Practice what you preach.

"The cobbler’s children have no shoes" or is it "the shoemaker’s children go barefoot"? However you say this well-known proverb, when it comes to your business, especially if you're in the content creation business, practicing what you preach is vital. ⁠

Happy February. I'm back and picking up where I left off on the pushing forward, living my best solopreneur life front. 2021 is proving to be pretty promising. I started working with a new client, doing some new work with an existing client AND I bought a NEW DESK! (more on that later)

So, not too long ago, I brought up the subject of practicing what you preach. In essence, it's about doing that same hard, amazing work you do for your clients everyday FOR YOURSELF. Sounds easy but it's actually a daily challenge. Every new biz owner and solopreneur I talk to struggles with it. Even established businesses seem to also run out of bandwidth when it comes to creating content that communicates their own work.

As small business owners and solopreneurs, we are always 1,000% focused on our business. In fact, the guilt with taking a single day off is so overwhelming we simply don't do it.

Because this is SO important, I'm doing a 6 THINGS on how to practice what you preach:

1. The rules of flight apply. Take care of yourself first. Just like in the case of a loss of cabin pressure, put on your oxygen mask before assisting others. Start the day with your own priorities before moving on to those of your client's.

2. Sharing is caring. Can't think of anything original to say? Find something creative, engaging and relevant from an influencer or subject matter expert. Sharing other's content is OK just be sure to give the proper credit.

3. Stop playing hide + seek. It's great to talk but if no one can hear you then, why bother - right? Same can be said for the content you share. Whether it's trending hashtags, excellent SEO or creating your own shareable content, it's important to leverage the tools you need to get the content you create to the audience you created for.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes the hardest part but if you need to bring in support to do the research, the design or the planning, in order to keep the content going - DO IT. I'm strongly considering this one in 2021!

5. A little goes a long a way. Don't feel like to you need to write an award-winning novel each time you share content. A new idea, tech update, observation, celebration, mood - it's all sharable and important.

6. Failure is part of success. Don't let a lack of engagement slow you down. Your message is important to the person who needs you the most.

What rules do you go by in order to keep up with sharing consistent content?

Stay positive,

Need help telling your authentic story? I'd love to help!

Will the real Manejah please stand up.

"You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do." — Eleanor Roosevelt

So I've been wanting to talk about this one for awhile now. It's a big one for me. And although I've been aware of it for decades — whispering in my ear after every job offer, checking my confidence during every presentation, casting doubt on every letter ever written — it's been only recently that I realized it had a name: Imposter Syndrome

By now we're all very aware of imposter syndrome (there's about a bazillion Thrive Global articles that can catch you up on the subject) - what it is and what it does to the inner workings of a person's confidence. It's about feeling completely legit one minute and like a complete fraud the next.

I've always considered myself a fairly confident person, resilient to self doubt agitators, yet there it was, next to me in the bathroom stall, watching me cry my eyes out on the first day of my first job as a programmer, standing in the shadows on my first 100 pitches at a PR agency, front row at my first Manejah PR webinar and yep, definitely right next to me as I'm writing this post.

It affects us all. In fact researchers say that 70 % of people will experience it at some point in their lives - with men actually suffering from it more! Imposter syndrome comes alive while your brain works to balance self-worth with achievement. Somewhere in between there your brain is convinced you are not who you said you are, and your accomplishments are merely a result of some good luck or a really great lie.

This manifestation hits us career changing, solopreneurs hard because we are always stretching the boundaries of our comfort levels, choosing the paths that can make us feel unsure of our capabilities and doubtful of our legitimacy. To the point that we will actually question our experience, asking ourselves "Did I really lead that project and contribute to its success or was I just along for the ride?" Am I even the real Manejah? (definitely a discussion for another blog post.)

Need a pros help with your imposter syndrome? Check out the latest video course, Confronting Imposter Syndrome from DEI subject-matter expert and inclusion strategist Vernā Myers and my client, The Vernā Myers Company.

Stay positive,

When life gives you PR, run with it!

I have something to confess.⁠

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I never meant to be a PR professional. A singer, a song writer, the next Christiane Amanpour, sure, but a PR pro? It never crossed my mind. ⁠

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Yet here I was in the middle of Manhattan, fresh off from leaving a well paying tech career, to take my first job at my first PR agency as an admin. It was spring of 2003 and I was in full on "teach me everything" mode. Faxing press releases, pitching heat wraps to trucking magazine, helping out on events with the likes of Dr. Ruth and Scottie Pippen, and running those admin-worthy personal errands for my boss.😉 Needless to say, things were hap-pen-ing. ⁠

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As years went on, I had moved on to another agency, and learning the ropes came easy, from leading global PR events to becoming partner. At some point, early on, there became a time when I could not remember my life before PR. I forgot every line of code I used to write with my former self, trading in that knowledge for the who, what, where, when and why of media placement and my favorite part...storytelling.⁠

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Moral of this story? When life gives you options, take one and don't look back.🍋⁠

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Seen in pic: Me + a couple of my event partners in crime at the James Beard Awards at Lincoln Center. (Boy do I miss events!) ⁠

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Stay positive, ⁠

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