Here's the cold, hard truth:
You can sign up for the premium, fancy-pants email provider (after spending a hundred hours comparing the options), create the most gorgeous website imaginable (after spending hundreds of hours planning, tweaking, and revamping) and implement the highest powered shopping cart available (after spending hundreds of hours figuring out how to put it in place, use it and make it work with your other systems) – but if you don't have this, nothing will work.
You've got to know, with radical clarity, what you want to SAY.
Yes, your Right Clients matter (a ton.)
Yes, your online home must be inviting and inspire action.
Yes, you've got to keep providing value to your community so they can learn to trust you and look to you for help.
Yes, you need systems for purchasing your services and products.
Do all of that. But not until you have…
Radical Clarity of your Rooftop Message.
This may surprise you, but this is one of the most common barriers to successful business, especially for those of us who are building a business with a powerful message at the core (which everyone should be doing).
Go check in on your own message, real quick, will you?
Imagine you have a rooftop and you are standing on it (safely). You have a large gathering of just the right people below you (more on that in an upcoming post) and they are waiting to hear what you have to say to make their lives better.
What would you say to them? Start like this:
“Listen up! You must hear this! What you absolutely MUST know to make your lives better is…”
Then you finish out that sentence with what you know from your expertise to be true. What you “know for sure”, like Oprah does in every issue of “O” magazine.
That's your Rooftop Message.
It's your “Must Say”. It's the thing you are here to serve with, the way you change lives. It's why you built your business – because people must resolve this thing in their lives to live the big, beautiful life they deserve.
Your Rooftop Message is not:
- how they do this thing
- your reasons for believing it
- the services you provide
- how you help
(Those all come later and with lots more detail.)
Your Rooftop Message is a simple statement that declares what you believe will profoundly change the lives of those who need your services.
Here's mine: Authentic powerful self-expression is the path to successful, satisfying business, personal peace and, ultimately world peace.
Gimme a Rooftop – I'm all over it!
Unlike the hundreds of hours you will (or have) spent on email systems, shopping carts and website design, you probably only really need 20 minutes (maybe five, if you've done any work at all on this) to get this really clear. It's required work for you to make a real impact in others' lives.
Got your Rooftop Message clear already? Looking to shift it, make it more powerful? Let's hear it and we can celebrate it together or work on it as you wish. Share in the comments.
Thank you to Robot B on flickr for the rooftop image.