I recently heard a question on social media that many mama entrepreneurs can relate to: How do you overcome the discomfort of talking about your business or side hustle? In today’s blog and podcast I am sharing my best advice on making it feel more natural and less pushy to introduce your virtual assisting business. From finding local business meetups to practicing your elevator pitch, I’ve got some great tips for getting comfortable with self-promotion. So grab a cup of coffee and get ready to level up your networking game. Let’s dive in!
Let’s connect on Instagram! I’m @melyssamunday and @mamasmakingmore.
Blog
Hey there, busy mama! I hope you’re doing fantastic today because I’ve got something exciting to talk about. I stumbled upon a great question the other day on Facebook that I think many of us can relate to: how do you talk about your business without feeling awkward, salesy, or pushy? Well, buckle up buckaroo, because I’ve got some golden tips to share, and I’m super excited to dive right in!
So, here’s the scoop: if you’re feeling uncomfortable about promoting your business, the first step is to explore your local community. You will be amazed at how many opportunities are waiting right in your neighborhood. Look out for local business meetups, mixers, networking events, or even women in business gatherings. Your town might have a chamber of commerce that hosts events for local businesses. Don’t hesitate to ask around, check social media, or join local groups to find out what’s happening in your area.
Once you’ve identified these events, my advice is simple: attend them! Yes, I know it might sound daunting, putting on real clothes and talking to people. Trust me, it’s worth it. These gatherings provide the perfect platform to practice talking about your business in a natural and friendly environment. You’re not alone in this; everyone there is looking to connect and share their ventures. Introduce yourself, explain what you do, and don’t be afraid to refine your pitch based on the responses you get. Practice makes perfect, and the more you talk about your business, the more confident you’ll become.
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The beauty of these in-person events is that nobody feels like they’re being overly salesy. Everyone is there for the same reason: exposure and connections. You might meet someone who needs your services or find a business that complements yours. Even if you don’t make an immediate sale, the connections you make can lead to future opportunities.
Now, you might be wondering about business cards. Do you really need them? Well, not necessarily. While traditional business cards are handy, you can get creative. QR codes on stickers or even setting a QR code as your phone’s wallpaper can direct people to your website or portfolio. Alternatively, exchanging email addresses or phone numbers works just as well. The key is to be memorable; think outside the box and create something that people will want to keep.
I hope this advice has eased your worries about talking about your business. Remember, it’s all about practice, connection, and being genuine. And hey, if you decide to attend one of these local events, I’d love to hear about it! Shoot me a message on Instagram (@melyssamunday or @mamasmakingmore). I adore hearing from you all.
Are we Insta friends?! I LOVE connecting there, voice DMs are super fun! I’m @melyssamunday and @mamasmakingmore.
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Melyssa: Hey there. Mama. How the heck are you? I am doing fabulous today. I wanted to do a little something different today. I saw a question on, I think it was Facebook where someone was asking, what do you do if you are super uncomfortable talking about your business? How do you get better at making it feel less awkward, less salesy and less pushy? Like how do you make it feel more normal and natural to talk about your business? I thought that was a great question. I thought that was a great topic for us to cover. So I want to just jump on in.
[00:00:37] Melyssa: My best advice for this is to look around your local community and find out everything you can about local business meetups. Now, maybe there are, maybe they call them local business meetups. Maybe they’re called mixers. Maybe they’re called networking events, luncheons. It may just be, you know, [00:01:00] regular business without the small business mentioned, it could be a women in business situation, a chamber of commerce, most cities and, areas have a chamber of commerce that is really big on having events for local businesses. So I want you to scour ask around, look on Facebook, look on, your social media, just to see what it is that’s around. If you don’t see, go on like Facebook on your local city, you know, Facebook group and just ask, “Hey, what kind of groups are out there that meet locally to talk about their businesses or promote their businesses?”
[00:01:37] Melyssa: That was step one was to kind of figure out all of these places locally where you can go and get some in person networking in.
