Becoming Your Best Ambassador Is Not About You
About ownership
Whether you want to obtain a promotion, develop a new skill, or run a marathon, it starts with yourself and believing you can do it.
Becoming your best ambassador will help you seize, maximize and create new opportunities for your personal and professional development.
Yet, we often struggle to put our hand up, advocate for ourselves and showcase our value.
Are you putting your head down and doing the hard work, waiting to be discovered?
Spoiler alert: you might be waiting for a long time.
If you want a promotion, you must articulate the benefits you can bring in your new role.
If you want to speak at a summit, you must pitch your unique perspective and thought leadership.
If you want people to choose you as their coach, you must persuade them why you are the best to help them build a brand, get fitter, or make it to the Board.
It’s up to you to prove your value to your potential clients, partners and stakeholders. Never assume people know how great you are and how much you have achieved. They don’t.
You carry the burden of the proof. It’s called OWNERSHIP.
The mindset shift
Most people struggle to advocate for themselves because they are afraid of selling themselves and coming across as arrogant or aggressive.
Here is where you need a mindset shift:
Being your ambassador is not about; it’s about other people.
Think in win-win terms: how can you help the person in front of you?
It’s not about you as a candidate.
It’s about how your expertise can add value to the company by saving money, enhancing systems, or delivering a better customer journey.
It’s not about you as a speaker.
It’s about the impact you can make on your audience and how you can equip them with effective tools.
It’s not about you and your newsletter; it’s about how it can help your subscribers write better content, be more productive, manage finances more effectively, or achieve whatever goal they want.
It’s not about you.
It’s about your impact.
When you have that perspective, you shift the focus from who you are and what you do to how you can impact others and help them achieve tangible results.
You are the translator, and your role is to translate your experience and knowledge into added value for others.
YOUR EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE > IMPACT & BENEFITS
This newsletter is not about me; it’s about helping you create online and turn your passion into your lifestyle.
How to become your best ambassador
1. Define your brand: how you want to be seen by others.
“I want to be seen as a self-improvement writer who is positive, relatable and inspiring.”
2. Create a clear value proposition:
Translate what you do to how they benefit from it. Make your audience the star.
“My newsletter helps you build your personal brand and monetize your passions.”
3. Put your hand up:
Take a proactive approach and seek out new opportunities, promotions, invites to events, etc.
4. Build credibility:
Use wins, client testimonials and referrals to back up your claim. Find third parties who endorse you and your value proposition and let them become your best PR. I add mine to my website.
5. Use the power of digital: expand your digital footprint with intent.
Use your platform of choice and invest in your own embassy. Share your journey, your work, the backstage.
I use LinkedIn as my main hub, as that’s where my ideal clients are.
6. Expand your network: “Your network is your networth”.
Make an effort to expand your social and professional circles. Join new communities; reach out to other people and broaden your reach.
I joined the Women Entrepreneur Network in Hong Kong and it has been a fantastic community for peer-to-peer sharing and support.
If you are a writer, collaborate with book clubs to build your author name.
7. Create partnerships and collaborations
The best ambassadors are great at building partnerships with others. Find people who complement what you do and ideate win-win collaborations. It could be a referral model, a joined initiative, or even a new business.
This week
interviewed me in his newsletter “Work Less, Profit More,” a great resource for solopreneurs who want to maximize impact and profits.
Key takeaways
1. Become your best ambassador to create new opportunities for growth.
2. Shift your mindset from what you do to how you can impact others.
3. Take a proactive approach: put your hand up.
4. Maximize your impact by investing in community building.
If you’re ready to create a new path, check out my book, The Lemon Tree Mindset with the framework I used to become a writer and public speaker🌳🍋
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Needed to read this. Currently working to create a business for myself. Thanks for your insights :)
I so much needed this >> "It's not about me, it's about the impact I can make."
I'm actually very guilty of not promoting myself because of looking proud. But thank you for that mind shift, I'm going to be an advocate for myself and talk really loud about the work I do including my publication here on Substack.
Whooshhhhh 🦅