When in business for yourself, whether that be ETSY shop owner, a Brick and mortar store or a direct seller, you must remember that you represent your company, your product, your brand 24/7 365 days per year. Yes, you may go on vacation but even then you are representing your brand.
This reminds me of growing up and I never wanted to do anything that disappointed my family, I represented my family when I left the house, I wanted to be on my best behavior. The same feeling I have now as I represent my company, my products, my brand, my business.
This does not only apply to physically but also virtually.
How does one represent their company physically? Well if you are in Makeup, clothing, jewelry, accessories business you will want to wear your product or use your product everyday. Anytime you leave your house you will want to be at your best, not leaving the house in PJs (sorry those days are gone, I never understood wearing pajamas out of your home, pajamas are for bed, that is just me.)
Making sure your makeup is on and looking nice, not overdone like you are going to a cocktail event, making sure your outfit is looking nice not wrinkly not too baggy not too tight, looking professional(when I say professional I am not saying to wear a blazer and dress pants everyday or dresses everyday or suits everyday, you can look professional in jeans and a tee shirt).
Making sure that you are utilizing your products in such a way they are being highlighted in your wardrobe, you want the attention to be placed on them so that conversations can take place around your products!
How can you represent virtually?
This is going to get a little touchy, I do not mean any disrespect but this is the truth. We have to watch how we act, how we react, how we respond and what we post on social media.
When was the last time you looked at your news feed? I mean really looked at it? I do at least once per month but sometimes more often.
Scroll back through your news feed, what are you posting? The content of your posts is what you care most about. You should see some business posts, some personal posts, some fun posts, some serious posts. When scrolling through your news feed you should not see all political posts, all current event posts, all re-posts(when you re post something someone already posted somewhere else, like on twitter, youtube, facebook or instagram).
Authentic
What did you feel when you just read that word? (Authentic)
When posting on social media you need to be authentic, be yourself, be positive.
I know that life is not all rainbows and unicorns and we should not portray a lie but we should also never be all doom and gloom all the time, we should view our news feed as a special place that our followers can escape our chaotic reality.
If you are a Christian by all means post Christian posts, Bible verses, motivational quotes, your favorite hymms or songs, 100% of your news feed should not be this though.
We like to use the 80/20 rule- 80% is personal and 20% is business
I like to split the 80% personal and 40% of my news feed is faith based, 40% may be my food, my outfit, quotes, memories shared, what is happening in my life… while 20% is business related: products, sales, tips, opportunities…
Sometimes my news feed is not balanced exactly that way, this is why routine review is crucial.
We have all un-followed that annoying person, you know you have. That person who only posts doom and gloom those eeyores of your life, on the contrary we all have those who are so happy all the time it feels fake, those tigers of your life. I say we all need to strive to be Pooh bear, he was positive but was realistic too , of course you may have a sad day share it if you feel, we all have something that we feel strongly about that is controversial; Politics, religion, abortion, Black lives matter, violence, pandemic, trafficking, immigrants…. (the list could go on and on) Post what you feel strongly about just don’t let that be the only thing that shows up on your news feed.
Remember that you are the face of your business and what do you wish to portray, if you want positivity if you want happy if you want beauty then don’t focus all of your attention on the negative things in life.
Major businesses like Macys, Walmart Target… pay lots of money to look good their advertisers and marketers work a full time job to keep the face of their company spotless and attractive to consumers like you and me.
We that are in business for ourselves don’t have advertisers and marketers we are the face of our business and we need to keep our business spotless and attractive to consumers.
XoXo
Danielle