[00:01:46] Melyssa: Now the next step is actually going to these events. I want you to go to these events and I want you to just get used to introducing yourself to people. A lot of times, these are not situations where you’re selling [00:02:00] yourself necessarily, but everybody is genuinely interested in getting to know you, getting to know your business and introducing yourself to them and they want to introduce themselves to you. So just think about if you go to an event, even if there’s only 10 to 15 other people there, you have the opportunity to go up to 10 to 15 different people and introduce yourself and practice even just a one-liner of who you are and what you do in your business. And that repetitiveness, that consistency of explaining it over and over is what’s going to get you more comfortable. You’re also going to be in person. So you’re going to see what they relate to a little bit more. Maybe you explain your business as a virtual assistant and they don’t completely understand it. And maybe they ask a question about it to clarify. That is good information, because then you’re going to know how to maybe modify and how to explain your business a little bit better.
[00:02:52] Melyssa: Again, really what it is is it’s just practice, practice, practice. Being repetitive, being consistent [00:03:00] and using it enough, using your own introduction enough that you start to become so much more comfortable with it. The great thing about going to these in-person networking events is everybody is doing the same thing. So nobody feels like your being salesy because you’re showing up to some random event where you’re the only one trying to like, explain what you do. And, for the most part, when you’re in these in-person groups, it’s just for that exposure and to get to know those people. But there’s also other benefits. You never know who you may meet there, who needs a virtual assistant or who needs whatever service it is that you’re providing. Or that person may have a friend that they work with that could use a virtual assistant. So you always have the ability to make these connections, even if you’re not intending to actually work with that person. It could just be a happy thing that comes out of them learning what you do and how you provide your service. It never, ever hurts to also get your name [00:04:00] out there and to meet these people. And you never know, maybe they have a business that’s complimentary to yours and you may be able to work out something where you both go and you both have some sort of promotion where someone can work with both of you.
[00:04:14] Melyssa: One question you might have for me is when you are going to these local groups, do you need something like a business card? And I don’t necessarily think that you have to have a business card. I think a great thing that people have now is having those QR codes on a business card or a sticker or whatever it is that you want to pass out. , I tend to take my stickers for this podcast and I hand those out now because it says mamasmakingmore.com. So they know to go to that website to find me.
[00:04:45] Melyssa: You can also have on your phone, you could set your phone. What’s it called? Wallpaper. That’s the word I’m looking for your phone wallpaper. You could set that up to have a QR code that goes directly to whether you have a website or a landing [00:05:00] page or an info page, or, you know, a page in Canva that you have for your, , list of services or your list of, , your rate sheets, whatever it may be.
[00:05:10] Melyssa: You could also just do the old fashioned thing and like exchange, email addresses or texts, you know, each other. If you want to continue working with , those people. So I don’t think, I think that having business cards or stickers is actually a pretty good idea just because it does. , remind people if they do want to look you up when they get home. , But I don’t think it’s something that is critical to have. I don’t think you will be hurt if you don’t have it. I think there’s other ways that you can, , stay connected with other people. And I do think that people don’t tend to keep business cards very often. So, , try and be creative maybe, like I said, create like a little sticker or something that’s more memorable that someone will keep.
[00:05:48] Melyssa: Maybe you didn’t know that you had this question, but hopefully kind of going over it together and me sharing that you can definitely go to these in-person groups, even if you’re not [00:06:00] going to make a sale per se or to actually find a client there. That it actually can be really great idea to go and network and mix around and make other connections locally with other small businesses.
[00:06:15] Melyssa: That is all I have for you today. And if you want to keep in touch, if you want to tell me that you’re going to go to one of these local mixers, I would love to hear it. Send me a message, a voice message, or a typed message on Instagram. I am @melyssamunday or @mamasmakingmore. Love hearing from you guys. That’s all I have for this episode. I will catch you in the next one.