Making People Instantly See the Value in What You Do - a true story
If you’re like most people in the working space, you’ve probably had the experience of trying to explain what you do for a living, only to have the person you’re talking to give you a blank stare. You know what you do is essential and valuable, but you can’t get the message across for some reason.
Sounds familiar?
I am a bit embarrassed to admit that even though I’ve been helping so many people craft their pitches, I can fail horribly at doing this for myself.
Yes, once more, it seems easier to advise others than do things well for yourself and your personal brand. ;-)
Taken off guard!
The other day, I sat in a discussion with influential people in the Icelandic workspace. We were having a conversation about lots of different things. Then, like, out of the blue, one of them turned to me and said: “Rúna, apart from fulfilling the role of being the Marketing and PR director for The Federation of Trade and Services in Iceland, what are the other projects you are working on these days?”
The first thing that came to my mind was WOW… I was not expecting the spotlight to go to me at this point in the conversation!
Before I knew it, I noticed I had started to explain in great detail what we are doing within the No More Boxes The Transformational Movement.
I talked about unconscious biases, I talked about how our social conditionings are preventing us from being the highest version of ourselves, and I spoke about the neuroscience behind the work.
On and on, I kept going with some in-depth details on my work…totally, entirely and utterly forgetting the number one thing communicating the VALUE in what I’m doing. DOH!
It wasn’t until the following question: Rúna, please explain. How is this a profitable business? 🫣🫣🫣
That’s when I realized what I was saying didn’t make sense to that person - and come to think of it, why on earth should it make sense to them?
When you meet someone new, it can be tempting to try and impress them by talking about something you’re passionate about. But sometimes, that can backfire spectacularly.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that everyone is as interested in your passion as you are. Before you start explaining things in excruciating detail, your pattern kicks in, preventing you from taking a step back and considering whether or not the other person wants to hear about it. Because chances are, they’d still be trying to figure out why they should go to you or refer someone to talk to you.
And if they don’t know your VALUE - they can’t refer you, can they?
Going back to that conversation. Because of my lack of clarity, the conversation went to something different, and my ‘moment’ was lost.
Was this a total failure?
When I went to bed that night, I felt uncomfortable down to my core.
Had I blown up an excellent opportunity to get my message across? I could feel my subconscious mind go bananas and feel old patterns and self-judgement rise inside me. Luckily, my decades of training myself to become more aware of my self-judgement kicked in, and I could turn my destroying self-talk into asking my subconscious mind a new question.
The question was: What was the gift I got from handling that precious moment that way?
I went to sleep with that question lingering in my mind.
The answer came to me during my morning meditation as a fresh bun from the bakery 🥐
Next time I’m asked about what I’m doing, the answer will be:
I’m coaching and mentoring leaders, changemakers and people in the political world, helping them to build their personal brand, becoming better, bolder and brighter as the leading light in their industry.
And if I get the question, how do you do that? The answer will be;
I use the No More Boxes Methodology and Lifestyle, designed to help people break through the socially conditioned boxes that isn’t serving their highest good.
I’m eager to hear what that pitch does for you.
Would you know why you should refer leaders, changemakers and people in the political world to contact me?