Starting a new business and announcing it to the world is exciting and terrifying in equal measure. Despite already having a few clients, I'm yet to post anything about my new venture on LinkedIn, or broadcast it to my friends and family. There's this nagging doubt in my mind that I'll tell hundreds of people about it and get zero interest in my services so it's altogether less scary to just keep quiet about it right?
Of course I'm wrong! And I was reminded of this by watching a kids' film with my son.
February has been a month of poorliness for me and my 2 year old, so we've both indulged in a fair bit of TV viewing in the afternoon rather than heading to the park. The films based on the Julia Donaldson (or Saint Julia as I like to call her) books have been the backbone of our playlist, and our favourite is The Snail and the Whale. It's rare to find a kid's film that's relaxing to watch but this one really delivers.
The premise of this particular story is that our protagonist (a sea snail) is desperate to see the world but can't find a way to travel. She leaves a message on a rock which is responded to by our hero (a huge Humpback Whale) and they proceed to have wonderful adventures together.
Whenever I watch this film I'm struck by the fact that this little snail's message, left on a rock so close to shore, happens to get such a swift response from a creature who naturally lives miles away, much deeper in the ocean. How did he find out about the message? Did he see it? Did someone tell him?
(Yes I have a tendency to overthink)
Have faith that word will get around
What I do know is that without leaving that message in the first place, no chain of events would have unfolded - positive or negative. That plucky little snail gave it a go and it paid off. Maybe the whale just happened to be hanging around the dock and saw it, or maybe a seagull told a fish who told a crab who told a dolphin who told the whale. Maybe the seagull knew the whale was in the market for a travel companion and flew straight over to him?
There are so many ways that your first announcement about your business can make its way to your dream client. Despite all your insecurities, it is not a foregone conclusion that you'll be announcing it into a void. I guarantee there will be someone who sees it and mentions it to someone else, and there will be another person who makes a mental note of it for a future project. You might even get lucky and hear from the perfect client straight away.
You don't know unless you make that announcement. After all what's the worst that can happen?
Add a bit more thought to it
Getting over that initial hurdle to "announce" is incredibly important. Having said that, the more thought you can put into who you tell and how, the more chance you have of getting the leads you want.
A simple way of doing this would be to make a list of all your family, friends and ex colleagues and simply highlight those who you think have the most potential to be a future customer - e.g. does your cousin own her own business? Did one of your colleagues move to a company that you'd love to work with? Think about how you might announce your new venture more specifically with these people.
If you're keen to stick with a broadcast approach, think about how you could add some value . Have you written a particularly good blog about your industry that you could share on LinkedIn to accompany your announcement, can you offer some half price work to the first person from you friends and family network that gets in touch or do you have any compelling lead magnets that you want to launch at the same time?
Keep up momentum after you announce it
When I overthink this metaphor even more, what has almost certainly been cut from the film was footage of the snail regularly posting content on social media, updating her blog and posting ads in the local "Underwater Times" while she waits for the whale to show up.
Be consistent with your information, tell as many people in as many places as you can. When you start to feel that you've overdone it - that's probably only just enough. The only person that is going to see all of your messaging is you, so write on as many rocks as you can find - big ones and small ones.
If you want some help writing your first announcement or the "About Page" on your website, then get in touch. Sometimes another person can articulate what's great about you more easily.
Whatever you do though, make that first announcement. Be optimistic like the snail and who knows what adventures await.