I have a secret to share with you, one that has taken me many years to learn: You are more successful in business when you are being who you are.

It sounds simple, but, actually, is pretty complex.

You see, as a business owner, you are constantly forced to take stock of your service and your products, and, therefore, of yourself.

If you sell consulting or other professional services, you almost constantly have to strive to differentiate yourself from the marketplace. You need to stand out in some way, to be faster or better.

Sometimes, this push to be better doesn't really let you be who you are, so running a business seems foreign and strange.

You may feel like you have to get up each day and put on a happy face, even when you don't feel like it.

You may feel that you have to behave a certain way or espouse certain beliefs in order to remain competitive.

In some ways you do: your business persona should always line up with how you want to be viewed by your customers, and your competitors.

But this doesn't mean that your business persona should completely squash who you really are.

Like, in my case, for example: I've loved blogging since it first began. I have always loved product creation. I'm also an expert in facilitating human change. One of the problems for me has always been how to reconcile each of these facets and find a business approach which feels just right. It may seem obvious to you (isn't it always like that when you look at other people?) but it's taken me some time to understand that I really love teaching people, and I love sharing ideas, and I love creating new products.

So I've built a business, now, which allows me to express each of these facets within it. I teach people through my speaking, and I share ideas through my blogs, and I create new products and programs regularly, both for myself and for clients.

(In fact, I have a few new products I'll be rolling out shortly,–more on that in another post.)

My business has begun to shape up to let me be who I really am, and it's become more profitable as a result.

Do I still have things to learn? Of course. Do I still sometimes wonder if I'm doing this right? Absolutely. But it's much easier- it feels much better- to build a business that lines up with my strengths and interests, even if it looks different than I thought it would. For myself, I needed to let go of what other people thought I should be doing.

On more than one occasion, for instance, I've been told: "You went to school for all those years….why are you wasting your education by blogging…?" (Though, really, blogging lets me share my expertise in a much wider platform than I would ever have in working directly as a therapist!) In a way, I guess what I'm saying is that business success comes more easily when you build a business that showcases your unique talents and strengths.

Then you don't have to fight so hard to stand out, because you are, after all, unique. How have you shaped your business to reflect your uniqueness? I'd love to know.

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One of the biggest challenges of any service business owner is the balance between doing and marketing. Very often, the doing supercedes the marketing, until the client flow dries up, then the business owner quickly markets, trying to get clients, and the cycle repeats.

This is a very stressful way to build your business.

The difficulty of balancing doing with marketing is one of the most significant challenges business owners face, as it is directly responsible for the ups and downs in cash flow.

What are some ways to better balance doing with marketing? You could wake up earlier and try to cram more into each day.

You could forego some personally fulfilling activities so you can work harder.

Or you can find ways to provide the same (or better) level of attention, customer service, and professional services for the same (or less) effort.

Which way sounds better? I hope you picked door #2.

Here are some strategies I implement in my business to help me balance doing and marketing.

• Schedule yourself differently. Set aside at least 8 hours per week for marketing activities. If you can't do 8, do 4. Just do something. If you can't decrease your service hours, find ways to make each service hour double as a marketing activity. For example, you might leave "tell a friend" cards in your waiting room.
• Meet face to face with potential referral sources. Yes, it takes extra effort to meet for lunch. It can also significantly increase the speed with which you receive referrals.
• Leverage technology. When your time is the main source of money generation, you need to use technology to help your business grow. Use voicemail, autoresponder messages, and email text cut/paste to help you complete routine tasks faster and with less effort.
• Track your results. 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. You need to know which 20.
• Package your expertise in many forms. Offer multiple delivery options for your knowledge. This will allow you to capture more of the market, with a one-time effort.

There are other strategies you might consider, but these should help you get started. Adding even just one of these to your business efforts will help you balance better between doing and marketing.

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A special request from me to you:

If you have questions or comments about growing your business, would you let me know what they are? I would like to take this information and utilize it to offer better advice and content here on the site. With so many new subscribers (welcome!), it is helpful for me to check in, now and then, and find out what you'd most like to know about. Lead generation? How to sell your services 1:1 or to groups? How to balance better between your professional and personal responsibilities? All of the above?

None of the above?

Please let me know.

You can leave a comment below, and for everyone who does, I'll have a special "thank you" prize.

Thanks in advance! 

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In order to be a successful at self promotion, we all need to believe, deeply, in the ultimate value of our service. It is from this place of deep belief plus service that we can stand in truth and integrity about what we offer to our clients. It is this belief plus service which will help us make the tough business decisions- how late to work? how many days to work? how much to charge? when to raise fees? how to keep the inflow of clients happening regularly? All those decisions, big and small, which keep us stretching to a new goal or new desired outcome. How deep is your level of belief in the ultimate value of your service? What will it take to believe even deeper so you can serve your clients in a bigger and more important way?

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One of the elements of being a successful self promoter is that you must believe in the value you provide. Because, let's face it- all marketing hype and perfect taglines aside, value is what clients remember. They remember how you helped them solve a particular problem, or how you freely shared your expertise, or how you connected them with other helpful resources so they could attain their goals. While they might know your tagline or understand your brand, what matters more is what you have done to assist them. How have you demonstrated value? Have you done it well enough so that your clients feel it, too? To misquote an often used phrased, "If you provide value, they will come."

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