If you're an entrepreneur and you're still afraid of self-promotion, you NEED to get over it if you want to grow. It's SO MUCH harder to get noticed online if you're not putting yourself out there and selling yourself, your products, and your services.

Yes, I mean SELLING.

It's a skill – a very useful skill – and one that a lot of people aren't talking about.

I've heard a lot of reasons why people “hate” sales or don't feel like they can be good at it but I'm calling them out because most of these “reasons” are really just excuses. So if you've ever said or thought…

“I need to focus on getting followers / subscribers before I can sell anything….”

False. Do you interact with humans on a daily basis? Then you're good. The truth is – you don't need a HUGE audience, you need an engaged audience. One of my clients is a photographer who has booked clients through Instagram with less than 100 followers. I had ZERO people on my email list when I booked my first coaching client. You don't need a large audience to provide value and just because you have a large audience doesn't mean you'll make any money – ok?

I'm not saying numbers don't matter at all (they do). And it WILL probably be easier to get more clients/sell more products if you have more followers/subscribers – but everyone starts somewhere. And you don't have to wait until you have an audience of X number of people before you can start offering your services!

Selling feels sleazy / cheesy / uncomfortable

It doesn't have to. Seriously.

It's sleazy if you're trying to convince someone to buy something they don't need at all. It's cheesy if you sound like a robot or infomercial when you're doing it. It's uncomfortable if you're never done it before or you don't believe in yourself or whatever you are selling.

But you SHOULD believe in whatever you're selling and since that's the case, you can have genuine conversations with prospective clients that lead them to invest in a relationship with you <– that's selling.

I don't want to annoy people

THIS. We all know that person who is ALWAYS trying to get you to like their page / read their blog post / buy their thing – the one who you want to unfollow / unsubscribe / unfriend because OMG SO ANNOYING. The reason this person is so annoying is because they are constantly asking you to do things without providing something in return.

If you are providing real value, people won't be annoyed even if you're in their face every day. And to be honest, if you're worried about being annoying – you probably won't be.

I hate self-promotion

Been there, done that – it's a waste of time. If you are creating valuable content and offering services that ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE then why wouldn't you share that? People will not just come to your website because you have one. People will not read your blog posts just because you publish them. People will not hire you for your services just because you have a contact page. You HAVE to put yourself out there.

This doesn't mean you have to go around telling everyone, “look at me! hire me!” – but it does mean you need to BE VISIBLE. Regularly show up wherever your potential customers are and build relationships. Be helpful. People will notice.

I have a marketing strategy so I don't have to be good at sales

Also not true. Marketing does not equal sales. Marketing is the stuff you do to build awareness for your brand and reach potential clients. Sales is the process of converting those prospects into actual paying clients. So if you feel like you're getting lost in a saturated market and no one is noticing you, you probably need help with your marketing strategy. If you are getting traffic / followers / subscribers but no clients, you probably need help with your sales strategy. They are two completely different skills – and if you want to grow your business, they're BOTH essential.

The good news is, it doesn't have to be hard. If you're overwhelmed by marketing you probably just need to cut out the noise and focus on the the strategies that work for YOU. And if you're uncomfortable selling, you just need to reframe the process so it feels more like friendly conversation.

Once you understand what it is you want out of your business and set a goal for yourself, these items won’t be an issue. You will WANT to do the things you need to do to get you results.

Hope this was helpful to you!

With Love | Nikki xo