43 of 100 Stand for What You Believe

Someone told me the other day, "Don't mix your personal life and beliefs with your business."  I disagree.  I need to mix them.  I worked in corporate America for over 20 years.  I learned how to color inside the lines, play the game, position myself so my career moved along.  It's what I did to get ahead.

Well now I'm the boss.  Well really my clients are the boss, but I get to set some rules.  Here's how I see it.

I need to make money otherwise this business isn't going to work.  To do that I have to attract customers.  I have to offer a product and/or service that people will buy.  I have to do that over and over again and make a profit.

To attract customers, I need to get a message out.  I could focus only on the product and services I offer.  I could tell people about the benefits of doing business with me.  I could tell them why I am different from others in my space that offer similar services.

What I have to remember though is people do business with people.  They don't do business with an organization.  And they do business with people they know, like and trust.

Given this, I'm what's unique about my business.  It's the person I am.  What I have chosen to do is to put myself and my life out there.  I publish a ton of material about what it is that I do, my services, etc.  I do not hide by personal life and my beliefs from people before, during and after I do business with them.  What better way to differentiate myself from the competition than to share who I am with people.  There are other Internet marketing providers.  There is only one of me.

Do a search and you'll find out all about my my business and what I have to offer.  You'll find out:

• I've been married to my wife for 31 years.
• I have three beautiful daughters (Check out the pictures and judge for yourself.)
• I like wine and sharing it with my friends.
• I like to travel.
• I'm Catholic and am more than a Sunday worshiper.
• I've very involved in my church.
• My family and I run a foundation that reaches out to the poor during the holidays.

Visit any page of my site and you'll see a prayer from Mother Teresa of Calcutta's shown as my operation philosophy.  You'll see that I quote St. Ignatius in the signature of every email I send.

I'm not hiding my beliefs from anyone.

Interestingly enough, it has become my brand.  Not only does it feel right (because it is the authentic me), it serves my business well.  It comes up in conversations I have with prospects and customers.  It's part of the the rapport I have with new people I meet.  It's one of the things that connects me to others.  And if people don't like my beliefs and prefer to NOT to do business because of them, I'm OK with that.

Note to self:  Be you and make sure everyone knows you.