#MondayInsight:

Leaders in the “conscious business” world love to dog on the BS bait-and-switch tactics often used in traditional marketing…

But there’s a bait and switch I see many of us doing as well:

Hiding our Sword of Truth behind a paywall.

I bet you wield your sword of truth with fierceness and love when you’re serving your clients, right?

The question is this: can that same sword be seen and experienced in your marketing…

Or is it obscured or completely hidden?

If so, that’s a real problem if you’re a truth-teller because the people who want your work WANT THE TRUTH (and can handle it ;-).

Truth has a frequency to it that’s potent and alive – people can feel it and respond to it. 

Those that want it are magnetized by it, and those that don’t want to hear it are often repulsed by it.

Your clients – be they corporate, entrepreneurial, or individuals – are looking for someone who has the capacity to see their blind spots, the willingness to say the hard truth, and the skill to help them through it.  

Keeping your sword of truth sheathed and hidden until after your clients start working with you can cause some real challenges.

1. It’s disingenuous

It might not be overt or on purpose, but if your marketing doesn’t include that sword of truth the incongruence can be felt (usually on a subtle, subconscious level).  That erodes trust and keeps the right clients from feeling safe working with you.

2. You attract clients who don’t do the work

There are tons of individuals and corporations who just want to feel like they’re ‘doing something’ to address their problems, but they aren’t actually committed to doing the work – and you’ll attract them if they don’t experience your sword.

3. You do work that blows up in your face

Last year I worked with a business consultant who worked as a secret change agent. That might sound like the way to go in corporate, but because she wasn’t overt about that in her marketing her trailblazing work would sometimes blow up and turn her contracts on their head. Painful for both her and her clients.  

4. You burn you out and kill your soul

Another client called these “mercenary gigs,” which can kept the money flowing (until it doesn’t) but that kind of work is that fast-track to burning out and killing her soul.

5. The people who want your gifts the most can’t see you

This is the big one. People who want change and are committed to it need to know you’ve got what it takes. If they don’t see your sword of truth, they won’t trust that you can do what needs to be done. If they do hire you, they won’t prize your work or pay top dollar… but they probably won’t hire you because you’ll be invisible to them.

So my challenge to you is this: include your sword of truth in your marketing, messaging and positioning.

Include your kindness, compassion, insight and vision as well – the sword of truth is one ingredient…

But it’s the ingredient they need to experience for them to know they can count on you for the liberation and transformation they need.