Are you a people pleaser? Learn how to stretch yourself!

Today, I have been busy preparing three guest blog posts.  It is part of the awesome Stretch Yourself Challenge that I took part in at the start of this month.  In reality, I only need to prepare one guest blog post, but I was fortunate to find three people this week who agreed to let me guest post for them!  I’ll let you know when those posts come out in the next couple of weeks (after Christmas), because I think you’ll find them rather helpful.

One thing I realized when writing these posts is that I haven’t been letting my personality shine through enough in this blog.  So I hope to change that in the New Year.  People who know me well would say that I’m a very upfront, honest person, and very direct and assertive  (when I need to be), but that I am not aggressive.  I am the type of person that if in a group of people, and they are saying something negative about someone and I don’t agree with them, I will speak up.  It doesn’t always make me the most popular person there, but I have never followed the crowd.

So why am I bringing this up, you may be asking yourself?  The reason is because I have been commenting on more blogs lately (and learning lots from the blog owners), and have been adding in my own two cents.I recently commented on a controversial topic, and it made me nervous adding my viewpoint.  I thought about not commenting at all, but then realized that I was not doing the misinformed commenters (and those who might read the comments) any good by staying quiet.   I always struggle with putting my thoughts into writing for fear that I may offend someone, or that I’m going to create some sort of argument.  So does that make me a people pleaser?  I don’t consider myself to be one, but sometimes I feel like one.

The thing I’ve come to realize though is that you cannot please everyone.  I mean I’ve known that for a long time, but there is a difference between talking to someone face to face compared to communicating in written form in blogs and forums.  In written form, you just never know how someone is going to interpret it.

Anytime you are in the public (or online) eye, you are bound to come across people who don’t agree with you.  However, you are bound to come across many more who will agree with you (as long as you know what you’re talking about).  The key is to knowing that there are people out there who need to know about you, and what you can offer them.

Are you ready to learn how to get yourself in front of more people who need you?  If you want to grow your business more in 2013 by networking and connecting with others, I highly recommend The Stretch Yourself Challenge. 

This challenge is all about motivating you to be more visible by putting yourself out there with great content & a more social attitude.  Here are some things I learned from it:

• Where I need to be to make connections with others
• How to get my name out there
• How to get my content in the hands of others for promotion
• Tips on how to keep organized in knowing what is going on on other blogs and social media

Anyway, this challenge far exceeded my expectations (there were so many tidbits of advice and information), and has helped me get my butt in gear to move forwards as this year ends and another one is set to begin.  Check it out to see if it’s something that could help you expand your business in 2013.