Written by: Christine Hansen, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I have had a lot of different coaches, taken a lot of different courses and the way I’ve approached branding has changed a lot over the years. In the beginning, my first coach (and many after that) gave me the exercise to create a client avatar. That is basically creating a profile of your ideal client. You create a sketch of who you think your perfect client is: male, female? What is their age? How much do they earn? What kind of things do they buy? Based on these kinds of questions, you then create a language that you think will appeal to this ideal client. Now, what I’ve learned is that it's none of our business to assume anything. People are just so different even if they have things in common.
My favourite example for this is the niche “mothers”. Literally, the only thing we have in common is that we became pregnant, and we gave birth (most of the time, I am adopted myself yet my mother is clearly still a mother). But in general, that’s it. Everything else is individual: the way we love our children, raise them, our own relationship with motherhood. It doesn’t mean every mother is overwhelmed or super busy or carries tonnes of mom guilt or whatever you think you know.
Don’t assume anything about your clients.
So again: it’s none of our business to assume anything. Instead, I’ve developed a technique to turn the whole thing around.
Be a lighthouse.
My belief is that everyone of us who wants to serve people is like a lighthouse. The ocean is full of little boats with people that are ready to be rescued in the area you can serve them or who feel an inkling that there is something for them out there. They see these different lighthouses (sometimes very similar and yet always unique, because, you know, there is only one of you) and they will connect with one of them. The one they relate to the most. Hence there is no need for a sense of competition because we are all different even if we serve with the same thing.
And then it’s up to them whether they take action and row to the lighthouse or not. But the lighthouse never moves. It doesn’t suddenly hop towards the beach to rescue those boats. Aka you, you shouldn’t bend and twist to make people want to work with you either.
That is how I see our businesses: it’s never up to us to bend and compromise, to run towards the beach. We’re here with our knowledge, with everything we’ve learned through experience, through the courses we’ve taken. We are who we are, and by shining that light and by marketing ourselves that way with our own individuality, we will automatically attract the right clients. I have made the best experiences with the best clients by only focusing on my own values and the thinks I like. Because here’s the thing: people who like what I like will automatically get along with me! Even if they’re very different from me – our core values are the same.
The stuff I like? I love being lazy, I love being efficient rather than working nonstop, travelling, beautiful things in life, luxury, philanthropy for animals, laughing! And those people who get that, those are my soul clients. We inspire each other. It’s an amazing thing. And this is what I want for your business. Attract your soul clients rather than build something on an assumption and then find out that those people are not the ones you want to work with!
So many people are afraid to narrow down their niche because they think no one can relate to them. But let me tell you, that’s just not true. When I set up my business, Sleep Like A Boss, I had super feminine branding going on, but fifty percent of the clients I attracted were men.
Branding helps you to know your niche, which means you don’t need to create content for everyone, you can just focus on your essentials and get the job done with ease and joy. So even if you say you just work with women, there might be some men who really crave a more feminine touch and that will attract them to you. All of us need the feminine and the masculine, so don’t worry about that. You will always attract those who need exactly what you can offer the way you offer it.
I like to give the example of MLM companies like Tupperware or essential oils or whatever. Everyone has the same products, training and tools, and yet you will always be drawn to one particular person. So ponder that idea and hopefully it will help you to realise that there is never competition - because you are amazing.
It’s important to remember: You will change. That is just how it is. One of your main jobs in running a business is figuring out who you are and that is going to change ALL THE TIME.
Top tip: Don’t invest too much in your first website. You will want to change it in six months anyway!
Christine Hansen, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Christine Hansen is an award-winning business coach & consultant for online entrepreneurs who want to embrace their inner lazy, profit like a pro, and add philanthropist to their list of credentials—without ever undercharging or feeling like they have to be anyone but themselves again.
She combines hardcore strategy with lush personal development so that entrepreneurs can build and scale businesses that are still soul-aligned all the way.
With 10+ years as a sought-after TedX France and keynote speaker, Christine’s work is featured in Forbes, Business Insider, National Geographic, and more.
Having built two successful online businesses herself, Christine found out the hard way—like losing money on sketchy business investments and ruined “put your damn laptop away!” vacation moments—that most entrepreneurs are closer to burnout than they are to reaching 6-figures. (And they’re still worrying, “Am I overcharging?!”)
Christine is famous for sharing cautionary tales from the trenches, tell-it-like-it-is tips, her all-time go-to (no-brainer) tech tools she uses to get twice as much done in half the time, and gushing her best secrets to help you bust past your blind spots, be true to yourself, and breakthrough to 6-figures in under a year...all while donating to charity, taking vacations every 6 weeks, and spoiling yourself with something nice on a very regular basis.
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