One of the biggest mistakes home business owners make is too proudly representing the company behind their income opportunity, when they should be proudly representing themselves.
I have a home business that I love and I deeply respect the company, but I am trying to build my business not theirs. If I help them along the way that is a wonderful bonus, because I am extremely fond of them.
In fact, the single greatest thing you can do for your company is succeed, and you’ll do that quicker and better by learning how to ”brand” yourself.
What do I mean by branding yourself? I mean that you want to do everything practical to get exposure for your name, not the name of the company you represent. I don’t mean that you should deny your company affiliation. I mean that you want your prospect’s first impression to be of YOU, not your company.
Why? First, if you were wise in selecting a company, they will already be very well-established and won’t really need any help in establishing their name. However, the primary reason to work on branding yourself is that it will make you a much more “attractive” person for someone to work with. In short, it will help you attract more people into your business because you look and talk as a professional.
How do you brand yourself? Here are three suggestions:
1) Don’t use the website address of your company’s replicated marketing website. Instead purchase your own name as a website. I recommend using either .com or .biz.
For example: I use www.KellyReese.biz to promote my favorite network marketing opportunity. And, to promote my favorite Affiliate program I use www.KellyReese1.biz.
Ask the company that you get your domain name from to setup what is called a re-direct that takes your prospects to your company’s replicated marketing website . Your prospects will end up on your company’s marketing site, but they will be impressed that you sent them to your own website address using your name.
2) When asked what you do or, when telling someone what you do, don’t say, ”I am an independent representative of XYZ Corporation”. Or, “I own a XYZ Corporation business”. Instead, say something like this, “I own an Internet Marketing business”. Or, “I own a web-based nutrition business”. Or, “I help people who want to start a home business”.
3) Expand your Internet footprint. I use this blog for that purpose. However, you can also expand your Internet footprint in a more simple, yet effective way. When you purchase www.”yourname”.com or .biz to re-direct to your company’s replicated marketing site go ahead and also purchase www.”yourname”.info . Use this domain name to actually setup a simple, but professional website that provides info about yourself.
If you don’t know how to do this, I highly recommend that you click on “Amazing Websites” in my “A” list. I love this award-wining website creation software for building my websites.
Your personal website doesn’t need a ton of traffic. It is about being able to tell your prospects to go to your website to learn more about who they will be working with. It is just one more way to brand yourself, grow your self-esteem and put forth a professional image.
Every effort you put forth to brand yourself will improve your self-esteem and your business image. Eventually, you will actually automatically attract new customers and new associates (if you are a network marketer) to your business.
So, it is time to “turn pro” – brand yourself, because your business image really is first and foremost ALL ABOUT YOU!
