The best way to create a connection with someone when you’re talking about your business is to talk about yourself. But a lot of people struggle to talk about themselves in their marketing.

Do you struggle to talk about yourself when you’re talking about your business?

Perhaps you talk about your business online and with any prospects you meet, but you tend to not include yourself in the conversation – like who you are, why you created the business, why it matters to you.

This isn’t an uncommon thing, especially if you are quiet, reserved, introverted - or all 3! - and so bringing yourself into the conversation feels really uncomfortable.

Or maybe you don’t see why you would talk about yourself. You’re talking about business. Why would you include anything about you?

Here’s why: You are the face of your business. People buy from people (you!), not businesses.

When you let prospects get to know you, you build a connection with them. You help them get to know who you are and, in turn, they understand more about your business on a deeper level. This helps them build trust and a sense of connection with you and your business.

How are you going to do this?

This isn’t about telling them everything and anything about you. No “10 things you didn’t know about me” lists are necessary and, in my opinion, are totally TMI.

Rather, just tell them a little bit about yourself within the context of your business. It’s through tiny little nuggets that they learn WHO they’re buying from. That is where trust lies.

For example: I could talk with you about one of my clients who has an alpaca farm. Or I could tell you that my twin sister has an alpaca farm and I’ve been helping her with her marketing.

It’s little, tiny nuggets like my relationship with this particular client that adds depth to our conversation.

The question at this juncture is: What do you put out there, and what do you keep for yourself?

Especially if you’re a private person, this is an important question! Yes, we all have boundaries and we should respect them. We have them for good reason.

At the same time, you also need to connect with your audience as a person - a human being. Doing so will nurture their relationship with you and build trust; This is part of your role as the face of your business.

So, how do you decide what to share?

We can put information about ourselves into three buckets or realms: Private, Personal, and Public.

Public is anything that people learn about you easily. It’s common knowledge, easily gathered through observation, or in the information you commonly share. For instance:

• My accent indicates that I live in the U.S.
• If you ever see one of my videos, you’ll see that I have a cat because she usually stops in to say hi

Personal is what your friends would know about you. These are things you choose to share that aren’t easily gathered if you don’t put them out there. For example:

• As I mentioned, I’m a twin!
• I’m an athlete. I like to swim and bike, and have done some triathlons

Private is what you hold for yourself. I want to be clear: What you keep here in this bucket is completely up to you! It varies from person to person and there’s no right or wrong. Some people don’t talk about their family or their partners, and others bring that info into the personal realm. That choice is up to you.

That means that there’s information that’s “on the line.”

For example… I got sick a few years ago. I learned that I have an autoimmune disease and since then, I’ve been trying to find my way back to the athletic activities that I used to enjoy.

I kept the information about my illness in the private realm for a long time, though if you were to watch my videos from that time you could see that something was wrong. But until I understood what was going on, it was really hard for me to talk about. Back then, it was totally in the private realm; over the last year or so, it’s moved into the personal realm and I occasionally mention it in passing.

In cases like that, it depends on a few things.

It depends on who you’re talking to. There are things I talk about in my membership that I don’t talk about in my marketing content.

It depends on what you’re talking about. I draw examples from my personal life, the world around us, and metaphors to help clarify a point I’m trying to make. Even the choices I make in these situations provide a deeper understanding of me and, therefore, my business.

Does this still feel really uncomfortable? If so, here’s another version of this strategy you might want to check out: How to Talk About Yourself Without Talking About Yourself.