The truth is that when you live your passion in your work, every aspect of your life improves. They have taught us to separate our personal and work selves. Be one person during the day and another person at night and on weekends. We stay ‘professional’ at work, without letting our personality or personal preferences ‘fade’ into our professional image or personality.
Integrating your personal and professional selves may be the best thing you can do for your business and personal happiness. It’s a new world and social media in particular has been a game changer, blurring the lines between personal and professional. Social media has changed what we want and how we think about the people we do business with.
Here are some of the benefits you can gain when you integrate or align your personal and professional selves:
You become a ‘real’ three-dimensional person to the people you do business with.
Instead of being the ‘widget’, you are now a real person, doing what you do: read books, love dogs, love cats, fish, knit, drink coffee, garden and have hair days. bad. You are not simply a provider of products or services that is all buttoned up and two-dimensional. It makes you interesting and intriguing and, above all, real and authentic.
You attract people who resonate with your interests, which makes it more fun for them and for you.
You get to work with like-minded people and create common ground. Even the simplest connections make deals happen. I had a client who chose a designer because she liked to dance tango. Actually. All the sites she was looking at were more or less the same and they all looked good. She read about a designer who danced in her spare time and she liked that, it made her real and interesting, even though she didn’t tango herself. See what I mean?
You add dimension to your brand and how you are perceived. Your personality and uniqueness reaches your audience through your personal passion and gives you a “head space” in your customers’ consciousness. It is mentally easier for all of us to ‘hold on’ to personal attributes and quirks than to facts.
You add purpose to your business because it’s not just another automated operation. You create another dimension that has meaning and people like to support companies and people that they understand and connect with.
How to be yourself, be real, attract more business
Talk about what matters to you. Be real. Be authentic. Don’t be stubborn to your face, maybe avoid politics (unless it has to do with your business), but connect with your passion and share your interests. Don’t hold back thinking it’s ‘unprofessional’. Change the rules of your game.
be relatable If you are a business owner who is crazy about helping kids and doing things for your community, talk about it! Talking about what you love, where you go and what you do is not blowing your own horn. People will support you for it. Wouldn’t you rather spend your hard-earned money on a business that is giving back to the world in a way that’s meaningful to you? Be that person!
Being you will build your brand, make you stand out from the crowd, and make you feel more fulfilled, happy, and integrated.
The result? A healthier end result and a calmer, easier life that you feel better about because you feel more real and authentic.