As I was thinking about my intentions for 2021, I knew that I wanted to focus on my own visibility this year, that I wanted to grow this podcast and to grow the Coach with Clarity Membership and my certification program, and really get it out in front of even more people. And naturally, as I started thinking about that, my mind started generating all sorts of fears. I was bombarding myself with messages of, “if you put yourself out there, people are gonna judge you”, “if you create new Instagram posts around what you believe about coaching and how you work with your clients, you can expect people to troll you and to fill your feed with all sorts of judgments and criticisms, so why don't you just go ahead and back off from that?”, you know, “just go ahead, you don't want to rock the boat, you don't want to have to deal with angry people, so just keep yourself quiet”. Literally, these were the messages that I found myself facing as I thought about building my visibility plan for 2021. And so that old message is very much around the fear of being judged, and that people might judge me or say harsh things about me. And so I can look at that message, and I can understand where it's coming from and why it's happening. I can even thank my mind for trying to protect me, and I can recognize that a fear of being judged by others is going to limit me at a time where I am looking to grow. And so my task then becomes to replace that old message of, “people might judge me”, with a new message and that for me, that message is, that my voice matters. And more importantly, my message can serve and help other people so that if I don't share it, if I quiet myself because of fear of judgment, then I am not serving the people I most want to connect with. And so that is how I'm rewriting my internal messages. And let me tell you, it is work. It is daily work, because those fears will creep up, and so you have to anchor yourself in what you believe and what matters most to you and create a new message around that. So understand that even though I'm creating a podcast episode all about this today. It's not because I'm an expert or that I've done it all and checked all the boxes. This is very much work that I, myself am still doing too. And so if I can share my experiences with you and some of the strategies that have helped me, if that supports you, then we all win. 

 

Now, another thing that comes up for me and I know comes up for many of you based on the conversations that we've had in my Instagram DMs and in Facebook groups, imposter syndrome is a real thing that many of us deal with. And that's why I'm so excited that in about three weeks, I will be sharing an interview I conducted with my friend and colleague, Melody Wilding, who is an expert in imposter syndrome. In fact, she has a book coming out in a few months called Trust Yourself, and she really tackles imposter syndrome head on in that book. So we will be discussing this in greater depth in just a few weeks. So definitely, if you're not already subscribed to the podcast, go ahead and hit subscribe now so that you can be sure that interview shows up in your feed in the next few weeks. But for today, I just want to remind you that yes, imposter syndrome is another mindset block that can show up and keep us from sharing our message, it can keep us from building our visibility. And I don't know about you, but something that I struggle with is the idea that someone might find out the truth about me. That I'm going to be found out or that I'll be thought of as a fraud. It's a huge barrier for a lot of talented and powerful coaches, myself included, this idea that if we put ourselves out there, that not only are we going to be judged, but on some level, people are going to find out that maybe we don't really know what we're doing, or we're all talk. And that's so hard because when we contrast that message with reality, the reality is we absolutely know what we're doing. We are legitimate, and we are out there serving other people. But yet imposter syndrome would have us doubt ourselves and doubt whether what we're doing is right, true, and just. I jokingly refer to my inner critic who pops up with all of the imposter syndrome messages as Fred the Fraud. Fred the Fraud is that message in my head, causing me to doubt myself, question myself. And some days It feels like he has a megaphone, because his voice is the only one that I hear. And so what I've done is reframed how I view his existence. And specifically, I've noticed that when Fred the Fraud pops up, and when he is at his loudest, it's typically right when I am about to take a big, bold step in my business, which makes sense, right? If the mind wants us to stay safe, it's not going to want us taking bold steps and it's going to use everything in its arsenal to keep us safe, and so Fred the Fraud is one of my mind's most powerful weapons. And so now whenever he comes up, I view it as a sign that I'm actually about to do something pretty big, and that I'm probably on the right track. I've also had to reframe how I view imposter syndrome and this idea that I'm going to be found out, that someone might think that I'm copying or plagiarizing or taking the work of other people. That's a big one for me. I don't know if anyone else out there struggles with that but I do worry, even in creating this podcast that as I'm sharing information and material, someone might accuse me of stealing it from someone else. That's just one of my internal fears that I'm going to share with you all. And the way that I am working on reframing that fear is to really step into the fact that one of my strengths is synthesis, that I am able to take different ideas and different information and bring it together and make connections between those ideas in a way that is unique to me, and that is part of my gift. So that yes, I can create my own ideas but I can also synthesize the ideas that are in the general public or that I've read and I can share them with my clients, and with my members, and with you as a podcast listener in a way that maybe will serve you in a different way than anyone has done it before. And that has value, my voice has value, and so does yours. So I'm sharing this with you so that if you have struggled with any sort of messages around imposter syndrome or feeling like a fraud or being scared to put yourself out there, there's a reason for it, and there are ways through it. So we're going to talk about this much much more with Melody in just a few weeks, so definitely tune in to that episode, but I do want to remind you that this type of mindset work is not a one and done task. As we grow, we are going to face new challenges. and new opportunities, where we can really put these mindset shifts to the test. So that when we reframe these messages, we're going to have the opportunity to apply them. So that's why I think it's important that we do this type of internal work and then we pair it with external strategies so that when we're talking about visibility, we need to look at both the internal work and the external work that we need to do. 

