How To Talk About What You Do To Attract Clients and Opportunity
Lemme ask you…
Have you ever struggled to explain what you do in a way that engages and invites people to hire you?Do you know what you’re called to do but struggle when it comes to “explaining” it or creating interest?Is it a challenge to get clear and articulate your vision, your big idea…so that potential clients get that “aha! tell me more…” feeling and they ask YOU how to work with you — instead of you trying to “sell” them?!
All these challenges are very common among the coaches, healers, authors and experts that I serve on a daily basis. There can be many layers to “why” you struggle talking about what you do while at the same time being completely in the zone when you’re actually doing what you do.
And so, when it comes to marketing your work — you know, “self-promotion” — many, many “expert-preneurs” struggle with feeling “salesy”, dreading or hating marketing, or are in total overwhelm about HOW TO SAY IT…
When you peel through those layers, what is most often at the heart of the issue is the simple fact that it feels so damn vulnerable to expose, own and share your deepest gifts…Your Own Greatness.
We are conditioned from the get-go to play small, to blend in, to go with the status quo…we’re also often conditioned to “be seen and not heard.”
We really shouldn’t stand out, be different, or be too sure of ourselves. At the same time we set the rare few who do own their gifts up on pedestals with celebrity status…while keeping them under a scrupulous microscope of perfection.
It can feel downright dangerous to be confident and empowered…as if we will “attract the wrong kind of attention”… and don’t even get me started on the shame and pressure around being gifted as an artist, singer, dancer, performer, healer or visionary. We have a thick blanket of belief in our culture that there are a rare and talented few who are “naturals” and the rest of us shouldn’t even try…
But if you’re a “natural” you better not be too sure of yourself… or people will judge you and knock you down a peg. That kind of thinking is a total no-win.
Now — this isn’t a diatribe on our culture but rather an invitation to shift your perspective and release the weight of conforming and perfectionism to honor and voice your gifts. It’s important that we’re clear where we’re starting and more important that we take responsibility for who we want to be moving forward.
This ‘conform or die’ thing goes all the way back to the cavemen. Back in the day, our very survival depended on our pack or tribe, right? If you got kicked out of the cave, you really could get eaten by the saber tooth tiger. Our reptilian brain is hardwired to conform and it can go either way in order to “save” us from dying of embarrassment. Our inner voice can go both ways to protect us: 1) “Don’t be too sure of yourself” OR 2) “Who do you think you are to__________(fill-in-the-blank)?!”
I was working with a client of mine a few months ago and he shared with me that everything pretty much came easy to him. His whole life. He was just good at stuff. But his mother and his sister always felt compelled to critique him and tell him how he could be even better. At the same time his friends would tease him or put him down for being good at everything. So he often minimized his accomplishments or kept his mouth shut to avoid the negative feedback.
This is an amazing, powerful man. An almost Phd…determined to serve at risk youth populations in a big way. Who struggles and feels very limited in terms of his ability to both make a big difference and also make a great living. His story is a perfect example of how this catch 22 of — Who-do-you-think-you-are VS Don’t-be-too-sure-of-yourself — can limit our income and our impact in the world. Even though he’s brilliant, talented and serving an important mission he was “hardwired” for self doubt. So we’re re-wiring his perspective and clearing some of those energetic contracts or ideas…and he’s stepping into himself and his gifts in a whole new way. As he does, job opportunities and speaking engagements are finding him.
That’s the good news! We can transform! We can evolve. In fact, that’s what we’re really here to do anyway.
Here are the first 3 Steps to accessing, activating and allowing your Transformational Message to attract clients with every word you speak:
- Awareness: Listen to your calling, fess up to yourself about what you’re really hear to do, get some help if this is elusive.
- Acceptance: Forgive yourself and everyone else. For being afraid, for being unsure, for being confused, for all of it. It is what it is.
- Action: Take a small action to change whenever you can. As simple as walking on the other side of the street … change 1 small thing.
For me — most of my entrepreneurial journey has involved healing blocks and fears around being being seen & heard … that’s why I do what I do and why I’m really good at it. Those fears are founded in the mindset I’m talking about…it’s been a life long journey to unravel it. But because I’ve been through it and come to the other side I can save other people tons of time and energy getting clear on expressing their mission and message.
Once you have accessed, activated and allowed your BIG VISION to come through, it becomes way more possible to talk about what you do naturally, enthusiastically and in a way that draws your ideal clients right to you requires that you:
- Own and articulate your real work in the world
- Dare to share your full talent, vision and gifts
- Give voice to those gifts and articulate your “purest WHY” so you can help others do the same
- And value your work in the world
It can be easier said than done! But it IS doable…
Helping experts access their biggest vision, activate their voice (in every sense of the word) find their aligned and inspired message and allow themselves to share in the biggest possible way is pretty much my favorite thing to do in the world.
I think it’s important to share that I know many healers, coaches & visionaries have an inexplicable “charge” or fear that feels like they could actually DIE if they openly share ABOUT their healing gift, creative talent or profound insights. This stops them in their tracks repeatedly around promoting their work — online, onstage, at conferences or networking events or on-camera/video.
I’ve experienced (and frequently heard it described as: terror, vulnerability, shame, guilt, overwhelming panic and quite often as a stuck, stifled feeling like “choking fear” that is accompanied with the feeling they will simply die or be killed. Sounds dramatic I know. I assure you that’s verbatim from many, many, many people…
This even stops some people from posting on social media, emailing clients, or talking with friends & family about their work in the world…so forget selling from stage or making videos or going live!
They may rally for a while and force themselves into it, but that same choking, stifled feeling that robs their permission to speak openly, freely & enthusiastically about their most powerful gifts comes back to undermine their self expression (or it was there running in the background all along…) making freedom and ease impossible.
Sound familiar?
Does it ever feel impossible to have FREEDOM, PERMISSION & EASE when it comes to talking ABOUT your most powerful message and how to share it in a way that will attract clients?
If so, you can probably forget about coming from a place of owning your full value and sharing your work with full enthusiasm and joy…
If you’ve ever experienced anything like that, please know you are not alone!
The fastest way to transform it is those first 3 steps: Awareness, Acceptance & Action.
All 3 are essential.
Once you have this foundation of clarity, confidence and conviction, then developing a strategy, having a system and up-leveling your skills becomes much much easier because you’re not undermining your client attraction with all the negative fear and doubt.
Then talking about what you do, in a way that engages, excites and inspires people to want to know more and to want to hire you becomes something you can’t wait to do.
If you want to know what to say to attract and enroll more clients, more often — join us for What to Say a 3 day LIVE immersion workshop to stop waiting or holding yourself back and share your message. Join this high vibe community of dedicated, purpose-led entrepreneurs and experts to expand your voice, clarify your message, and step up your leadership through enrollment and a prosperous business you love.
In addition to the bonuses you will also have access to the event recordings to review and deepen your practice of the 5-Step What To Say System and accelerate your connection and client enrollment again and again.