“I didn’t know you could help with this”

I still remember those words and it was almost a decard ago.

A small business owner was looking to outsource social media – at the time, Instagram was still fairly new, but Facebook was a big deal.

They knew they wanted support and another business owner (who I hadn’t worked with, but had attended events with) recommended me.

We set up a call to discuss their needs and see if I was the right fit.

My business was a few years old.

But by this point I had been a featured blogger on some major accounts, and frequently talked about social media. I had many accounts that I worked on at that time and quite a few clients. My business was clearly growing.

I had even met this other business owner before.

And yet on our first call, they said they didn’t know I did that kind of work or that I could help with social media and content writing.

*record scratch.

So after 4 years, and a pretty extensive online presence, people in my business community still didn’t know what I did and how they could work with me (and in turn, pay me).

Yikes.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. A lot of my business was, and still is, thanks to referrals (which I greatly appreciate!) however I wanted to diversify my marketing. Plus, for people to refer me, they had to know what I did! I needed to be the person who came to mind when someone was looking for content/social media/writing support.

I was WAY too quiet about my work and my growing business. I didn’t clearly communicate how I could help other business owners.

Sound familiar?

Getting visible, talking about your business and promoting your services and products (we all want to make sales!) can feel overwhelming but there is a way to shine a spotlight on your business that works for you.

And you don’t have to do it alone.