Mindset #3: We are All Unique; Be Yourself

Confession: I have a lot of hobbies and interests. Anytime I begin down a journey of a new hobby (e.g., bread baking, crochet, succulent gardens, sign language, aquariums), my first move is always to go find an expert or guru on the matter. This has some benefits: it expands my original knowledge, gives me inspiration, and shows me a version of what partaking in this hobby can look like. However, I often jump from guru to guru, and my attempt to copy them usually seems to come out wrong.

I did the same thing when I started my business nearly 10 years ago. I looked around me for various examples of what my business could look like and attempted to copy other entrepreneurs – their style, their services, their business model, and their packaging structure. While my business was doing “okay,” things really started to take off when I became intentional about making the business my own. Yes, it was already “mine,” but when I shifted things so that the business looked and felt like me, when I embraced my values, and when I matched my business with my evolving life, that’s when everything clicked.

As a part of our 10 E Mindset blog series, here is Mindset #3: 

We are all unique; be yourself.

Let’s break this down. 

Mindset

The belief or attitude behind this mindset is this: be you, not them. You have your own experiences, your own values, your own personality, your own strengths, and your own style. You already know that you are the most important part of your business - you are the actual thing that makes your business tick. (Need a reminder? Check out the blog post on Mindset #2). One of the best ways to make your business succeed, and to enjoy it along the way, is to show up as your authentic self and build the business around that. The world doesn’t need a copy of another entrepreneur, it needs YOU.

Action

When you embrace the mindset and importance of being yourself, your actions will follow. Start by taking stock of all the things that make you who you are today and who you are becoming. Think about your life, experiences, personality, training, skill set, values, interests, and community. Choose a few parts that make you feel most like yourself and begin to incorporate them into your business. This might look like:

• Branding that fits you - Choose a main color for your branding that you actually like and would want to wear. Pick a font style that is readable and reflects who you are. If you were to describe yourself in 2-3 words, make sure those 2-3 words also align with how you want to describe your brand.

• Embracing your quirks - Everybody is a little weird. Bring some of that into your business. If you are a movie buff, use that in examples or metaphors when explaining concepts and skills. If you like to draw, use drawings to express your ideas on your website or draw little notes to your clients.

• Serving your people - There are people you are specifically designed to serve due to your experiences, skills, strengths, and personality. Defining your niche and ensuring that it fits with who you are makes it easy for you to show up and do good work with those clients.

• Matching your schedule to your energy - Are you an early bird or a night owl? Set up your schedule to provide services when you are at your best. (You will literally never see Abby taking meetings or clients before 9:00 am.) You can also consider your energy levels. Are you someone who is mentally exhausted after four sessions or do you feel energized with a full day of clients?

• Showing up authentically – You can be yourself and still be professional. When you interact with clients, referrals, and people at events as your authentic self, you connect with them on a deeper level. There is a true sense of kinship when your true self interacts with others as their true selves. This is how you find your people - and those are the relationships that build your business over time.

Benefits

Understanding that we are all unique and deciding to be yourself - as a mindset and action - ultimately helps you and your business to thrive. When you can be you in your business - the true and authentic version of yourself - it becomes a lot easier to show up. The business then fits you perfectly like a tailored outfit - just the right shade, the exact dimensions, fabric that feels good on your skin - so that when you put on the outfit, you feel alive and energized. When you embrace your uniqueness, you stop trying to fit into another mold of how a business "should" be run. Isn’t this why many of us became entrepreneurs in the first place? We wanted a business that felt like ours and to do the work in our own way.

Here’s the bottom line: the world and your clients need exactly what you have to offer - your truest self doing good work. It’s time to stop copying, shape shifting, and pretending. Embrace the aspects of you and your being that make you feel most like yourself and incorporate them into your business. No one can do your business like you. 

Time to reflect: Are you showing up as uniquely yourself in your business? If not, what has been getting in the way?