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27- Awesomize your Credibility. You are not an Impostor!

By

(aka The lesson in which Nicole screams “You are not an Impostor!“)

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Business & World: 

Let’s talk today about Awesomizing your Credibility and your message.  Many of us suffer from the “Impostor syndrome” and we need to STOP IT! 🙂 It’s hard enough to awesomize our lives and our businesses, but by playing small, we also tend to not awesomize the world when we feel like we aren’t worthy of being out there on the internets.

So, how do you 1. beat the imposter syndrome and 2. show credibility that you feel good about sharing?

This is something a LOT of us struggle with (raising hand) because we were taught never to brag – on top of not having great self-esteem to begin with. At least that’s my issue. 🙂 You may have your own.

So, how do you accomplish getting the word out about how awesome you are if you feel 1. like you aren’t anything special and 2. like when you DO something awesome, you shouldn’t say anything or you’re bragging about it?

Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?

There are a ton of ways to show credibility. Here are just a few ideas for you to work into your marketing.

1. Your story or journey.

Even if you’re not a huge expert yet,  your story is powerful. Back when I first started, my story was that my daughter was born a few days after 9/11/2001 and my husband lost his job right afterwards, too. So we went from one very good income and one child to  no income and two kiddos pretty much overnight. That was when I realized that I had to bring in some money and I started researching on the internet.

Does that make me an expert? No. But it does give my story and gets people to know me enough to start to think about trusting me. I don’t have a PHD in Internet Marketingology but I do have a story.  Story matters. Share yours.  Even if you haven’t achieved anything yet, share your story of why you are blogging or coaching about what you do.

Here’s some more I’ve written about this topic: Your Story is An Integral Part of Your Brand.

2.  Your accomplishments.

Here is where you can EARN credibility through action.

What about this?

Who do you trust more to teach you about weight loss? Some skinny chick who has never had a problem with her weight or some guy or gal who has lost 70 lbs in under a year? Me? I want to hear the story of the guy who lost 70 lbs in a year… even if the skinny lady (Bless her Heart) has a degree in Nutrition or is a Personal Trainer.

Perhaps you’re teaching others about debt reduction and you personally got out from under $50k in debt in 2 years time. Or maybe you went from being a terrible husband to saving your marriage and rekindling it and now having the best sex life you could have ever dreamed because of it.

And it doesn’t HAVE to be the biggest number in the world. I don’t teach people how to become billionaires. I help them to get to six figures OR to multi-six figures if they’re already at $100k or more a year.

Or maybe you’re a real estate investor who helps people add $200/month income from their rental properties. It’s not billions, but it’s enough to help people build a small investment portfolio of houses that they can sell down the line for a profit.

So, if you haven’t lost 70 lbs, but you’ve lost 30 and kept it off AND gotten rid of your diabetes meds (or started running marathons or became a Pilates instructor, etc, etc.), that’s equally as impressive to me.

Simply look at what you have accomplished and put together your (true, obviously) story based upon the facts.

This is part of your story, but these are also things that no one can ever take from you. Accomplishments related to your business also are awesome to share. Even if you don’t think anyone cares – they do.

3. Your credentials.

Got any letters after your name? A degree related to what you do? Experience? Have you built an offline business related to what you’re teaching online?

I had a coaching client one time and we were going over her website which was pretty blah, to be honest. I didn’t get WHY she was doing this or anyone would sign up. She started talking and I said “WOW. You’re really passionate about this. What got you into it?” She said “Oh, 20 years in the field dealing with… ”  We obviously had to update her website which then was freaking impressive. 😉

If so, this is all credibility for you. Add it to your about page and to your main site. (And update it often… as I need to do again, too!)

4. Borrowed credibility.

Have you been featured on a popular website, TV program, radio show, newspaper, or other media? Have you spoken on stage?

If so, mention it. You’ve seen those people with all the “As seen on” logos on their sites? As overdone and hokey as it may seem at times, it WORKS. That’s why they do it. 🙂 Don’t be shy. YOU ROCK!

5. Other people’s words.

Don’t forget to include testimonials from other people in your industry. This is huge, if you don’t have your own credibility just yet.

Awesomizing your Life and the  World:  

I mentioned this before, but get Amazon Prime. Seriously. Get it if you don’t have it yet.  It makes your life so much easier and I’m not even talking about all of the great movies you can watch on your phone and free books and audios you get.  I’m talking about the free 2-day shipping.

–> Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Whether you live in the city or way out in the middle of nowhere, you can literally buy just about anything that you need in minutes from either your computer or your smart phone and have it DELIVERED to your door in 2 days. If you’re not using it yet, why on earth not? You’re a busy entrepreneur who is trying to make the world a better place. Don’t be running to the store for toilet paper when you can have toilet paper come to you. 🙂

Some things I have recently ordered on Amazon Prime include:

Here’s more about Amazon Prime. I know for me it pays for itself over and over again.

–> Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

I’m no fool. Those are affiliate links… of course. 😉

How does this help the world?

  1. You gain more time to do other things since you can effectively and efficiently find the things you need.
  2. You can have items autoshipped to your home so you don’t even have to find them or reorder if you know you’ll use them every month. Like laundry detergents or cat litter.
  3. You’re not driving around in circles all over town looking for things, wasting gas.
  4. You can easily order and ship gifts for the holidays and birthdays – again, without driving around town looking for the gift you had in mind.

Hugs and high fives,

Nicole