Should You Share Your Ugly Past With Your Potential Clients?

By: Stephanie Tuesday May 15, 2018 comments Tags: Marketing, Copywriting, Lead attraction, Mindset, Inspiration, Public speaking, Client attraction, About me page, product launch, Content marketing, Webinar, Enrollment, Public relations, Social media, Website design, Video marketing

If you host webinars, give live presentations, have an "About Me" page on your site, or otherwise share your story with your audience, I have a question for you:

Do you share your raw, real story, warts and all? Or do you present a pretty, polished version for fear of making people uncomfortable or making yourself look bad?

A few years ago, I met a business owner who faced that conundrum. She'd been abused, had lived on the streets, and had struggled to support herself.

Since then, she'd become a six-figure business owner, and she wanted me to write a bio that would help her to convey the value she could offer to her clients.

In our initial interview, she game me a tame version of her story. The abuse was downplayed, and I mistakenly believed that she'd been raised with some understanding of how business worked.

But then, after she read the first draft I wrote based on that interview, the ugly truth came out. She told me how she'd been mistreated, and how she'd entered her adult life with little ability to support herself and no understanding of how to build a business.

She wasn't sure if she should give her audience that much information. What if it was too much?

What she didn't realize is that the ugly truth makes your story so much more beautiful.

Why do your potential clients need to see the darkness in your past?

Because many of them are struggling with some kind of darkness, too.

Maybe they don't have the exact same problems you had, but almost everyone has obstacles that hold them back from creating the life they want.

If you make it look like your past was idyllic, they'll probably think, "That person's methods worked for them because their circumstances helped them succeed. If they'd had the same problems I have, or had as few resources as I do, it never would've worked."

By telling them about the things you struggled with before you learned what you know now, you show them that those obstacles can be overcome, and that you don't have to have a perfect life before you can move toward your dreams.

Being honest and real also helps people to relate to you.

When you give them the raw truth about your past struggles, you stop looking like a perfect, unrelatable icon of unreachable success, and make it clear that you're an imperfect person like them, and that you triumphed despite your imperfections.

That will help them to connect with you emotionally, so they'll want to work with you instead of competitors who haven't given them that connection.

It will also give them hope that if you succeeded, they can too.

So don't paint a false, perfect picture of your past. Let them see where you started, so they can better see how far you've come.

Need help to write your bio, "About Me" page, or other marketing materials?

If you want to spend more time doing the work you love, excel at and get paid for, and take the marketing work you hate off your plate, I'd be happy to help you free up your time and turn more of your viewers into clients.

If you already know which marketing materials you need, click here to check out my copywriting services.

And if you aren't sure which materials you need, visit this page to get a free questionnaire that will help you figure out which items your sales funnel already has, and which ones you need to add so you can get people's attention and inspire them to work with you.

I hope to work with you soon!
 

About the Author: Stephanie

Stephanie is a writer and coaching program design specialist. She helps coaches to design lucrative and life-changing group programs, so they can help more people, make more money, and have more time freedom.