Vulnerability moves people to action
Vulnerability gets you on people’s radars...
It also moves them into action.
When you share vulnerable and challenging moments that you’ve overcome in your life, you are establishing relationships immediately after you hit the “publish” button.
Vulnerability is empowering - I cannot stress this enough, which is why I talk about it often in my articles.
I also can’t stress enough how openly sharing these types of stories inspire people to gravitate towards you and connect on a deeper level beyond a like, comment or share on social.
Here’s a recent example:
I was on Instagram the other day and saw that someone I didn’t know followed me. Great - so, I send out my customary, “thanks for the connection…” and forgot about it.
Usually, I hear back from about 1 out of every 10 that I engage, which sucks, but, it’s not going to stop me from being social on social - see what I did there? :)
Anyways, fast-forward a couple hours and I got this response from her:
“After reading some of your posts we have a very similar story. Thank you for being so vulnerable and raw and real and sharing. You probably have no idea how many men you’ve helped.”
Wow, that was really nice of her to say and I was not expecting that in the least. Once we got in contact, she mentioned that the posts about my struggles with weight, working at a job that wasn’t fulfilling, and the massive struggles associated with starting my business were the stories to which she was referring.
For about 2 weeks, we kept in contact by engaging each other’s posts on Instagram, offering added insight into each other’s work, and not just throwing up a couple likes here and there.
After several rounds of this back and forth, she set up a consultation call with me. Again, the first thing she mentioned on the phone was how compelling these stories of vulnerability were for her and that was the spark that got her to dive deeper into my work, and saw the value of the services I provide, and that she needs some help with her image content.
The next thing I know, she booked a branded lifestyle portrait session.
No funnels. No tactics. No bullshit.
Just honest, open and revealing conversation put out into the world that sparked a flame.
If I were to say that this is the first time this has happened, I’d be lying.
Several clients have booked me after they came across one of my vulnerability-themed posts - these are the “gateway drug” to the rest of my content, :)
After they stuck around to read and engage my expertise-laden and business-driven content, that comprehensive combination ultimately convinced them that I am the ONLY photographer that they need for their business.
Long story short, leverage the struggles in your life in business in a way that gets eyeballs on your content, then, feed them your expertise, and then close with the promise of making their lives better, just as you have done with yourself.
One important point to leave you with - whatever you post online, make sure you are comfortable sharing it first, especially if it’s about an especially difficult time in your life.
For a long time, I was not comfortable talking about my weight or how unhappy and resentful I was as a human being - obviously, I’ve gotten over it with the amount that I reference it in my work. There still are aspects of my life that I will not talk about, so, make sure that you set up healthy boundaries and only leverage the areas of your life that you feel comfortable doing so.
But, if you’re going to share - don’t half ass it, go all the way, and you will reap the rewards for going there by nurturing a group of people who couldn’t thank you enough for sharing your insights.
How comfortable are you sharing vulnerable aspects of your background? Do you go there in your social posts and blog articles? If so, what do you talk about? If not, why not?
PS - For those of you who aren’t in the know, I mail out these blogs 3x a week, and lemme tell you, they’re a real party, so, if you’d like to get in on this,sign up for it here and I’ll throw in a free gift for you, because I care, :)