Belief Breakthrough

You hide and your clients are suppose to seek you?

There are so many ways I see solo-entrepreneurs hiding out and wishing and hoping that clients will magically show up.

The first tenet of healing marketing phobia is: You Matter. You must be willing to embrace your authentic self and share yourself with your potential ideal clients. The frame you put around this picture really matters. If you are seeing yourself as a floozy in the Bowry hustling sleazy clients you won’t get anywhere. If you are graciously inviting people you like and who interest you to your dinner party then you’ve got the start of a powerful motivator for you to market your business. I thought if I whispered the words they wouldn’t scare you.

Here are 4 ways solo-entrepreneurs hide out and how you can breakthrough your lack of confidence so you can seek out those people who truly want and need your services:

1. Wondering what your message is and working on crafting it just right before you say a word.
   As long as you are busily crafting something, you have no time to talk to anyone. It is what your subconscious mind has secretly hoped: that clients will show up and beg to work with you and you never have to truly connect, engage or share your self and your business.

   Here’s the shift: You are not looking for any clients. You are not trying to convince someone to work with you. All you are doing is talking about something you believe to be true, sharing something that is important to you: massages can help with stress and enhance physical therapy; eating fresh produce from the farmers’ market is an excellent way to get great tasting food and support your local farmers; exercising builds resiliency in the body. The more you talk about what you know and believe the faster you will become clear on your message and at the same time connect with people.

2. Refusing to accept and use your personal power.
   This is a biggey for women and it really shows up when they become entrepreneurs. The act of becoming an entrepreneur is stating to the world (and yourself) that you want to create something that is a bigger expression of you. You make that declaration and then you proceed to undermine it by refusing to take responsibility for the creation, make decisions as the creator, take charge of how you think and behave so you can create what you want.

   The Shift: Decide if you are running a business or a hobby. If it is a hobby then stop worrying about marketing and just enjoy doing your hobby. If you are running a business, then you must start acting like a business person. With one restriction you can define “business person” in almost anyway you want. The restriction is that the thing you call your business generates revenue and a profit. Let your creativity and values define how you are as a business person.

3. Regularly trading your services for the services of others.
   It is not that trading is bad it is the hiding it allows you to do, that is bad. If you trade you don’t have to talk about money. You can pretend you are running a business without touching money. You never have to ask for the person’s business. You can avoid standing in your power, expressing your authentic self and behaving like a business person.

   The Shift: If you want the person’s services, then pay for them. This is an act of respecting yourself and the person/business from whom you are buying. If you think the only way you can afford their services is to trade then you cannot afford their services. Save your money or find yourself a client so you can pay. This act will give you and them legitimacy as business people in your mind. The more you believe you are the real owner of a business the more seriously you will take yourself and the work required to build a thriving business.

4. Carrying the fear of rejection into every conversation you have.
   If you start out thinking someone doesn’t want what you are offering, or even worse doesn’t want you, you will automatically put yourself on the defensive. Being on the defensive means you’ll miss everything this person is telling you they want help with and most likely you will never share anything about your true self that would allow this person to connect with you.

   The Shift: Engaging and sharing with someone who might be interested in your business means you must be open and curious about them. It is all about them and all about connection. Your only focus is to take an interest in them, ask them questions, learn about their problems in your area of expertise. Get comfortable with expressing your beliefs and opinions and let the person respond however they will respond. When someone vigorously disagrees with you or isn’t interested in your opinions, you can silently say: “Phew! I’m glad I didn’t invite that person to my dinner party.”

I know hiding is comfortable. I did it for years. This is your choice: continue hiding, continue to pretend that you own and run a business and decide that you and your dreams aren’t worth the effort of changing OR decide you are worth the effort of becoming who you want to be and commit to the journey of growth taking it one concrete step at a time.

As you come out of hiding you’ll be rewarded with a delicious feeling of gratitude and high energy for being authentic and confident.