Hooray for Guest Post Wednesday and Tara!
You are awesome online. You are rocking it. Your awesomeness is shining through everywhere from your About page to your Twitter stream.
But what about the untested waters of the offline world? Are you awesome there?
Or are you hiding behind your website? Terrified of meeting someone in person, afraid you’ll morph into a salesy slimeball who hands someone their business card and says, “Call me, baby.”?
Going offline can feel like that dream where you show up naked for school.
I am an pj-wearing, home-loving hermit. Most of my business is online. My relationships, my work, my helpfulness: it all happens online. But when I quit my dayjob, I knew that to really grow, I would need to start serving branch out and come out from behind the screen.
Before I did my first craft show, I never talked about my business in person. I told people I worked in HR (my dayjob) and had no idea what to tell them about my online alter ego. What would I say? Without the filter of my website, how could I explain what I did?
In person, I’m just me. No fancy graphics. No carefully crafted pages. No tried-50-times-to-get-this-one-picture first impressions. Just me.
Without the buffer of my website and my carefully chosen words and my perfectly focused pictures, it felt a little naked.
But it can be awesome.
Offline, you see the joy in someone’s eyes as they gasp at your lovingly handmade item.
Offline, you feel that immediate click when someone really gets you.
Offline, clients can sip coffee with you, show you pictures of their family, light up when you zap their problem.
Since that first pre-craft-show jitter I’ve peddled yarn at shows across the country, organized classes for wannabe-knitters and taught hundreds of one-on-one, in-person lessons. I’ve even met some of my online friends for a coffee. All without losing my clothes or sweating through them.
And I learned that going offline can actually be fun, if you keep a few things in mind.
Three tips for being awesome offline
If the thought of meeting a real person, whether at a networking event or a craft show, has you sweating through your awesome shirt, here are some tips to bring your awesomeness offline as painless as possible.
1. Know what you do.
Well, of course you KNOW what you do…but do you have words for it? Can you explain it?
If you feel your tongue tying up just thinking about it, take a look around your website. What does IT say you do? (If it doesn’t say, you should probably hire Catherine to help you with that!)
A lot of business-y people talk about an “elevator speech”, but I’m not into it. When you meet someone, you don’t want to overwhelm them with your awesomeness (and why they should pay you for it), you want to open up a conversation. What could you say about what you do that would naturally lead to a conversation?
Start with an explanation of who you help. Follow it up with how you help them.
Or, if you make something, tell them what you make and who uses it.
Something like “I handmake yarn for yarn-obsessed knitters and crocheters. I also teach the knit-curious. Do you knit? Or know a knitter?”
Or “You know how a lot of crafters wish they could make money from their hobby? Well, I teach crafters business skills that can help them with that dream.”
These conversations-starters always end up with the other person telling me all about their aunt that knits or that their wife has always wanted to sell her underwater-woven baskets. And then I can say, “That’s so cool! I’m always meeting crafters! Would you mind letting her know about me?” as I hand them my business card.
2. Extend an invitation.
Michael Port calls it having an “always-have-something-to-invite-them-to-offer” (I’m not kidding, he uses all those dashes). Havi calls it having multiple circles. I call it giving them something to DO.
The important thing is that this thing you ask them to do with have super-low barriers to entry. It will be free. It will be easy to do. It will be completely free of commitment.
We are NOT trying to sell them something. We’re trying to get them to get to know us (and how we can help them) a little better.
Some examples?
If the conversation at a networking even is going great, don’t just hand them your business card (which, I assure you, will end up in the bottom of their purse coated in cookie crumbs and receipts); hand them an invitation to your free workshop.
If the shopper in your booth looks interested, don’t wait for her to buy something; tell her that signing up for your newsletter will snag her 10% off her purchase today and regular emails full of behind-the-scenes goodness.
This something to do could be:
- attending a free event – online or in-person (hand them all the details they need!)
- scheduling a coffee date to talk further
- signing up for your newsletter (then you can wow them with your online awesomeness)
- anything else that gets them to connect with you again!
3. Remember: ALL awesomeness is a reflection of your TRUE awesomeness.
That fabulous website or charming Twitter persona? It’s YOU, through and through.
Online and offline, you are reaching your people and attracting clients that appreciate your you-ness. There’s no trick, no magic solution: you just bring that, the true you-ness. And you will click with the right people.
If you do, you’ll find yourself happily out of your pjs and meeting people.
How do you bring your awesomeness offline? Tell me in the comments!
Tara Swiger is crafting a business , making eco-friendly yarn at Blonde Chicken Boutique and helping people craft their own ideal business, when she’s not busy being awesome online and off.