There is no simple answer. Fortunately, I like the tough questions.
First of all, there are a few guidelines I provide clients when it comes to sharing:
- Consider your audience. You want to make them more comfortable with you, not less. You want them to relate to you, to know that you’ve gone through similar challenges to their own. And you want their Know-Like-Trust with you to grow as a result of your honesty.
- Be sure there’s a point. Avoid pointless shares. What you learned from the experience is key. And the depth of the lesson is a good barometer for how you big a reveal you should make.
- Create distance between that moment and this one. Perspective is so valuable and integral to any substantive lesson. And the same formula from item #2 is helpful here: if the lesson is huge, the more time that should transpire before you can really impart it with confidence.
- Relevance to the business at hand is paramount. Be judicious about your shares. Not every story – no matter how engaging or unique – is pertinent to the provider-client relationship.
- Behind the solution, there is a true story. Tell it. Many coaches will tell us, “It’s not about you! The client isn’t interested in you! They only care about the solution you provide!” That’s only partially true: the client is primarily concerned with the solution. I mean, it’s why they came to you. But they have some interest in you, or they would not have stayed. And most likely, your story is, in part, the one behind that solution.
As an exercise, I decided to tell my story in a way I hadn’t before. Does it meet the above criteria? I leave it to you to decide:
I never thought losing my business would help me crack the next LEVEL of business.
As a kid, I always colored outside the lines. Instead of reading books for book reports, I wrote original stories using the character’s names. So, I –
Became a screenwriter, with 3 produced film credits (You haven’t lived until Bruce Campbell has starred in one of your movies!).
– and learned that I can get burned out on my own creations. And I needed a steady income that could sustain a growing family. The solution?
Built a successful niche public relations firm.
– and learned the art of client and media relations, plus the joy of championing artists and innovators. I also discovered I was suppressing my own creativity. It was the curse of being good at something that holds you back: you SHOULD be happy but you’re unfulfilled personally. And I found myself uncomfortable in my own skin. So I cut loose with a dangerous high wire act –
Spent a decade as a standup comedian (The Comedy Store, Comedy Cellar, Funny Bone…), while still clinging to the work I needed to survive.
– and learned that chicken tenders taste the same everywhere. And that – no offense to actors and comedians – a thriving career in entertainment is all about YOU. There’s no room for anyone else. I’m married with five kids. I pursued family life and the stability that comes with it. Did I really crave life on the road? And did I really wanna be two people at once?
There was something to my way with audiences, though. My facility with putting brands together with audiences made the next step possible:
Built a successful sneaker marketing agency with a fantastic friend and business partner. – and got to see my creative on billboards, in magazines, and online.
Then COVID hit. Our sneaker marketing business, dependent on in-person meetings and travel, dried up. Everything hinged on one industry’s ebbs and flows. – and I realized we had no control over our flow of business. And there were skills and talents I still wasn’t using. I was at a crossroads: did I reinvest in the agency, or did my partner and I each seek out the big answers on our own? The stress and anxiety evolved into sleeplessness and depression, and a feeling of helplessness to change the way I viewed myself, and perceived my purpose. I needed to uncover and embrace my own truth, no matter how uncomfortable it felt. Anything was better than continuing on the way things were going.
So I embarked on an internal personal development journey.
It began with peak performance, which opened the door to meditation. My spiritual side emerged, and quantum consciousness entered the picture so I could confront and eliminate inherited blocks. I could also replace “the fame bug” in my unconscious mind with my desire to take better care of my family. The introspection inspired me to launch the “Truth Tastes Funny” Podcast, exploring how we thrive and survive in a chaotic world.
It wasn’t all internal, either: I had to invest all the money I had (and didn’t have) in honing a new business model for a niche that didn’t yet exist. If I hadn’t experienced the challenge of COVID, I don’t think I would have been able to create a 360-degree me…bringing all my skills together in a strong Personal Brand, delivering more value at a higher premium than ever before. Oh, and I finally gained control over my investment of creativity and energy.
Better still, it equipped me to help Founders, Executive Leaders, and Conscious Entrepreneurs in the refinement and deployment of their Personal Brands.
I’m not a shaman, or a healer, or even a coach. I am a consultant, and a mentor. You might say I’m a “holistic brand therapist.” And I see brand from all sides, perhaps most importantly, from the inside.
–I do share quite a bit – honoring the same guidelines – in my first book, SELLING THE TRUTH: A ‘Semoir’ with Insights for Life & Business, which is about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public.–