Hello dearests, it’s time for a (totally awesome and must-read) guest post from Gareth!
In the recent Awesome Chat Session we had to make introductions. Part of that was explaining what you do. Saying “I run a blog,” or “I’m trying to escape the corporate world, like our charming host managed” just didn’t cut it. These would have been fine if the question was rhetorical, but it’s not.
photo credit: Iain Farrell
You need to have an answer for this question. It used to be called an elevator speech, but who talks in elevators anymore. I certainly don’t, and if someone asked me what I did while standing in an elevator my answer would probably read along the lines of “I ride elevators that are on the verge of breaking down to see how many trips they can manage before the cable snaps and everyone inside plunges to their deaths!” Well, I’d probably stand around in awkward silence umming and eventually coming out with something along the lines of “well, I kind of like run a personal development type blog thing that has an epic adventure twist sortof” Not very convincing is it. I bet the Dragon loves hearing things like that. (by the way, that was the response I gave in the awesome chat, not exactly awesome is it)
Part of the hesitation is that I don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m kind of notorious for not having a clue, but forging ahead anyway. Some people think it’s endearing, others think I’m an idiot. Of course, not knowing what I’m doing also gets in the way of developing a target market, determining your USP and other marketing buzzwords that make me sound a little pretentious. What it all boils down to is if I don’t know what I’m doing, how will anyone else.
The other part of the hesitation is that this feels like self promotion. (I do not succumb to tall poppy syndrome. I manage to cut myself down before anyone else gets a shot). This is my issue, and is probably only going to be solved by countless hours of therapy and perhaps some electro-shock treatment, so we won’t be dealing with it here.
What we can deal with is figuring out what it is you do and how to describe it. First things first, you need a piece of paper/mind mapping software/a blank document, so run along and get it, I won’t continue until you get back. Don’t forget the pen or pencil if you’re doing the low-tech approach.
Ready? You got everything you need? Good, let’s begin.
Step 1
What we’re going to do here is a brain dump. Open with the question “What do I do?” and right down absolutely everything that comes to you. Your list could look something like this:
cook, clean, drive to work, spend 8 hours avoiding working, drive home, cook, watch TV.
Not very useful though is it. we’ll change the question slightly. Try “What do I want to accomplish with my website/business?” Now your list may look like this
Change the world, work for myself, help people, release e-products that help people and so on.
A much better list and one we can work from.
Step 2
Take the most appropriate looking list and start asking “How can I …” as in “How can I change the world?” Do that for each of items on the list. This may take a while, so I’ll wait.
Done?
Good.
Go read through all you answers. There will be a common thread through most of them. For me it was something to do with stopping people getting in their own way when they set out to become achievers.
Step 3
Now we’re starting to get somewhere. Take that common theme and start phrasing it in such a way that your Right people will understand. Catherine has done this really well with her tagline. If you object to being called a weirdo, you’re probably not on the right site. I don’t know how many iterations were required to get to that one and it may change, but for now, it’s clear and you know exactly what she does, even if you don’t know how she does it. (The how isn’t important, if people are interested they’ll ask)
After a few iterations on my side, this is the statement I came up with. “I give actioneers the tools, training and support they need to defeat the Dragon of Mediocrity and all his minions” It’s snappy, it’s obtuse enough that only my right people are going to be interested, and if I practice it in front of the mirror enough, I may be able to get it out the next time someone asks me what I do. Which leads us nicely into
Step 4
Practice. Practice saying it out loud. Say it without hesitation. Say it into the mirror. Sing it into the shampoo bottle. Tell it to your dogs, (they’ll love you even if you tell them the same thing 50 times, your better half might not be so understanding).
When you’re comfortable with saying it, go out and tell people what you do, and gauge their reaction. This is one of the most important steps here. Your goal is to get your right people interested. If your right people aren’t interested, you may need to change it. If the wrong people are also interested, well, perhaps down the line you may be able to turn them into your right people. But don’t be afraid to change and experiment with it.
So go, come up with some pithy phrase to tell us what you do and give it to us in the comments. Then next time you can answer confidently.
Gareth kind of like runs a personal development type blog thing that has an epic adventure twist sortof. You can follow the adventure over on Fight Mediocrity.