Professionalism’s your doom.
It’s better to be someone whom
Can be fun and silly.
Goof is the chili
That helps your relationships bloom.
Professionalism’s your doom.
You do want your customers’ trust. But you don’t want to be so concerned about maintaining a “professional image” that you hide your entire personality. People are sick of dealing with faceless corporations; don’t become faceless yourself.
Doing it wrong
If you’re a chiropractor, you don’t want to tell the story of this one time when you pushed too hard and broke a patient’s bone — no matter how hilarious it is. That’s the kind of goofy story that will destroy trust. You might could tell that over tequila shots at the Chiropractors’ Bar, but not to a client.
Doing it right — authenticity
Being an authentic goofball means that you’re not being goofy just because it’s trendy, or because some crazy woman named Pace told you to. It means that you’re being yourself, and sharing true, silly things that you’re into.
Authenticity creates connection. When you’re being yourself, you give your customers permission to be themselves too – and that’s something that a faceless corporation can never do.
Doing it right — goofball
Being a goofball means doing things that are weird or off-the-wall. I opened this article with a limerick because it’s authentic and goofy. It’s goofy because limericks are funny and you don’t see them often in business. It’s authentic because I love writing limericks — I’m not just doing it for a cheap party trick.
Being a goofball is memorable. No matter how good my advice is, chances are you’ll remember me as “the limerick chick” or “the one who sang ‘Ponderous’ on the audio version of this article.”
Being memorable is good for your business because if your clients don’t remember you, they won’t buy from you.
And lastly, fun makes people happy! If you share something fun and your audience enjoys it, they’ll remember that happy feeling and they’ll associate it with you. And that can’t possibly be a bad thing.
My challenge to you:
Get out there and share ONE thing with your audience that’s authentic and goofy!
NOTE from Tea of Story Bistro: When you’re done, come visit us on Facebook and let us know how it went. What did you share? What was the response? Was it easy for you? Hard? No right or wrong answers here — we’re all just experimenting!
Image credit: Leyton Parker
Great start to the challenge, Pace and Tea. I decided to put it out there and share a spoof poem I write a while back. It’s been seen before but not by my clients. 🙂
Ooh! Can’t wait to read it. Be sure to hashtag it (#BYOR30) so we can find it, Sharon.
Yeah, I wanna read it too!
“What if I’m not goofy? What if I’m serious by nature?”
The reason I use the words “goofball” and “goofy” isn’t because being silly is better than being serious. It’s because being yourself is better than wearing a mask. And wearing a clown mask is just as masked as wearing a professional mask.
To me, the heart of being an authentic goofball is the authenticity, and the goofiness is just a shame-free permission slip to show a side of yourself that you don’t usually show. Forced goofiness isn’t authentic – doing it on demand is against that point of what I’m hoping to share.
Personally, my danger is to put on an “I’m awesome” mask and hide behind it. (I’m an Enneagram 3 if that means anything to you.) Being authentically goofy for me is about being vulnerable. It’s about showing the side of myself that’s silly and unpolished. Being an authentic goofball reminds me to take off the “I’m awesome” mask and connect with people in a way that’s REAL and also FUN.
For me, goofy is a fun way to be authentic and vulnerable. But there’s this pesky thing called the usual error – assuming that what’s true for me is also true for other people. I made the usual error in my “Be an authentic goofball” challenge.
So if “goofy” doesn’t feel authentic to you, what else could you do to be vulnerable? How could you express a side of yourself that’s true, a little bit tender, and that you don’t usually express?
This is AWESOME and I couldn’t agree more!!! First of all PACE you are so awesome, I saw you on a video about full time RVing (MY DREAM) and am so happy to see/hear you here! I am also a bi-poly activist and have been shy about being my full free self on my site and in my biz and you have TOTALLY inspired me to embrace all of me THANK YOU! You can find my post on FB with the hashtag today — I posted an older SUPER goofy video of me dancing in my underwear sharing about how loving our bodies AS IS is the way we find true happiness and Orgasms! 🙂 Check it out! HUGS! <3
Awesome, thank you so much and I will totally check it out! *hugs back*