I’m going to keep this simple, because there are a million different answers to this question, but the best one I’ve found so far is this: You have to show up. You cannot hide, you have to be visible. A while back, I made a post on Instagram that said, “You'll blow up the timeline for your birthday. But are you blowing up the timeline for your business?”.

This is something I’d recommend you be self reflective about, like really think about how often you promote your business and be honest with yourself. When you’re marketing and promoting yourself and your business, you’re doing so to increase your visibility and you can’t measure your success or improvement if you don’t know your starting point! 

Now I know the idea of being visible might feel uncomfortable. Don’t worry, you are not alone! I’ve heard from a lot of fellow edupreneurs about this mindset where we believe that we shouldn't be talking about our business because it might rub people the wrong way. And first off, how do you expect to make money, if you don't talk about your business? People cannot leverage your business if they don't know that it exists! So you need to be talking about your business. 

Secondly, you want to be talking about your business so frequently, that some people do tap out and unsubscribe. That's cool, because guess what? Their leaving is creating more space for the people who need to tap in. 

So I wanted to put that out there because I think sometimes we play these false narratives out in our head saying that “I don’t want to be that person that overwhelms people, or just won’t stop talking about their business. I really don’t want people to think I’m too salesy.” And in my opinion, that is one of the ways internalized oppression shows up. 

Let me tell you that the people who need imposter syndrome don't have it. They have no qualms around talking and promoting themselves or talking about their business, because they are unaware of their privilege, and therefore, their life experiences have told them that nothing is off limits. For those of us who are from marginalized communities and have consistently received messages, whether directly or indirectly, that we aren't meant to take up space, that we're being extra, or that we are what’s deemed ‘unprofessional’, it can feel uncomfortable to challenge that notion. But those societal ideas that marginalized communities are meant to play small are built on racism and patriarchy. So pushing past those internalized ideas is a piece of the mindset work that we all have to do. And it’s critical that you do that mindset work in order to to step out to the  forefront and take up space. 

Now, I know it can sound easy to say that all you need to do is be visible, so I want to share my favorite way to be visible. Some of y’all might not like it, or may have never done it, but going live on social media is a great way to boost your visibility. 

If you’ve never gone live, I want you to set a goal to try it within the next 14 days. I want you to determine when over the next 14 days, you're going to go live, and look, it's your prerogative if you want to go live at 2am when no one you know is even awake. Ain’t nothing wrong with that because I guarantee you, you are going to experience a level of growth no matter what. You know why? Because the first step is the hardest step. Like so many other activities, going live and finding comfort in going live (and taking up space in your business and for your business) is a muscle, and there’s no better time to start building muscle than now!

And let me tell you, when I first went live I was petrified. I actually did my first live with a friend, and while I’m so grateful for her support, I was still shaking in my boots! But thanks to her, I took the first step into increasing my visibility by going live and now I go live almost every week! 

So I really encourage you to take up that challenge of going live in the next 14 days because it’s a great way to kickstart a commitment to honoring you and your business by taking up space. A way to reframe this is, that by taking up space for you and your business, you’re performing a revolutionary act in a world that tells you you're supposed to play small and not take up space and so by that standard, going live is an act of resistance, right? 

So, showing up is the #1 thing you can do to promote your business, but I wanna share the #2 thing you can do, and that’s providing value. When I say provide value, I mean that you know your audience and potential client intimately and you’re sharing information that is valuable to them. It could be a solution to their problem that involves your business or services, a solution that doesn’t involve your services, or a combination of the two, but you need to be sure you’re sharing things with your audience that can be valuable to them and eases their pain point around the problem you are solving.

For example, if you gonna teach, you gotta teach a good lesson, okay? Like, don't come in here with a lesson plan you threw together the night before, don't come in here ready to talk for 60 minutes, add some value to the lesson! An example of value you can provide as a business is that you could be articulating more around actually defining the problem your business is solving and your audience is experiencing, because some people know that they have an issue, but they can't put it into words. So giving value could actually be helping your audience gain clarity on what the problem is. 

Here’s an example of how I provide this value for my clients in Get LaunchED Consulting™️:

Oftentimes people will say, I need to figure out how to get more clients. And the way that I can provide value is by letting them know that the problem is not that you need more clients. It's that you don't have a clear funnel or pipeline of clients that are ready to work with you. So in reality, what my client needs is a system of how to build a funnel in their business. 

So, those are two biggest ways I think you can use to promote yourself and your business. Show up, refuse to play small, and provide value! I do hope you try the 14 day live challenge, but if Lives just aren’t your thing, there are plenty of other ways to boost your visibility like:

• Webinars

• Attending & Presenting at Conferences

• Sending an email newsletter

As long as you remember to show up, refuse to play small, and provide value you’ll be golden! 

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