etc. In a brutally honest way, she held us all accountable for our shortcomings in these areas. It was like she knew I was dreaming about a pit stop at Letizia’s afterwards. Fredda pointed out all the excuses we use, the main one being, “There’s just not enough time in the day.” Her response? In the words of Sting, the coolest Yogi we know, “The universe will keep giving you those challenges until you stop.”
This brings me to the concept of being everything to everyone. Many of us try to do this in business out of fear that we’ll lose clients, when in reality the key to being successful is all about focus and clarity. What defines you? What makes you different from your competitors? These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves. Not, how can I appeal to everyone? That’s just setting yourself up for failure.
Next, she touched on personal branding and the fact that YOU are a walking billboard for your company, so you better make sure the image you are portraying is a positive and accurate reflection of your business. And the next time you’re at a networking event or in any social situation for that matter, leave your rehearsed speech at home and just be real. People are drawn to authenticity and they want to connect with other people – not images or facades of people. This will be difficult for those of you who are in careers that do not align with your values and passions. My advice is to hang in there and make that alignment a priority.
Leaving inspired, I skipped the sugar fix I was craving and went straight home, popped Yogalosophy into the DVD player and got moving. It was time for “me.” And there’s nothing selfish about that.
I don’t know about you but I just love good quotes, and to my delight so did our speaker. So to end, I invite you to chew on this nugget by Charles R. Swindoll: “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
-Cathy Wojcik
