What Do You Do Again? Explaining Life as an Entrepreneur
Have you ever sat across the table from someone and tried to explain what you do, only to have them stare at you blankly?
What do you do when no one knows what you do? Here's how you can clarify your message so you can build your business.
Want to listen? There's an audio version below
We know being an entrepreneur can sometimes be a lonely job. When you're starting your own business in a new field, or you want to do business in an unconventional way, it's often difficult to explain what you do, even to your close friends.
But what about when you want to do business in a way that bucks societal trends and common knowledge? What about when you want to do something so outside the norm it's almost impossible to explain?
Across the Kitchen Table
That's the situation I found myself in a few weeks ago when I sat across the table from a friend from college. After graduating, we both went into the corporate world. We both climbed the corporate ladder, and we both felt like that's what we were expected to do.
In the years since we graduated, she and her husband have had two children. They have a fantastic life, and because their kids are still very young, she's decided to take a break from her career and stay home.
When the topic of jobs and careers came up, as it inevitably does, she talked about how much she loves staying home and being a part of her kids' lives. And as I sat there, I began to think about how un-traditional, how unconventional my business is.
While I wake up every day excited to get to work, 50 plus percent of Americans hate their job (Source: Forbes). When most employees can't wait for the weekend so they don't have to go to work, it's not a big deal to me (and I know many entrepreneurs who feel the same).
Explaining the Unexplainable
Entrepreneurs see the world differently than the average person does. As a result, we often DO business in a different way as well.
Twenty years ago, if you wanted to coach people about how to start businesses, you'd have had no other option than to apply for a teaching job at the local college. Today, I get to work with people around the world without leaving home.
But, even with this new ability to do business in new and unconventional ways, we have to be able to explain what we do in a way conventional people can understand. As I sat there with my friend, I remembered all of the times I fumbled through my words, unable to clearly explain how my business helps people.
I realized it wasn't until I could explain my business in a way people could understand that I started to get results. If my business wasn't clear to me, it couldn't be clear to others. (Tweet that!)
If you're out there trying to start your own business, even if it's not in a way that's unique, make sure you're able to talk about your business in a way people understand. Because if people can't clearly understand what you do, they definitely won't hire you to do it. (Tweet that!)
The Power of Clarity
Real genius is in your ability to make the complex simple and easy to understand. If you can't explain what you do, how and why you do it, you need to spend more time looking at your business and figuring things out.
Here's a test: If you can't call your grandma on the phone and explain to her how you help people, you don't understand your business well enough.
I got that opportunity the other day when I called my wife's grandma to thank her for sending me a birthday card. Wow, what an incredible feeling and sense of clarity when I finally could communicate what I do every day to an 82-year-old!
If your want to grow your business, define your business. (Tweet That!)
If your want to grow your business, define your business. Put it in a box so you can study it. Once other people can understand your business and the results you can help them get, then you can think outside the box and get creative. If your business is so far out in left field that no one but you can figure it out, no one but you can get comfortable enough to do business with you.
You have to understand the game before you can play the game.
Over to you! How do you describe what it is that YOU do?
So true! Amen Ellory!