Your Head Isn’t Big Enough Yet

It’s not what the opportunity can do for you, it’s what you do with the opportunity.

I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw it.  This woman I know had put together a stunning graphic to celebrate an opportunity that had been presented to her. She branded the graphic in stellar fashion. Along with the beautiful visual celebration, she had a press release touting her accomplishments and the opportunity.

By all appearances, her business was taking things to the next level, this was BIG.

The truth is, she paid to be part of an opportunity along with hundreds of other people. Then, she took it and milked it for all it was worth.

What she did was brilliant.

This organization (which I will not name as I refuse to minimize her success and what she did) has been building a community of experts for over a year.  They are supported by a name brand that is very well known, someone on their team will reach out and ask you to participate and if you want to play, you have to pay.

Someone I know was approached, and when they started to do their due diligence, they found that a number of people were complaining that this organization hadn’t done enough for them.  They felt like it was money poorly spent.  They didn’t get the free lunch they expected to get by being associated with this big name.

Some of them were even calling it a scam.

That’s when I said to this person “It’s not what the opportunity can do for you, it’s what you can do with the opportunity.”

Marketing is about using every opportunity as a form of leverage to demonstrate credibility, authority and a strong brand for you and your business.

Too often we seize these opportunities and then act like beached whales. We behave as though someone like Elon Musk is going to sweep down and bestow millions of dollars upon us and save us from the grind of building our own businesses.

Stop it!

It’s your responsibility to leverage every #opportunity that you are given. Click To Tweet

Contrast the complainers with this woman who took this opportunity and turned it into gold.  They complained that this organization didn’t do enough for them. Yet this woman has almost 500 likes on her Facebook post and over 150 comments. The announcement has been shared in various capacities over 30 times.

She has garnered more attention than any other person participating in this opportunity solely because she had the courage and confidence to be BOLD, and unapologetic about her success.

Stop being afraid of being too big for your britches. Your head isn’t big enough yet.

You need to look for opportunities to step out and be seen. One idea, you can borrow if you’re looking for more visibility, is being a sponsor at someone else’s event.

For example, sponsorship at my event, Money, Mindset and Marketing is a great way for you to be seen. Being seen is more than showing up and expecting sales left, right, and center. Being seen is about showing up prepared, connecting with people, networking and developing relationships in a way that makes you memorable. There is no substitute for meeting and connecting with you and your business live in person. Associate yourself with people and brands that have established credibility and it will rub off on you.

What other ideas do you have around leveraging opportunities to put yourself in the spotlight?