There are some common mistakes we make when we’re trying to describe what we do and who we are to prospective clients:
- We ignore our past experience, because either we ourselves want to move on or we don’t want to make it sound like we haven’t been doing this forever. This provides essential details about why we do what we do.
- We speak in bullet points, soundbites or jargon. Sometimes we’ve just been having too many conversations inside the bubble with other people who “speak our language.” It’s time to break out and bring the conversation back down to earth so other people can connect and we can draw in a new clientele. It’s not personal or accessible enough to draw people in.
- We keep it too professional and drown out any personality that might have existed within our sales or pitch material. This personality — personal details, your journey, etc. — are what make your business compelling.
- We operate on our own agenda. We forget that the essential element of describing what we do is communicating what it can do for someone else.
- We hide our freak flag, playing down the enthusiasm we feel for what we do, the subject we teach. Letting your freak flag fly is liberating. Do it.
So now that you know what not to do. Let’s chat for a minute about how to craft a masterful personal narrative.
One of the best ways to talk about what you do is to describe your journey. It gives your audience or prospective clients the insight into why you do what you do. That’s the question you should always be turning to when it comes to communicating about your business.
The overarching key to a compelling personal story is to speak to what it took to get from where you were to where you are now. Try composing your narrative following this story arc:
Your before: Where were you before you found the work that changed you life?
Your epiphany: How did you find the work that changed your life? What was your ah-ha moment?
The result: In what ways did you life change? What did you uncover? How did the work transform you, lead you out, open you up, change your outlook or life?
Your after: Where did you find yourself after? What was your new reality?
When you’re composing the story of what you do, you’re really telling a narrative about why you do it. That question is by far the most important to our businesses. As Simon Sinek said, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
