A couple of days ago I had a conversation with a speaker who said “I’m really good on stage, but I’m not getting booked for speeches as much as I would like to, do you have any suggestions?”
My answer is one that he probably didn’t want to hear, but it’s the truth. I said “Your problem is one of two things. Either 1 – you’re not as good as you think you are on the stage or 2 – you’re not marketing yourself the way you need to or as effectively as you need to.”
That might be hard to hear, but when you think about it that’s the truth. It’s true not just for speakers, it’s true for all of us. Think about an entrepreneur whose business is not growing in the way that they want it to. It’s either because their product or service is not as good as they think it is, meaning the market place does not value it the way they think it should be valued or 2 – they are not marketing themselves effectively to get their name out there, to get the word out there to start to build their brand.
It’s also true for any employee. If you think about someone who is in a situation where they think they deserve a promotion, it’s either one of two things. Either 1 – they are not as valuable as they think they are or 2 – they are not showcasing their value as much as they need to in order for it to be seen and recognized.
Even though it may be hard to hear, I don’t think it’s a harsh answer. It’s an encouraging answer because those two things we have control over.
You can work to make yourself better on stage. You can work to make yourself more valuable. You can enhance the service or product you are providing to make it better. You can control how much effort you are putting into marketing and how often or how frequent you are putting in that effort.
As we near the end of this year, if your business or career is not where you want it to be, I want you to ask yourself those two questions.
1- Am I really as valuable, as effective, as good as I think I am and how can I make myself better?
2 – How can I get myself out there more often and more effectively so that people recognize the value that I bring?