What does a Runaway Bride have to do with Your Business?
Have you seen the movie Runaway Bride?
We watched it this weekend again and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.
I just love Julia Roberts!
Anyway, there is a moral to that story that is quite powerful.
I think it’s an excellent metaphoric representation of how people often decide on and engage in their initial entrepreneurial ventures.
In the movie Julia’s character is famous for making it almost to the altar and then bolting out the door as fast as she can run – or in one case ride a horse. If you haven’t seen the movie is quite funny. At the same time, there is message imbedded that comes clearly to light in the last few scenes. The message has to do with being who someone else wants you be versus being who you are. It’s about being Authentic.
In the home business world, whether network marketing, coaching, or affiliate marketing there is a huge push to present a certain persona to your audience.
- Be the Leader
- Fake it ’till you Make it.
- Be a product of your product.
Particularly in the world of scheduled networking events face-to-face or online marketing, you have literally 30 seconds to make an impact. In that 30 second elevator presentation or landing page, you must appeal to your audience. As you study how to do this from books and webinars you learn to create a “phrase that fits” for your audience. (Rarely are you taught about Authentic Marketing.)
Julia Roberts did that too – created a “phrase that fits”, with each almost husband that she got engaged to. The movie was meant to be amusing. But if you believe. as Joseph Campbell teaches, that there is a communal-cultural knowing that appears in stories we resonate with, you can see that something poignant was going on each time Julia bolted back down the aisle the opposite way.
Deep inside she knew that SHE WAS NOT REAL. She knew that she DIDN’T really know who she was outside of her connection with her groom and her likes and dislikes that she shifted to match his. She was not being Authentic.
Much like people who are learning to market themselves as Solopreneurs or Entrepreneurs. Particularly in the Network Marketing industry, I believe this is what causes so much shifting around from one company to another searching for the holy grail of success. People are drawn in by the community, the products,the messaging and yet are not quite sure WHO THEY ARE, in all of that. As long as it is going well, they keep going. But the stage is set to jump to something else that is appealing as soon as the glow if over and the work starts. Unless, they know who they are deep in their heart and can align their true essence with the messaging of the company. This is the essence of Authentic Marketing.
We know that people are jumping all over the map in the entrepreneurial home business world. I have seen my coaching clients try on this hat and that hat. One day their Facebook posts sound like company messaging. A month later they sound like a leader they are following. A few months after that there may be another company. All in the search for truth.
The Runaway Bride made a decision towards the end of the movie that changed everything!
It is the same decision every Solopreneur and Entrepreneur must eventually make to build a business and a life based on truth. It is the decision that will bring long lasting success and joy.
I suggest you watch the movie- or watch it again with new eyes.
Come back and comment below, answering two questions:
- How do YOU like your eggs cooked?
- What one thing stood out as most important and how does that thing relate to you?
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As you explore your Truth. Check out Think Tank. It’s a guided experience that looks basic from the outline, but in fact compels you to ask and answer some tough, powerful questions about yourself, and your messaging.
Coaching both privately and in groups, Deborah is also a speaker, author, event leader and consultant. Creator of the Foundation and Framework Intensive, Question Master and Leader of the Entrepreneur Business Success Club, Deborah has been called an “Architect of Magical Business and Soul Structure”by her clients because she has a powerful ability to perform alchemy, changing passions and dreams into money and time by design.
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I watched that movie and liked it. But I would have never gotten that particular moral to that story as it relates to business. Sure, the philosophical moral is quite clear, but I guess that the same philosophy also can apply to your business principles. It is important to be true to yourself, as Shakespeare wrote, “and it must follow as the night the day. I am paraphrasing, of course.
Ah Shakespeare!
I know what it feels like to be frustrated and feel as though there isn’t enough money. You’re working on building your brand, as you know you shouldbut no matter what you do, you’re left feeling like your target audience isn’t connecting with your brand as well or as frequently as you’d like. Sounds all too familiar. It’s a common feeling: that nagging in the back of your brain, constantly saying, Do it More and Do it Better!
That is you NOT-SELF speaking. It is not your truth but the tricks of your ego based mind. You will never connect with your brand as well as you like until your brand rings 100% true to you!! Your correct target audience will be breaking down your door when your message is clear and powerful.
I listened to a pastor’s sermon which was about something similar to what we are discussing here. It was about generational cycles and how things such as addiction, abuse and depression, to name just a few, are handed down through generations. People tend to adopt behaviors that they grow up observing or that they are continually exposed to. It’s the same with bad business habits such as continually looking for greener pastures, instead of exploring and developing the opportunity you have before you.
Entrepreneurs often mistake the enjoyment of a hobby, the idea of a hot trend,’ or the possibility of a quick financial gain for passion.’ It’s true – but it’s not just true for entrepreneurs; I’ve seen lots of employees do the same thing. For entrepreneurs, the obvious thing is usually rapid growth: Of course I want to grow my business 50% this year – that’s what all entrepreneurs are passionate about. For employees, it’s usually the next step up the corporate ladder.