What’s Your Offer?

If you were in a Dragon’s Den type scenario today, selling yourself what would you say?

“I’d like £1million investment for 0.5% of my business (me, myself and I incorporated) and this is why you should invest in me…..”

Yeeks! I find it quite scary even watching Dragon’s Den, let alone putting myself in that situation and promoting myself to assign a monetary value to my worth. >>shudder<< That could be the stuff of self esteem nightmares but I do think the people that appear on the show have great resilience, mostly and I admire them for putting themselves into that situation.

Focus on Your Strengths

If Dragon’s Den is the extreme version of self-promotion and an elevator pitch is something you’ll probably never need to do because of the nature of your business, is there a value in thinking about ‘what’s my offer?’. It won’t surprise you to know that I think yes, there is a huge value in giving that some thought as it links very strongly to our self-esteem. If you plod into work each day feeling indifferent about what you do and why you do it, you’ll probably do an OK job and your employer will probably be reasonably happy with that. They’ll pay your salary, you come in when you’re supposed to, are reliable and a safe pair of hands. All good, yes? Or is it?

There’s a huge value, I think in workers who are happy with the job they’re doing, aren’t particularly worried about being promoted or moving onto another employer and who are hugely reliable, conscientious and flexible to cover other peoples’ roles during absence. The foundations of workforce strength can be built with people like that. But, (sorry, there had to be a but) if you lose sight of what your skills and strengths are because you go in each day to a job that you don’t love particularly, but it pays the bills so that’s OK, then your self-esteem is very likely to be impacted by that. Equally if things at home have become run of the mill, routine and lacking in appreciation then you might not have a sense of being valued there either. You might actually be well-valued in lots of different environments but because we don’t always communicate those things very well then sometimes you need to have that conversation with yourself instead. Not to big yourself up but to boost your self-esteem by identifying the value that you bring to a range of situations.

Value Yourself First

So, tell me, what value do you bring to the following situations:

• Home – who or what would suffer if you weren’t there? If you’re being taken for granted it might be worth stepping back a bit so people think more about all the things you do quietly with no fuss. They might need to think about what would happen if you weren’t there. And I don’t mean that you’ve passed away, think more like being whisked away to Barbados on a work’s outing for a month! It might happen! 😉 Ask the people you live with what they love, like and value about you and tell them you expect an answer in the next 24 hours! You can make the same list for them which can be a lovely conversation.
• Work – who covers your work when you’re off? If that’s nobody then it might be time to have a conversation about training people in your role as well as you covering for other people. Ask your boss what they value about you. That’ll put them on the spot! If they can’t answer immediately you can encourage them to have a think about it for a few days and come back to you and make sure you follow up on it. If they still can’t answer then it’s clearly time to have a look at your development plan as you’re being taken for granted!!
• In your friendship group – if you’re always the organiser, let someone else take the reins for a while.
• In other networks, of groups connected with hobbies for instance, are you always the one that…..? If so, think about stepping back for a bit.

Our self-esteem can be linked to our roles in different groups and that’s OK, as long as you’re valued there. If you’re taken for granted your self esteem can suffer. In defining what you can offer think about your skills, experience and strengths, your values and beliefs, and your determination, resilience and commitment.

“But You Always…!”

Doing the same thing over and over, week in week out, such as being the designated driver for your pals as you don’t drink very much shows loyalty, self-sacrifice and kindness. But stuff like that can get taken for granted very easily – “but you always drive!” so there can be a value to changing things for changing’s sake sometimes. If you always organise the Christmas party, which can be a total pain in the *** then maybe it’s time to step back and let someone else take the lead. “But you always….!”. If you can imagine those words being said to you in a range of situations, it could be time to think about how much you bring to those situations and because you’re already very highly skilled in those areas you don’t need to practice any further! It’s surely the kinder thing to let someone else gain experience in that particular field, it’s good contingency planning if nothing else. Although convincing the new designated driver of that might be an uphill struggle ?

What’s Your Offer?

Defining your offer is good for your self-esteem, it connects you with your strengths and the value that you bring to a range of situations. If that means you walk around with a big head and a smile for a while, so be it. You won’t turn into an egomaniac I’m sure, and you’ll see the value of passing on your skills to others, whether they want to organise the flippin Christmas party or not!!

Take good care please and have a great day.

 

Best wishes, Karen

Email: kw.innerstrength@outlook.com