 

So we've talked about some of the internal work what with all the mindset blocks, and reframing some of the messages that our mind may give us. Now, I want to talk about some external strategies to help you build your visibility and grow your business. So the first thing I want to mention, when we are thinking about visibility, we're thinking about our audience, right? Who we're talking to, who we want to get in front of. And I want to remind you that you actually have two audiences, you have your ideal client, the person that you most want to serve, and you have people who can refer your ideal client to you. So really, regardless of what type of business you're running, who you most want to coach, when it comes down to it, we really do have two audiences, the client we want to serve, and the people who can help connect us with and refer us to that client. So that's why when we're talking about visibility strategies, we need to be really clear about which audience we are addressing, because the messaging and the positioning that you have may differ based on whether you're speaking directly to your ideal client, or whether you're speaking to people who might connect you with that client. So as an example, in my own business, with Coach with Clarity, my ideal client, it's a coach, it's a new coach, an aspiring coach, or a veteran coach. But I do my best work supporting coaches who want to build their businesses, grow their impact, and really serve their clients powerfully. So I'm very clear on who that ideal client is, and that's one of my audiences. But when I think about who can connect me with those coaches, that's my referral audience. And so that primarily consists of other people, other professionals who support coaches. So for example, I'm thinking about web designers, graphic designers, branding experts, copywriters, all of these professionals whose work supports coaches, so that if I can connect with them as an audience, then they may be able to refer me to coaches they work with who would benefit from mentorship, community training, all of the things offered within Coach with Clarity. So I'm very clear about the fact that I have two audiences, I have the coaches that I want to work with, and I have fellow colleagues and professionals who work with those coaches. I think I could even expand that second audience really to include just about anyone who knows or works with someone who's interested in coaching, but for 2021, I'm really going to focus on the professionals who support coaches, so whether it's copywriters, designers, and etc. So I encourage you to think about your two audiences as well, who is your ideal client? That's audience number one, and audience number two, who are the people who can connect you with that ideal client? Once you are clear on those two audiences, the next step is to consider which visibility strategy will work best for a given audience. We want to be really intentional about how we connect with each audience, and when we're thinking about strategy, we want to make sure the tactics and the choices we're making connect back to that specific audience. So for example, my ideal client – coaches – this podcast is one of the primary strategies I use to build my visibility, because every episode is designed with that coach, with you, in mind, and I'm always asking myself, how can I best serve that coach through the podcast? And how can I serve them so powerfully that they will be able to create change in their business and in their life, just by listening to this podcast, and then they'll want to connect with me and maybe go even deeper? So this podcast is my primary visibility strategy for connecting with my ideal client. Now, it's not my only strategy, I am also active on social media. If you're following me on Instagram over @CoachwithClarity, you know that I post regularly and I share stories and that is one way that I can connect with people. Another visibility strategy for me was to start a Facebook group, and back in August of 2018, I started the group From Therapy to Coaching over on Facebook, and that is targeted for mental health providers and healthcare providers who want to leverage their existing experience training and wisdom into a coaching career. And over the last two and a half years that group has grown to, I think we're at, about 4,000 people now. And that's also another way that I can connect with my ideal client, I can talk about the work that I do and position myself as an expert. So for me, I do have several visibility strategies aimed at my ideal client, but really, for 2021, the one that I am focusing on is this podcast. And as much as I love this podcast, and I stand behind it, I also recognize that it may not be the best strategy to connect with my second audience. Because I don't know if copywriters and website designers and branding experts are necessarily going to be interested in listening to a weekly podcast about coaching. I mean, maybe they are, hopefully, they are, but I also want to make sure that I am putting myself out there in a way that is going to connect more easily with them. So maybe that looks like guest appearances on podcasts that target graphic designers or copywriters. Maybe it looks like being active in more general entrepreneurship Facebook groups where I know they are. It may also look like some one on one work, so coffee chats, and zoom calls. And it's also looked like being a part of multidisciplinary masterminds or programs so that I am connecting with people from a wide variety of backgrounds, attorneys and accountants, and yes, copywriters, and web designers and all sorts of kind of service-driven, service-oriented professionals, because that's where that second audience is, they are investing in their own education and professional development. And so when I can go to where they are, and invest in my own education and development while connecting with them, then it's a win-win.