People buy from people they know and trust.
In business, it is a myth that showing your weaknesses can damage your reputation. Showing who you are as a real, authentic person can improve your relationship with your prospective and existing customers.
In 2014 I discovered I was dyslexic when I was working with Sue Hall of Dyslexia Canada. I was at the height of my book publishing business and being told by Sue I was dyslexic was a topic I felt I needed to hide.
As I said to Sue at the time “I’m not sure being a Dyslexic publisher would be a good thing to promote!”
I wrestled with discussing this perceived “weakness” with my customers and finally decided to do some research to understand the traits of Dyslexia.
From this I discovered the thought of dyslexia being a “learning disability or reading and writing disability” was a myth and in fact, dyslexia is a gift!
I decided to go full out and stand on the TEDx stage and tell the world that I was probably the only dyslexic book publisher in the world! As a result of that talk, my business rocketed. And I now had close to 100,000 views of my TEDx talk.
Through that experience, I’ve learned that showing your soft underbelly improves your chances of getting more customers.
What does it mean to be authentically you?
Many people are so habituated to the person they think people want to see, they have forgotten who their true authentic self really is.
I know this from living my young adult life in the UK and waking up one day realizing I was living someone else’s life and not my own. I had lived to a set of expectations that I had been given by my father, and I had strived all my life to live up to his dreams and his version of the life he envisioned for me.
I knew something was not right, but I didn’t know how to find “me” anymore. All I did know was something did not feel quite right and there must be “more”.
I spent 7 years travelling around the world and writing a book about that experience. I recorded my observations and changing beliefs as I was influenced by culture and experiences outside of the limited small island of people I only knew before (the UK).
Once I had lived so many more experiences outside of my limited beliefs, I realized I had started to form my own opinions and values, based on my observations of the world.
Once I wrote that book to capture and remember those experiences that had influenced me, I started to blossom into the woman I am today.
People ask me all the time how I discovered my purpose, how I realized what makes me happy and how I can be genuinely of service to other people…
My only answer is patience and the willingness to be still and listen to the clues other people give you.
When someone tells you how helpful you were, take notice, that could be a big clue about your authentic service to the world.
You can listen to my podcast on “living with purpose” on the BeeKonnected social media platform for authentic purpose-driven entrepreneurs. (Use this sponsorship link for a free membership invitation to join BeeKonnected.)
About the Author, Julie Salisbury
Julie Salisbury is the author of Around the World in Seven Years: One Woman's Life-Changing Journey and Founder of Influence Publishing and InspireABook coaching. She specializes in helping authors to write and publish their books as a strategy to live out their purpose to the full.
Julie is more than a publisher with over 13 year's experience in the industry. She draws on her product marketing career in the UK of over 20 years to focus on strategic business and marketing goals to reach a global market via traditional and online media and publicity, and through strong global distribution and sales. She has published over 200 authors in the last 10 years and her unique "partner" publishing model means the author keeps all rights and royalties.
Visit www.influencepublishing.com or email founder@influencepublishing.com for information.
