Have you ever colored outside the lines?

I know that I didn’t until well into my 40s.

When I started my coaching practice, I wanted to help people get unstuck.

After a while, I stopped loving it. I felt constrained.

As an ICF certified coach, I was trained to guide clients to their CLARITY, their transformation.

But I asked myself: What else can I bring to the table? I began “sprinkling” my other skills, expertise and experience and always letting the client know that I was talking my “coach hat” off for just a second…

And little by little, I began getting messages like this one:

Today I don’t just help people get unstuck —  I help them fly! Being a coach has given me a capacity to support people through their growth and my expertise in communications, business, speaking and marketing gives them the tools to fly.

Truly, it wasn’t until I dared to  “color outside the lines” that I was able to stand out amongst the noise of the industry and truly grow my business.

So what would that look like for you? Here are 3 steps you can take to begin clarifying and  “sprinkling” your unique talents and stand out from your competition:

1. Explore Your Journey: What brought you where you are today, doing the work you do, is a combination of experiences, education (formal & informal), past successes AND past failures (though I don’t believe in failures). Understand what of all these are unique to you and bring it into your work.
2. Connect With Your Unique Brilliance: What comes so easily to you that you discount it? Who needs this? Who would pay for this? This is so basic/obvious… make a list of these… you might find a pot of gold 😉 For years, I discounted my skill of breaking tasks, thoughts, and conflicts down into ways that people could actually handle. I NEVER in my life thought this could be a marketable skill… and now here I am, breaking down messages, thoughts, and business challenges for my clients every day! Just this morning, I helped turn a book into a 15 minute talk for a client so that they can engage their audience!
3. Understand Your Client: Nothing is more compelling to a client or a human being than to be seen and heard. Your job is to guide your client to their goals and sometimes, it takes more than coaching. Be willing to take off your “coach hat” and share your brilliance.

Go ahead, color beyond the lines, sprinkle your brilliance!

PS: Want to learn more how to stand out? Download my FREE EBOOK “Stand out the TED Way”

Dolores Hirschmann is an internationally recognized strategist, Clarity coach, TEDxOrganizer, Speaker & Author. She has over 20 years experience helping entrepreneurs, companies & organizations realize their potential—by guiding them to CLARITY—to define their CORE IDEA, message and market strategy needed to reach their next level of growth. As a Speaker Coach Dolores guides speakers to go from successful professionals to thought leaders in their field. If you would like to learn more visit: www.mastersinclarity.com or download her free resource “STAND OUT THE TED WAY”