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The False Promise of Positive Thinking

Have you ever tried using positive affirmations, saying to yourself “I believe in my ability to start this business” or “I am doing work that I find fulfilling” Are they working for you?

You may be surprised to learn that positive affirmations may actually be reducing your self-confidence!

Research by Wood et al published in Psychological Science indicates that positive self-statements are widely believed to improve self-esteem.

However, according to the study abstract: “Two experiments showed that among participants with low self-esteem, those who repeated a positive self-statement (“I’m a lovable person”) or who focused on how that statement was true felt worse than those who did not repeat the statement or who focused on how it was both true and not true.”

People with high self-esteem benefited from positive affirmations yet “Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people, but backfire for the very people who “need” them the most.”

What does this research mean for you, a solo business owner?

If you are already lacking sufficient confidence to fully promote your business, just repeating that you are qualified to start this business or repeating affirmations like “I am good at what I do” could be sabotaging your efforts.

If positive affirmations don’t work, what does work?

Stories!

Your most effective self-esteem booster is to tell yourself your story.

Why? Because you are not just repeating something you hope (My business will succeed) but you are repeating a truth. You are reminding yourself of your skills, experience, and passion for what you do. You are reliving situations where you succeeded and how great this felt.

You are replacing an empty, but hopeful, affirmation with an authentic and self-empowering story.

Using your passion or purpose story, or perhaps a customer testimonial, as a confidence builder is one of the benefits of learning to write your stories.

This is a free, always available, and proven technique to use before you enter that chamber mixer, phone a prospective customer or wake up in the middle of the night convinced you will never be a success.

Be bold

This is a story for your own purposes. You don’t have to justify it to anyone else. Be authentic but do not hold back.

Your story is your power. Use it often.

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Back to Marketing for Reluctant Marketers

Welcome Reluctant Marketers

All too often, solo entrepreneurs and encorepreneurs come to me for marketing advice. The first thing they blurt out is “I hate marketing” or “I can’t market” or “I am great at what I do but I have trouble talking about it.” Of course, they are looking for a simple magic answer that will bring a flood of traffic to their web site or store without any work on their part. They want to go back to doing the work and not think about marketing. If this sounds like you, then you are a Reluctant Marketer. But there is help.
Read on!

How Positive Thinking May Sabotge Your Marketing

Have doubts about your ability to promote your business? Have you been reading blog posts and newsletters looking for the magic bullet? Maybe you tire the often-suggested Positive Affirmations and positive Thinking. Not so fast. How is it working for you? Not so much?
Here's Why

Your Customers are Begging for Stories

Start by writing your passion story. You don’t need to be a great writer, basic English skills will be all you need. But you do need to be clear about why you are creating this business. Who needs what you offer and how can you help them? You write this story not from what you are selling, but from the gift: the gift of the solution to their problem.
Read on!

It’s-Not-Rocket -Science Marketing Plan

Too many people jump right in with the tactics (like Facebook or giving free workshops) with a clear strategy. Why not? Because traditional marketing plans are onerous and off-putting for a start up business. There is another way. Try this action-oriented plan anyone can create.
Try It

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