Inspiring video of the week!  It put a smile on my face - enjoy!

As entrepreneurs, we tend to spend a lot of time on marketing and sales, constantly in search for the next new selling technique.  I'm a big advocate of a good old solid marketing strategy, but recently I've been thinking about what really works in sales. What drives people to buy?

What I keep coming back to is Personality.  People buy when they trust.  Trust the brand, the face of the brand, the concept of the brand, the look of the brand.  All of those things are personality traits that create a memorable experience for people.  And when a consumer remembers you or your product/service, they most likely will buy. 

It becomes important then to focus on developing your brand, and for those who are service-based professionals, the focus should be on your Personal brand, rather than the brand of your company.  So how do you develop a memorable Personal Brand?  Here are my five top secret steps:

1) Get Curious - Ask yourself this: What is the one thing I want people to remember from meeting me? 

2) Exagerrate - Take what you found out in Step #1 and over-emphasis those in ALL your encounters - whether they are potential clients or not. 

3)  Get Real - Authenticity sells!  So check in with yourself and find out how authentically you are showing up in your business.  What values are you honoring or dishonoring by your tactics.  If there are values being stepped on, chances are you aren't staying true to yourself.  Tweak those as necessary to get back to who you really are.

4)  Bliss Out - When you're following your bliss in all areas of your life, this will add to your bravado - people will notice, and want whatever it is you have!  Take the time to inventory your life and add in bliss where it's missing!

5)  Have Fun - If you aren't having fun, then chances are you aren't on the right track.  Crank up the fun in your personal image, your workday, your interactions and begin to see how easy it becomes to attract the right business to you!

Lately I've noticed a recurring theme with my clients so I'm compelled to explore it a bit more here. It turns out there are people out there who have lost the ability to dream.  Perhaps this sounds like you, or perhaps not. But it occurred to me these symptoms show up in others as well.  You might be thinking "how can you not have dreams?"  We all go to sleep and have dreams every night.  So what could be so hard about dreaming? And what's so important about dreams anyway?

Glad you asked.  See, everything begins with a dream.  This might sound cliche, but without a dream, a vision, a goal, people would just sit around and not do very much.  Dreams are what give us the reason to aspire to something - to want to achieve something.  Dreams are ideas in motion.  It's how we create, how we invent, how we manifest.

Do you remember daydreaming as a little girl or boy?  What would you daydream about?  How did it feel? What did daydreaming give you? 

Children have a much easier time with dreaming than adults. We lose the ability to dream as we grow older as, we become busy with life, our jobs, our friends etc. We get set in the ritual of our lives and often settle into the security and comfort it provides.  The need for dreaming goes away along with that security blanket.  And so we become much more rational, reasoning and logical adults.  Dreams are for children aren't they?

The danger that comes along with perspective is that we lose the vehicle for wanting more, for creating from the depths of our souls, and aiming for something higher.  Suddenly the possibilities become less feasible, and we just settle for easy.  

Deep down inside we know there is something more we want.  We just don't allow ourselves to dream of it - we find a million reasons why it's just not possible.  We talk ourselves out of dreaming before we even start! But that nagging voice will always be there, because human beings are always in motion, in evolution, and we are meant to be creating and manifesting all the time.  We are doing a big disservice to ourselves and others when we surpress those ideas, because those ideas could have impact out in the world.

So we keep them on lock down, buried beneath feelings of fear and doubt, as if to keep them from getting too big or too lofty.  Cause then, what if you had a big dream?  What if you actually allowed yourself to really DREAM? You might want to do something about it!  And that might require you to start playing  a bigger game, where you have to come out of your comfort zone and become a leader.  

My challenge for you this week is to daydream - but to give yourself NO limits when you dream.  No dream is too big or too small.  Notice what comes up - is it difficult, or easy? What limiting beliefs pop up when you dream?  Is there a recurring dream?  Keep a journal if you want.

Start working your dreaming muscle and dare to dream big!  And worry about the details later.  

An interesting article about the importance of Body Wisdom and how to begin listening to what your body is telling you! Enjoy!

http://healing.about.com/od/higherself/a/alignhigherself.htm