Today, I am sharing one of my FAVORITE tips for growing your business – sharing photos of yourself! I know people have so many mixed emotions about this – “it feels weird, I don’t like it, I’m not pretty enough, I don’t look the part, people don’t want to see me, people only want to see my product/service.” While all of those likely have great reasoning behind them, I think for the next few minutes you should just open your mind up to what I’m about to say. Sharing photos of myself on my website and social media has drastically helped elevate my business – and I want the same for YOU!

• JUST DO IT!
  Okay, so I think this is probably the best way to start because people have so many reservations about sharing photos of themselves. I understand not feeling confident or loving the way you look, but if you are a small business owner (& especially if the company has personal ties to your name or life) you need to share your face with your community! No ifs ands or buts – just get to it!
• VISUALIZE!
  I think the BEST reason for sharing photos of yourself is for your customers to visualize everything. Sharing a photo of yourself can help your customers/followers SEE who they are listening to. I’ve had it happen a few times when I will hear people on the radio, and then, months later I see a photo of them and I’m completely surprised. It’s amazing that no matter how well I think I know them, when I see their face it is completely different than what I expected. Isn’t it crazy? I thought I knew them, but then, I saw them and I felt disconnected. How would you like your customers to feel like that? They follow your business for months/years, and then, they meet you at an event or your shop. They are completely confused and feel so distant and disconnected because everything they visualized you to be is likely much different! You don’t have to overexpose yourself for your customers to feel connected to you – you just want to give them opportunities to connect your words to you. When they read captions, your website content, or product descriptions, you want them to be able to visualize you’re reading it to them.
• Decide what you want to share…
  So, as I mentioned above, I think you need to share photos of yourself. I’m sure the next questions that comes to your mind are “how often? where? what will I wear? who will take them?” When deciding how frequently you will share photos, make sure that it isn’t too spread out, but make your goal obtainable. If you know it’s not possible when you set your goal, reevaluate.  When deciding where and what will you wear, this is entirely up to you, and it should shape around your brand. Finding someone to take your photos can be a challenge. Everyone isn’t blessed with family members or roommate willing or able to take photos of them – I understand. However, get creative! You can always hire out someone or you can try to arrange a trade or photo swap. If that isn’t possible, purchase a trusty tripod and work your own magic! It definitely takes some extra patience, but it is possible to get a great photo by yourself using a tripod {may I suggest getting a remote to click the shutter instead of running back and forth with the timer!}.
• It will be WEIRD.
  Yes, you will need to completely embrace that it will feel weird to have your photo taken and share it for others to see. That’s okay! Change for growth to occur is often a little uncomfortable in the beginning, but before you know it, it will feel like second nature.

I’m so excited to see you show up in your feed, website, and all of social media! Oh, and since I’m often asked – 95% of my photos are taken by my wonderful husband, Hayden. The rest are a mix of different family members that are randomly asked {thank you!!!}, and the use of a tripod.

xoxo,