💡 Introducing your business, not yourself

Published over 1 year ago • 1 min read

When you’re working as a soloist, it can be hard to delineate between when you’re talking about yourself vs. your business.

Besides, as a consultant, they’re hiring you, right?

Well, yes and no.

You, as a person, are not what will solve their problem.

Rather, it’s you, as a service, that will help them through it.

Imagine you’re a startup founder and you hear someone introduce themselves on a podcast like this:

Hi I’m John. I’m a corporate tax consultant for startups. I worked on tax teams at Google and Meta before joining a couple of early-stage companies.

I recently went out on my own to help startups better understand their tax situation and craft a more proactive tax strategy.

Not bad — I may be generally intrigued with the topic, and impressed with John’s background.

Would I ask to set up a consultation? Meh. I’d have a lot more questions first.

Not the least of which is, why should I care?

Now, what if John said this:

Hi I’m John. I help startups optimize their tax approach. My consulting practice is rooted in the idea that tax strategy shouldn’t be an afterthought for founders.

My experience in large corporate tax teams, followed by five years at early-stage companies showed me that it’s easy for busy founding teams to dismiss tax as a year-end activity, when actually a proactive tax strategy can free up cash flow and even mean the difference between a profitable and unprofitable year.

So, I’m on a mission to help founders of companies without CFOs assess and understand their opportunities for tax advantage.

Yes, it’s a bit longer, but notice a few things:

POV-first: Led with the big idea, “tax shouldn’t be an afterthought”
Client focus: Less “I”s, and more “founders”
Less bio: Eliminated big tech name-drops (these can come later)
Impact preview: “cash flow” “profitable vs. unprofitable year”
Mission-based close: Who you help with what

Perhaps paradoxically, talking less about himself and more about his point-of-view made it much easier for John to convey his unique value.

How do you typically introduce yourself? Are you focused on your experience or your POV?

To mimic the POV-first approach, think about how you’d complete the following prompts:

My consulting/coaching practice is centered on the idea that [signature POV].
My experience at [generalized bio] showed me [evidence of core problem]
But [short preview of a ‘better way’]
So, I’m on a mission to help [target segment] [signature service]

Yes, your potential clients want to get to know you, but they want to know how you think and how you can help them first.

💡

-Wes

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💡 Introducing your business, not yourself

💡 The Lightbulb