Dear ,

Another week, another lesson from the f-word.

This week?

One of the biggest mistakes I made in business number #1 was misunderstanding 'presence' and 'connection'.

At the start of exSTEMsions, I worked REALLY hard to help the business become visible.

Looking back on it, 5 years later, I can't decide if I should laugh at how HARD I worked to do things that were truly not ever going to help, or cry at the sheer futility and energy spent.

Here's my backward-facing version of what I believed then:

Posting = presence

Connection = follows

I imagine you reading this now and shaking your head, thinking 'oh, Sara... no'.

Today me sees it too, but 5 years ago me was ALL about the posting and the follows, because I was 1000% certain that THIS was what we needed to grow the business and make a bazillion dollars asap.

I spent an ungodly amount of time creating content, writing blogs, changing posts so they fit on all the platforms, playing with graphics and colors, watching how other people did it, poking and prodding.

And to a degree, it worked.

We WERE present.

We DID get followers...

...and what we did NOT get was customers.

I got RAVE reviews of my blogs and posts. People LOVED to message me and tell me what a good job I was doing.

And no. one. bought. anything.

So, what really went wrong here?

Well. A few things.

First, I forgot - really, I think it just didn't occur to me more than I forgot - that PEOPLE buy from businesses.

And PEOPLE are not posts and follows.

I did stuff.

I didn't human.

And the thing about it is that it FELT super productive. I made a LOT of AMAZING stuff. I felt fabulous...but also awful because I was doing a lot of work and NO money was coming.

The proportion of stuff to people was WAY out of whack (I just didn't know that yet...).

Second, I had a BIG misconception about how businesses grow.

I thought MORE stuff would BRING the people to me.

So I focused on making alllllll the stuff.

But that's not what brings people to a business.

PEOPLE bring business to a business.

Once again, I was doing the stuff...but not thinking about the people part.

Third, looking back now I know this, but then I did - I was afraid of no, and of rejection.

Creating stuff was a way of sharing what I was doing 'safely', and if people didn't want to engage, they didn't... I didn't have to actually hear them say no, or that they didn't understand what we were doing.

By focusing on the stuff, I didn't have to get publicly rejected.

By focusing on the stuff, my business wasn't, couldn't be, failing - it was just that I hadn't created the right stuff yet, but that was coming right?

Wrong.

Did I sometimes go out and network and meet people? Yes.

Did I do that anywhere remotely approaching enough, with people who got me, in a way that was actually ABOUT connecting? Nope.

Every time I 'networked' in a group that didn't fit me, in a way that didn't work for me, (which is mostly what I did) and people (business men) thought my idea was 'interesting' and also clearly didn't understand it, my confidence fell by 50%.

[And you can only cut something in half so many times before there isn't much left...]

It's not that I didn't try. It's that every time I did try, and my confidence took a hit, I would retreat to the safety of my stuff for longer and longer periods of time (which most DEFINITELY did not help).

SO....

What does this all mean for you?

Well.

If you only walk away from this note with one idea, I hope it's this:

Presence and connection require HUMANS.

To grow a business you need PEOPLE.

And the stuff, honestly, is TOTALLY irrelevant.

If you NEVER create a single post, and you just focus on connecting with other humans, and sharing what you do, you'll make (way) more money than if you focus on creating over people.

The people ARE the business.

You don't need more stuff.

You need more humans.

And no, you don't have to be perfect with your pitch. Yes, people will get confused sometimes and sometimes you'll be unclear. Yes, sometimes you'll feel like an awkward ass.

It's true that if you focus only on creating stuff you likely won't feel the same level of awkward ass-ness.

But you also won't have the success you want.

Look around in your business.

Ask:

• What percentage of the time are you thinking about stuff - posts, blogs, graphics, platforms, freebies, webpages, biz cards, whatever - and what percentage of the time are you thinking about HUMANS?

• What can you do TODAY to decrease the percentage of your time and energy going to stuff, and increase the time and energy going to people?

Because this ONE shift - less stuff, more people - changes nearly everything for the better in a business.

And yeah, it's a scary one. Because there is a 100% guarantee you will be rejected at some point.

But I'd take quick, loud, occasional rejection over quiet, slow, endless failure any day.

What about you?

Here's to PEOPLE over stuff.

Warmly,

Sara

PS. If you are ready for more of the quick, loud, occasional rejections that come with people-first business growth, and ready to do less stuff-creation, but are scared, it's okay.

Part of coaching is helping you do the actual things - getting out in the world WITH the people more often and to better effect - and part of coaching is helping you build the confidence that doing this requires.

You don't have to do this alone.

I'm ready to help, and I know that having help from me will TRULY make a difference.

Book your free 1:1 coaching consult here.