Secret #14 in the book was a tough one for me. I have always been a private person. I'm an introvert by nature, and it can be very hard for me to share personal details about myself. It takes me a long time to warm up and trust people, and even with people I am closest too, I sometimes still struggle with it. I guess you could say it's one of my [few :-)] character flaws.
This never caused any big problems in my life…until I started my business. As a new business owner, I was adamant about keeping my business and personal lives separate, across the board, no exceptions. I had it in my mind that if clients got a whiff of something personal, they would exploit it and use it against me in some way.
Actually, that did happen to me, and I'll fill you in on another post (I know, I know, more suspense). But even with that bad experience, I have learned that there is tremendous value in being personal in a virtual business setting. You have to be true to yourself, you have to be sincere and show an interest in your clients' lives, and you have to show your human side if you want to be in relationships with your clients that will grow and develop.
Over the past few weeks as I've started to explore social media, I have "met" a number of people on sites like Twitter and Facebook. It really opened my eyes even more to the power of being genuine, honest and always being yourself. It was a huge hurdle for me to start to post personal updates, but I quickly realized that really there is no point to social media if you're not going to be "social." And that means letting it get personal. Not only is it freeing, but it really opens up a multitude of opportunities that may not otherwise be there.
The lesson is that most people just like to know that the person they are working with or talking to virtually is a real person with a real life making real mistakes. By allowing myself to open up and share some details of my life outside of work, I have found my client relationships to be much richer and more fulfilling, and my network of friends and colleagues growing on a daily basis. It really is amazing what can happen when you let people get a peek at the real you.
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