Friday, I attended the 5th Annual Pink Magazine empowering women event. Held at the Intercontinental Hotel, it attracted business women from all over Atlanta interested in business building and professional development. Segments on Leadership, Marketing, Balance and Finance followed the kick-off keynote delivered by author, Gail Evans. What I appreciated most about Gail’s comments was her reminder that we – as women – have not come as far as we might think. One key place still holding women back, according to Evans, is the lack of teamwork. Too often, women are still trying to go it alone. It is an important point for women to think about.

Later in the day, I headed to Emory Goizueta Business School to talk with a roomful of budding entrepreneurs about social media for smart sales™. As the way people buy business products and services continues to evolve, the sales process must adapt to this new buying behavior, which is largely internet based.

It was interesting that between the two events a common theme for the day emerged. Authenticity was the first theme to emerge early in the morning. The second was that successful people make mistakes, fall down, pick themselves back up, learn from the experience and move on.

Authenticity and transparency are becoming vital skills when doing business in our digital economy. The success of the buyer/supplier relationship is based on mutual trust. Representing yourself and your business in open, honest ways are critical to your success. Buyers are a bit fed up with the hollow promises of vendors more concerned about their personal goals and not the goals of their prospective buyers. “Over deliver” should be the customer loyalty theme shouted from the corporate mountaintops. Do the unexpected and separate yourself from others in your field.

It was an inspiring day really. All day I was surrounded by people who understand that success comes from making a commitment to our professional development. That means investing time and money. It also means taking risks, making mistakes and learning from them, so we can achieve even more. In email I received from Seth Godin, he had this to say…

As an organization grows and succeeds, it sows the seeds of its own demise by getting boring. With more to lose and more people to lose it, meetings and policies become more about avoiding risk than providing joy.

Embrace risk, embrace change, create incredible customer experiences and ignore anyone who tries to take you off course. Always remember that success is never earned while merely sitting on the sidelines!

As I started dipping my toe into the social media waters, I found myself intrigued by what I observed happening. The first few years I watched people blogging, I thought “what’s the point?” Why would anyone care about my personal life, and why would I want to post it out in cyberspace anyway?

Blogging for Business

Fast forward a few years, and I began to notice how people were using it for business. Sharing their thoughts, ideas and comments about…well…about anything you can imagine. So, I tried it myself. Honestly, it didn’t last long! Deciding I wasn’t good at it, I gave it up.

It nagged at me though. Using a blog for business was still a great idea, and I knew it. But I was uncomfortable with it. At the time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me about the whole thing. But after watching and observing others in the blogisphere, I landed on my answer.

Be Real

In the beginning, I tried to sanitize everything. Authenticity was lacking. My voice wasn’t coming through, because I kept worrying what other people would think.What if they didn’t like me? Would I be turning off potential clients by my comments? What if my writing sucked? How could I present my message without sounding like I was trying to “sell”? And then it finally dawned on me that the way to succeed with blogging is to just be who I am. Barb, plain and simple.

Build Relationships

I’m a people person, in that I really like people! Might seem funny to say, but there are people out there not too thrilled with having to interact with the rest of the human race. Not me.

People fascinate me. I love learning about them. What makes them tick? How did they come up with that amazing business idea? Where did they come from and how did they get to where they are now? I genuinely want to know. That’s probably why I’ve always loved sales, because being a great sales person is nothing more than building relationships with people. And the best way that I know to do that, is to sincerely care about who they are. Then, do your darnedest to help them solve whatever problem it is that they have. That’s it.

More than 25 years of consultative selling confirms for me that diversity is an awesome thing. So now when I blog, I try to keep in mind that I simply want to be who I am. Barb. Sharing ideas, making connections for others, forwarding on useful business information, expressing myself AND not worrying about being perfect. That’s the business blogger I strive to be today.

What’s Your Story?

What about you? Like me, are you worried about how you’ll be perceived? Come on…what’s your story? What holds you back from either kicking off your own blog or participating in the blogs that others are writing?

Tell me. I really want to know!

BTW – that’s me with one of my darling dogs, Murphy. He was helping me write this post:)