12/08/2011

By Alexia Leachman, Personal Branding Coach at Blossoming Brands

When was the last time that you found out what people thought of you? Do you care?

Worrying what people think of us is something that distracts even the best of us. It can be so distracting that it even gets in the way of us just getting on with the important task of just being awesome.

So why would you want to find out? Finding out what people think of you is a brave task to undertake. After all, you might find out that people don’t like you. Or worse, that you have habits and behaviours that annoy others. Newsflash! Not everyone likes us and we ALL have habits that annoy others! The trick is to understand what they are and whether they are worth worrying about.

But, hang on a minute. Why does this stop us from finding out? It wasn’t that long ago that we would get school reports telling us just this kind of thing. And we coped OK with it back then. Now, well, now we’re grown up and better able to take care of ourselves, right? So what’s stopping you?

Let’s look at it from another angle. When you find out WHAT they don’t like about you or WHAT habits you have that annoy others, you’ve got an opportunity; an opportunity to fix it. Consider if this was your business. Would you continue with your head in the sand and NOT find out what your customers or prospects thought? Of course not! Every good business undertakes a constant review process and everything that it learnt is addressed so that the business can be improved so that more customers can be delighted.

So, why wouldn’t you do this for yourself? Finding out means that you discover if anything needs fixing, as well as getting some great insights into your reputation. But more importantly, you also get to find out how great you are. Believe it or not, you are! And once you ask people, they will only be too happy to let you know why. And this in itself is priceless. Who can resist a confidence boost to get your mojo going?

Alexia Leachman is a Personal Brand Coach and Head Trash Liberator at Blossoming Brands. She helps entrepreneurs find their mojo by helping them to tell their story, raise their profile, build their digital presence and manage their reputation. You can find out more at www.blossomingbrands.com and www.headtrash.co.uk. And you can follow her on Twitter at @AlexiaL and @BBrands

Join us on
Follow @freshbusiness