To sell or not to sell

Crazy times hey?

It's never been clearer to me just how much the world needs people who can teach others about:

• slowing down and connecting with their bodies
• managing their emotions
• working from home
• thriving in a time of chaos and uncertainty
• how to career transition with ease
• teaching children - including class planning, teaching effectively for different learning approaches, and childhood development
• stress management
• spirituality and the deeper energetic reality of the universe
• how to resourcefully and creatively build communities (even and especially during times of physical isolation - introverts step forward! This is our time ?)
• alternative health practices, nutrition, and/or building your immunity
• empowerment; moving people from a place of victimhood to sovereign being
• sustainable living
• living in harmony; with the planet and with other people
• tapping into creativity.

And so many more things.

In other words, this is a time of great opportunity for our SOV community. The world needs us. Desperately.

So please step forward because people need you.

It's also a kind of tricky time to navigate if you're working online.

On the one hand, loads more people are spending time in your workspace right now without recognising that it's your workspace. For many of them, it's a social space so when they see you selling one of your products or services, they can experience a sort of cognitive dissonance. 'How dare you sell things during a crisis!', some declare.

I've noticed that it's invariably people who either earn a salary or who otherwise feel financially secure who make such statements.

It's also made by people who are still actually buying other things (say, toilet paper) but who've decided they're the arbiters of what's appropriate and not appropriate to sell right now.

And of course, it's also a statement made by people who are bemoaning the impact the pandemic is having on small businesses. Just not on yours.

So, irony is alive and well in the world.

Suffice to say; if you run a small business, you're absolutely entitled to sell your products and services at this time. If people have a problem with that, they're not your people.

At the same time, people are very very preoccupied. I can barely make a move without hearing about coronavirus at the moment.

So if you want people's attention you can't just pretend we're not in the middle of a global pandemic. People are anxious and people are suffering. They want to feel seen and heard in that.

And as I often remind our Women Speaking Up students, if you want to be seen and heard by others, then start by seeing and hearing them first.

Ask yourself;

• What can I offer to alleviate someone's suffering right now?
• What story can I share about my own experience that will connect people to me and make them feel seen?

Your marketing approach must change in response to the circumstances around you. What worked last week might not work this week or in a month's time. Things are fluid right now. Stay tuned to how your people are feeling and then you'll show up and be visible to them in a way that's appropriate and effective.

For example, you could pull together some of your resources and package them as a COVID-19 survival pack (or rename it something else if that labelling wouldn't gel with your people). You could collate a bunch of your blog posts and package them together as a freebie for parents who are struggling to juggle work and family life in a lockdown situation, for people who are new to working from home, for people who are feeling anxious, and/or for people who suddenly feel inspired to become more self-sufficient and move off the grid.

It's a great time for sharing resources and you can absolutely link this to list building. If you don't want to be out and out selling, or even if you don't want to be out and out list building, then simply provide useful information for free and at the bottom of your very helpful page, invite them to get even more information with your free opt-in. Nurture the ones who say yes and make an offer down the track. And for a more sophisticated strategy, create an FB advert targeted at all the people who viewed your page but didn't opt-in, giving them another chance to opt into your free resource.

You can also spend time nurturing your community and introducing yourself to people who - because of the change in circumstances that many find themselves in - might be looking for you for the very first time. It seems highly likely that there will be more people scrolling through social media in the next few weeks than ever before. Don't miss this chance to connect with those people.

And finally, now's a great time for people to get to know you and what you stand for. It's easy to stand out at the moment because even though there's a lot of noise, so much of it is the same stuff and far too much of it is pedalling fear. If you can offer an alternative perspective, or a fresh take on current events, or be informative, or offer some light relief in the day, people will pay attention.

There are so many ways to be of service and to build your business at this time. It never has to be an either/or situation, it can always be both/and more.