Soulhuntre
As I sat down to write this guest post, I contemplated what I had of value to share with the CustomerLove community. I come from a different background than many of our community (and yes, it is a community) in that I have been a continuously-self-supporting entrepreneur my entire adult life. My history is filled with cutting edge (but essentially conventional) business ventures. Those ventures have been very cool, but they have distinctly lacked the outside-the-box-ness a good clown nose can bring.
The concern was this – “I am learning so much here, what can I contribute?”
Fortunately, in asking the question I found out that the answer is “a lot.” I have skills, systems, and experience to share. Some of those, I will be making available as products and courses, but many I am more than happy to share for free. As I re-read the CustomerLove e-book, one topic struck me more than the others as a place where I can say something that is backed by my own experience and might really help.
Be Yourself.
Success for the small, highly social media-dependent entrepreneur means engaging with current and potential customers/clients constantly, and in a wide variety of situations. Social media works, not because of the volume of interactions, but the perceived quality of them. It allows personality to show through, and that allows people to connect and build loyalty. A side benefit is that as you interact with communities related to your hobbies and interests, you will be exposed to many potential customers/clients who will be more likely to remember you as someone who they have something in common with.
Not only is being yourself a valuable tool in your success, but any attempts to fake it will be doomed to failure. Sustaining a false personality that is consistent across all the ways we now interact would be insanely time consuming, and very risky. Unless the false front is entirely bland, (and will thus fail as boring), just about everyone who tries will eventually slip up. When the house of cards comes crashing down, the CustomerLove you have cultivated will turn ugly, very fast. All those problems continue as you try to separate that entity entirely from your “real” online life: Facebook, Twitter and blog. Remember, one slip up means it’s all over (and the Internet is forever.)
What if they don’t like me?
Let’s be honest – letting your personality show through will cost you customers/clients. Some of the people you reach will not like you, or will not have confidence in you. On the other hand, a lot of them will – and they will be much more loyal as a result. It is worth the trade.
Generally speaking, people are much less judgmental than you think they are. The e-book mentions the example of monster trucks and unicorns as the sort of thing you might be reluctant to talk about in your Twitter stream, and tells you not to worry. I will go much further than that and point to myself as my own evidence:
- I am a male, Republican-leaning Objectivist in a complex, polyamorous relationship with a number of partners.
- On my personal blog I write candidly about sex, my alternative lifestyle, business and relationships.
- I maintain not only a separate political blog as well, but a podcast that is distinctly adult in topic choice.
- I tweet just about anything that comes to my mind.
- For several years I lived and worked in a house that ran live video and audio feeds 24/7.
Each and every one of those facets of myself is easily found if you enter “soulhuntre” into a Google or Bing. My primary business email (soulhuntre@soulhuntre.com) leads directly back to my personal blog. My potential clients know (or could know) almost everything about me they care to find out, and the things they find are not mainstream or soft-edged. I am outspoken and harsh at times.
I probably over-share a bit.
Yet while I have certainly lost business because of it, I have never lacked demand for my products and services. That is not to say that all of my clients agree with (or even really care about) my views and life choices, but it is to say that those who are working with me feel like they know me. They feel that I am a real person, and that they understand my motives and goals. This breeds trust and it has been invaluable in letting me build and enjoy the life I wish to live without constantly wondering when a slip of the tongue will destroy it all.
I am willing to bet that if I can get away with all the stuff I put online and maintain a customer/client base, the things you are worrying about won’t cause you any harm either.
Go ahead – let them know who you are.
No really, they won’t like me!
If you truly feel that letting your personality shine through will prevent your business idea from getting off the ground because your customer/client base will not tolerate who you are, then I suggest that you have chosen the wrong target audience or business model. Everyone I have seen try to make such a radical mismatch work has been miserable.
Has a perceived need to compartmentalize or hide your personality prevented you from reaching a potential customer or client? How can you reduce the need (or your feeling of the need) to hide yourself? Tell us in the comments or forums!
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Wow. Just wow. I love this post because it touches on the aspect of social media that appealed to me from my first interactions. I took a WYSIWYG stance as I stepped into social media. Like you’ve said, I did have a concern that I was too open, too myself. Have to laugh at that really. How can you be TOO yourself?
But what I’ve found over time is the more myself I am the more I attract without even trying – business, contacts and most importantly, friends and kindred spirits. And that? Is totally worth the slight discomfort I occasionally feel when I share!
Hmm, this brings up the whole question of how much to share and what to keep private? I have loads of stories I could share, and will probably dribble them out over time, but they don’t seem to fit into the #customerlove paradigm. I’ll probably tell them on my other blog. But still, there are things I won’t tell for privacy reasons. Where do you draw the line?
Thank you for this, Ken. I appreciate the reassurance that our customers will be attracted to us when we show up as ourselves. Even though I know it to be true from my own experience, it really helps to hear positive results from someone who has pushed the envelop more than I have!
I’ve been pretty open on my blog too. To the point where I’ve had people send me private emails to suggest that I not share so much. I’m pretty transparent about some things, and at the same time – there are stories and subjects that I won’t write about.
In general, I get the best responses to posts that meet 3 criteria:
1. The story/subject feels “alive” for me at the time of writing – and I really *want* to write about it and share it.
2. I think what I have to say will be helpful for others.
3. It scares me a bit (or maybe a lot) to click the publish button.
I can really relate to your comments Patty! The posts that have me feeling anxious and fearful before clicking publish, usually get the most awesome response!