What happens when you leave a potted plant unwatered?
Does it thrive?
Not hardly. That poor thing becomes the next fire’s kindling.
Your business without self-promotion is that plant without water; it will die.
We all know this; it’s no secret, but hoards of people feel as though self-promotion is a light breeze away from sending you into the land of boasting and bragging.
However, if you don’t share what you know then you can’t have a thriving business.
Self-promotion is the best way to build the know, like, and trust factors with your potential clients, and their positive responses can’t help but boost your confidence.
And, confidence is the key to being the heroine of your brand.
But how do you acquire that confidence to begin, and continue to build it up along the way?
Here are a few suggestions to get you on the express train past fear.
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Stop Making It About You
This is the number one, primary block that holds business owners back from loudly (yet in tune) singing the praises of their brand. It’s not about YOU. It’s about the people you can help.
Think of a time that you saw, or read, or heard one thing that changed the momentum of your day from plummeting plane with failed engines to buoyancy on a river raft.
What if that person hadn’t shared because they were worried that they’d be perceived as boastful or narcissistic?
Your day might not have turned out as well, or maybe you’d find someone who didn’t worry about how they’d be perceived, and now their brand is lodged in your brain as the biz that saved the day.
People want to feel good. Clients are looking to you as an expert. They want what you have, and if you deny them access to it, it’s really doing them a disservice.
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Always Talk To Your Best Friend
I’m not literally saying pick up the phone and only talk to your best friend. What I’m saying is, talk to your audience as though you are communicating with your best friend.
You want nothing more than the most joyful, easy, and fulfilled life experience for your best friend right? And if you had some advice that could contribute to that happiness, you wouldn’t hesitate to share it right?
Right.
Talk to your best friend, not the faceless abyss that is your worldwide audience.
They’ll feel your authenticity and genuine desire to improve lives and they will love you for it.
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Recognize That Self-Promotion Is Simply Sharing Ideas
You’re not promoting yourself; you’re promoting your ideas. In fact, you’re not even promoting because that sounds like a lot of pressure. You’re sharing ideas.
Through your life experience and your natural talents, you’ve developed ideas and ways of meandering through life that make living easier, simpler, and more fun. By sharing the ideas and maneuvering methods you’ve cultivated, you elevate the lives of those you interact with (see point number one).
4 Doesn’t thinking of it in those terms just make you want to share more?
Build your momentum by reaching out to like-minded people and having simple conversations about how you all make life good for others. The more you talk about it, the bigger it’ll get.
Know this: When you act from a genuine desire to improve lives and spread joy, you won’t be able to contain your enthusiasm for what you can share, and the opportunities will come flooding in.
5 Positive Affirmations For Fearless Presenting
If you’ve been feeling afraid to speak in public and don’t have time to take a presentation skills training… find out 5 affirmations you can use, starting now.
Aspiring entrepreneurs, students just out of college, experienced and novice professionals alike often share a single trait in common. The fear of speaking in public. Nervous jitters about speaking to a group of people.
If you’ve ever felt like this, today is the day all that changes.
Here are a couple of affirmations: Today is the beginning of my new life. Today is the day I will present without fear. These are positive statements, which are true…starting right now.
As you may be familiar with, positive thinking and affirmations are powerful tools to change one’s state of mind. When facing a persistent fear, it helps to know the ‘inner game’ or mindset that is most effective in dissolving this fear.
That ‘game’ is affirmations. By repeatedly focusing on positive statements, positive feelings and positive outcomes, guess how you feel? Positive! Happy. Ready to take on the world.
Naturally, the reverse is true too. By repeatedly focusing on negative statements, negative emotions, and negative outcomes, guess how will you feel? Awful. That’s why it is really no surprise that by repeating the mantra, “I hate presenting” over and over, many people create a negative trance state. The natural outcome of repeating this phrase is feeling bad, hating presenting, and being filled with fear.
The choice is clear. Do you want to cultivate the habit of positive thoughts and outcomes-or negative ones? Because you’re reading this article, it is clear you want to build a new positive habit about speaking in public.
Use these 5 affirmations to create a positive state of mind and a powerful open attitude about public speaking.
- Today is the beginning of feeling at ease in front of people.
- I am starting to feel confident speaking in front of people today.
- I am grateful to be sharing ideas and speaking in front of people.
- I am speaking with passion and purpose today.
- Today is the best day to speak up in front of people.
What do you notice about these statements? They are very positive. They are focused on current feelings. They invoke a feeling of possibility, options and transformation.
Also, notice one other thing. You can start saying them right now. You don’t have to ‘do something first’ to get ready. Simply saying these phrases and thinking these thoughts invites an open state of mind.
Of course, you may choose to get support for your new attitude. This is a natural outcome of developing a positive mindset. Just considers it a positive effect that you want to learn new skill sets and gain new tool sets.
While you are practicing your attitude, surround yourself with positive influences. Hang out with people who enjoy speaking in public. Get to know people who like to present ideas. Go online and find presentation skills trainings. Read articles and watch videos about visual storytelling.
The more you surround yourself with positive input, the better you will feel.
See, you can transform the fear of public speaking into the joy of sharing ideas. As you focus on all the good things in life, and in your life, make speaking to others part of the things you are giving thanks for.
