FWH 003: How to Share More You in Your Biz

A mentor who I loved and respected sat me down for a chat and said, I love your work, Reina but I feel like I know nothing about you. I feel like you don’t share ANYTHING about what’s going on. Your brand is consistent and it’s pretty but where is REINA?

If you’re anything like me, you struggle with being “in front of the camera” so to speak in your business. It’s much easier to hide behind the brand and put on the professional front.

Since that conversation, I’ve worked hard to create boundaries and expectations for what I wanted to show to the world. To be really honest, there were two reasons why I wasn’t doing this. First is that in my past career as a Social Worker, it was my job to not self-disclose. This is just a way of saying, it’s not always helpful to talk about yourself. Think about it, if you’re in a therapist’s office, it’s counterproductive to hear the therapist say “this is what I did or what I’d do” rather than feeling heard and coming up with solutions for YOUR problems. Self disclosure is a powerful too to use but only when it serves the client’s need. I felt like I had iron rod gate up from giving away too much of my personality

The second reason why it felt so unnatural to share is because I’ve always been the gal behind the scenes. I’ve been the best “second in command” and “the right hand gal” to so many people that it felt weird to build a brand that was centered on me. It felt gross.

So if you’ve ever felt like talking about yourself felt self-indulgent and icky, I FEEL YOU.

Today I’m sharing why you should be sharing more about you in your brand and 3 tips for how to do it and be #authentic.

Why:

1. Know-like-trust – people buy from people when they feel like they have a personal connection, when they feel like that person GETS you. It’s why big brands like Underarmor partner with celebrities like misty copeland to be their spokes people. People wanna buy from people, not brands! They want to see a human using the products, representing a product.
2. Sharing about you creates an emotional connection with your audience.
3. People want to feel a sense of belonging – when you share something about you, even if it feels trivial, your audience can connect with that and feel like you’re their person. It’s why people have an obsession with Target. We feel like Target just getsssss us.

You should be the face of your brand because it creates connection in a way that makes you a relatable human. But you  might fear, like I did at the beginning, wouldn’t people think I was unprofessional if I wasn’t this “big business” and I admitted that I was a one-person shop?

Nope! In fact, as a small business, you should use this to your advantage. If you’re a small business you have the uncanny ability to create a personal experience for your clients. You have the ability to figure out what they need and REALLY listen.

Also, professional means that you show up, you have the ability to help somebody and offer a solution. It doesn’t mean you have perfect grammar and perfect makeup and wear a power suit. That’s what our parents and role models in the past have told us is professional. As my mentor Nikki Elledge Brown says, Professional doesn’t mean formal? I was totally caught up in this at the beginning.

No more! Permish to let yourself be seen as yourself. Trust me, people love the real you, rather than this “I’m perfect on a resume” version of you!

We have created a gift for you!

I recorded a bonus recording for you that you’ll want to snag for you if you’re feeling a little hesitant to start sharing you in your brand. I’m talking all things Impostor Syndrome, Things to AVOID when you’re getting more personal in your brand, the one tip that’s been a game changer for me sharing about myself, and a peptalk that will get you fired up to start putting this into practice. Oh and I created a list of 100 questions that you can answer to help you share more about yourself so you don’t have to brainstorm things to share! We gotcha covered!

Grab this audio + bonus questions by texting FWH003 to 44222 and we’ll ask for your email address where you want us to send this peptalk!

Sustainable Habit Builder of the Day:

Organizing your phone apps can be a form of self care. My home screen is now empty, my second screen is now personal apps, and I moved all my “work apps” to one screen. It keeps me “in my zone” for whatever I’m doing right now so I don’t obsessively check my social apps when I want to chill out.

Leave us a Review

Did you enjoy this episode? It would mean so much to me if you’d leave a rating and review on itunes. It helps me get into more ears of amazing people like you and to be able to encourage others to share their you’ness! Go to your podcast app (if you’re listening on an iphone) and type in fueled with heart podcast and click on it. Once you do you can scroll down to where you see “write a review” and you can leave a review for me! 🙂

Leave us a rating and review. I am shameless asking for it on CEP but I truly create everything in my business for YOU, so your feedback (and encouragement, since I’m a total Words of Affirmation person in the 5 love languages).

I love interacting with you on Instagram. Tag me @reinaandcompany and #fueledwithheart to let me know what you’re loving! I’m also going to be choosing people to win giveaway prizes! Side note, are you using the #fueledwithheart hashtag? I love engaging with y’all! Keep it up!

I’m cheering you on your way to success!