“A role model should be like the light at the end of a tunnel, guiding you when you are lost.” —Cristina Imre
We are all competing for people’s attention when we are in business. And while I fully believe there is enough for all of us (coming from a mindset of abundance), we are also working in an environment of limited amounts of time—there are only 24 hours in a day and generally only 1/3 of that is spent thinking about business. So, building a reputation means understanding how to attract attention when it counts for you and your business.
One of the ways to do that involves a classic approach to any competitive situation—understand what the people and businesses on top are doing, saying, and being and then do that in your unique way.
Some examples:
- You discover one of your peers writes articles for a publication on a regular basis, one that your ideal customer type reads. Action: Read a couple of their articles and then have a conversation with them about the topics. Find out how long they’ve been doing that and how it happened, because you’re curious. Maybe you can write for them or maybe you can find a similar podcast to be on periodically or some other vehicle.
- One of your peers offers a free or low-price entry offer and quite a few people are checking it out. Action: Research what they’re doing. More importantly, what part of your service can you offer that helps build confidence in you and at the same time delights people enough to spread the word about you. The goal here is buzz about you and how your business goes the extra mile—think of it as building your reputation so you can get more business, not necessarily profitable as a standalone offer.
- You want to move up to more sophisticated customers and you know a business that’s doing that well. Action: Review how they talk about themselves on their website. How do others talk about them. What are some key points that are consistently made. Start moving your own communications in that direction. Talk like you’re already there. (This is especially true for your social profiles: research your successful peers or one level up and describe yourself as they do, use their terminology for the position they hold and the work they do.)
Which one are you going to try out? I know I need to do ALL three of these. Right now my priority is #1. Let me know what yours is by replying to this email. I’d really love to hear!
“Find someone who has a life that you want and figure out how they got it. Read books, pick your role models wisely. Find out what they did and do it.” —Lana Del Rey
