"Just Be Yourself" is Terrible Advice

We hear that a lot. “Just be yourself.” It seems like it should be something we aspire to. All that “authentic voice” and so forth.

And there’s a lot of truth to it. I’ve found that every time I’ve tried to adopt the persona of someone else, it’s resulted in disaster.

But here’s an interesting observation. It was related to me by Leo Flint who runs a wealth advisory firm that caters to professional athletes and entertainers. When I interviewed him for the my book, The Affluent Marketing Blueprint , he had this to say.

I think that just trying to be yourself is terrible advice, especially when you are starting out. The “yourself ” is a person who’s uncomfortable, shy, and awkward around famous and successful people. Why would you want to be that person??

I think what you want to be is a version of yourself. Observe the people who are successful in your firm, and emulate those characteristics that you ad-mire. Some of them will fit with your own personality and others won’t. Cherry pick the ones that do, and create a mosaic of characteristics.?

I like that build-a-mosaic approach.

Have you tried anything like that? How did it work? What other techniques do you use for projecting confidence around the wealthy? Drop me a note in comments

Mark

PS: Don’t forget to sign up for a free copy of my book Affluent Marketing Blueprint here