Published:

03/23/2016 07:02pm

Are You Playing Hard To Get With Your Clients?

I sat over my computer keyboard, finger ready to push the Send button. I couldn't do it.
I'd just spent the previous 6 weeks creating my first online course. All that I'd learned in my 20 years in business about leveraging what you already have for rapid income, in one package.
I knew it was a good course. I knew it would help my clients. But putting it out there meant being more visible. Much more visible.
Visibility has been scary for me. Back when I was a corporate consultant, it was easy to stay in the background. But now, my work has changed. The world has changed.
Today, marketing and doing your work in the world requires you to be out there. Visible.Authentically you. Being invisible does not serve you or your business.
Ironically, my most beloved animal is the elephant. Hard for an elephant to be invisible. And yet, ellies can be hard to spot. They are stunningly quiet when they want to be. Amazing, right, given their size?
You and ellies have a lot in common. When you don't want to be seen, you won't be.
And: your impact can be huge. Elephants can cut a swath through the landscape, felling entire trees in search of good food.
Ellies can also communicate beautifully over hundreds of miles, through vibration. Energetically, you are the same. You can communicate a welcoming energy through your marketing that invites sales.
And something more subtle. For you and your work to be recognized as valuable, you need to be seen. You need to be visible.
Terrifying for some of us, right? It sure has been for me. Invisibility is something I learned long ago. Keep a low profile and you won't get hurt.
The thing is, whatever that original experience was for me, and for you, no longer exists. You're a business person now! Your visibility means more to your clients than you might imagine.
Being connected to a real person is the thread that connects people to a buying decision. Playing hard to get won't seal this relationship. The opposite is true! Be as up front and present as you can be to your clients, in person and in your marketing.
When you feel like you can't do it, can't hit your own Send button for putting your product, service, or marketing out in the world, here's what makes the most difference:the big picture.
The big picture isn't about you and your fears (thank goodness!). Your fears can be put in their place with a big picture view. Start by putting your fears into a personified figure. A lizard named Stella or a hairy beast named Floyd. This helps you detach a little. Your fears start to be outside of you, and that's when they become moremanageable.
Talk to your beastie. What's it got to offer you? Your fears are really just trying to help. To show you where danger lies. The thing is, whatever it's trying you warn you about often isn't true for you anymore.
Your fears about visibility are often a relic of the past. Putting them in their true place can go a long way to reducing them so you can take action and hit that Send button.
What helps you act? Looking at the big picture.
The big picture is about your income. It's about your clients. Ultimately, it's aboutyour impact. Can you attract the money, serve the clients, have the positive impact without doing this thing you're scared to do? Can you have the impact you want to have without being visible? Umm, no, you can't.
So be in service to your clients, your impact. Be in service to something bigger than your fears.
No matter how great your product or service is, it's not enough. You need to be willing to put it out there. That's why marketing is so crucial to your business. And you are crucial to your marketing.
So back to my seesaw about putting my first online course out in the world. When I came to push the Send button, I couldn't do it at first. I stalled. I perfected. I tweaked.
Ultimately, what made the difference between sending and not sending? The big picture. Once I could go there, my perspective changed.
When it comes to being more visible, turns out, I can do it. And you can too.
Send!
Ursula Jorch, MSc, MEd, mentors entrepreneurs starting their businesses and seasoned entrepreneurs in transition to create the business of their dreams. Her coaching programs provide knowledge, support, clarity, inspiration, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs to empower you to reach your goals. Start with a free guide and other valuable info at www.WorkAlchemy.com. This article was originally published at http://www.workalchemy.com/visibility-fear-business and has been syndicated with permission.