I would guess that most of us spend way too much time wondering about, thinking about, what other people think of us. I know that I do. Especially if I am doing something a little out of the ordinary.
Like naming my business WeirdTrep. Because that is just weird. (Which is the point but that is another blog post)
Now I am assuming, and I assume that you are assuming, that what other people think of you is negative. They might be thingking “That’s a dumb name. Why point out that you are weird? That is not professional! Your writing sucks!“
But what if the thoughts are positive thoughts. “What a cool name. You sound like fun. I want to work with you.” What if these mysterious “other people” wish they could be like you. What if they wish they weren’t so afraid of what other people think?
How would that make you feel? Would you do anything different? Would you be bolder in sharing your ideas? Would you be OK with standing out?
I don’t know about you, but I do know that my ESP has not been working very well lately. So no matter how hard I try, unless I ask them, I don’t know what other people think.
So I decided that going forward, I will assume that people are thinking good things about me. And my business. And my writing. Unless they tell me differently and then I will tell them what I think of them.
But seriously, if you spend too much time worried about what other people think, you won’t be willing to take that bold step that will move you to the next level. You won’t be willing to write from your heart, to be authentic in business. It may even keep you from success.
A long, long time ago, when only birds would tweet, (follow me on twitter @weirdtrep ) and most businesses thought websites were a waste of time, I was just starting my accounting and tax business. I thought it would be a good idea to run a few radio ads around tax time to see if I could get some new clients. I was told that would be a very bad idea. I was running a “serious” business and I should only grow my business through word of mouth and maybe a tasteful yellow pages ad. Accountants were serious professionals, and they didn’t advertise on radio, especially not with humorous ads
Well, I went ahead and did it anyway, and my business boomed! Because nobody in my industry advertised on radio, I stood out, and people noticed. Because my ads were fun people knew I would be fun to work with, even if we were doing taxes. (I’ve been told that people would rather go to the dentist than do their taxes!)
You think that it would make it easy going forward to be a little different. But no, when it came time to do my first business website, I looked at what other tax professionals were doing and tried to make my website exactly like theirs. That didn’t work! When someone came to my site I looked just like everyone else! There was nothing to make them choose me over the hundreds of other choices that they had. And with nothing else to make me stand out, people would choose to go with the accountant who was cheaper, or whose office was closer. They didn’t know what made my business unique!
Sometimes it is important to care about what other people think. We can’t always be creative and do things our own way. For example, I cannot just decide that I want red to mean go and green to mean stop when I come to traffic lights. .People would not think very kindly of me while I sit waiting for the green to turn red, and even more so when I navigate through the intersection on a red light with my own set of rules.
And sometimes we need to care about what other people think in order to be kind, Or because they have wisdom that we can learn from, or because at that moment in time, we want to put aside our own interests and do what is best for someone else.
I recently joined the local Chamber Of Commerce and the time came to introduce my business, WeirdTrep, Business Support for Creative Entrepreneurs. I had a moment of hesitation, What Would Other People Think??? Maybe I should change the business name, something more conventional, something more boring, something more of what other people expect?
Of course, it was too late to change the name of my business, and there were comments on the name, but at the end of the day, people remembered my business because of its weird name. For some people, that meant they were not going to be doing business with me, and that is fine. But for others, WeirdTrep caught their attention, and they made it a point to come talk with me and learn more about the business.
So what I would like you to take away from this post, is that it is OK to be your authentic self. And if you do that, you might just be a little weird. And it is OK to choose just how much of your authentic self you want to share, and it is OK to be conventional when that is more comfortable. Just be you, the way you want to be at that moment in time.
And when you are your authentic self, you will naturally attract people who like your authentic self. You will start to build your tribe of people who want to work they way you want to work, and you may just find, that working turns out to be the same as hanging out with friends, but more productive!
Hey there! Would you like a FREE mini coaching session on bringing out your Weird? Click the link, fill out the form, and I will send an email to set up a time.
Click Here For Your Free Mini Coaching Session
Stay Weird My Friend,
Kathleen