Over the years I have had trainers reach out to me and ask, “How do I get my name out there?” My initial response is to ask three questions, “What does ‘get your name out there’ mean to you?”, “Why is it important to you to get your name out there?”, and “What are you seeking to achieve?”
Usually, they have just started a training business and want to know how to create name recognition in the market to generate business. My best advice is simple, “Do the work.” Do the work to learn, study and continually grow. Continually work on your craft. Develop great content that serves a need and develop the ability to deliver that content in a manner that engages and inspires the heroic men and women of law enforcement.
“The greatness we see from those in the limelight is formed by those same people in the hidden lights of their personal daily work. Success is formed in the invisible hours.”
Kevin Eastman
If you are looking for advice on search engine optimization or social media strategies to boost your profile, I am not the guy to talk to. If you are looking for marketing strategies my advice is that word of mouth is the best possible marketing, which takes us back to piece of advice number one – Do the Work. Beyond that, I am not the best person to talk to.
“Worry not who knows of you. Seek to be worth knowing.”
Confucius
If you want to be a trainer worth knowing, I believe you must start with a desire to serve and a desire to teach, coach and mentor others. Seek to live a life of significance and strive to make a positive impact on the profession. If you are in it for fame, glory, or money, then find a different path to those goals. Training is too important and training time and money are too scarce for those motives to serve anyone other than yourself. Society puts a lot of emphasis on metrics such as the number of followers on social media, total sales revenue, number of speaking engagements, and number of attendees at those engagements rather than on impact, inspiration, and significance.
“Don’t tell me what you invented. Tell me who you changed.”
Seth Godin
Ask yourself, “What am I doing to make the lives of the people I serve better?” There are people in the training world who are slick talkers and ‘smoozers’. They tell everyone who will listen how altruistic they are, and what they have invented, while lacking integrity and professionalism and only doing what is best for them. Do not be that person.
My final piece of advice if you are starting a business is to spend the time, and do the work up front, to figure out what type of lifestyle you want to live and then build your business around that lifestyle. Otherwise, the business will become your life.
How do you get your name out there? Do the work, every day, whether you feel like it or not. If you seek to be worth knowing, instead of worrying about who knows of you, people will get to know you and your name will get out there.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Providing practical training to law enforcement professionals in the areas of instructor development, Performance Enhancement Imagery, leadership and mindset.
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