So, how do you introduce yourself? Joanna Bloor has spent the last 5 years helping people answer this question for themselves. A self-styled ‘Fairy Godmother’, Joanna instills others with the confidence to get where they want to go.
After working for start-ups in the tech space for over 25 years, today Joanna Bloor helps individuals discover their value. She describes her job as helping others identify what makes them uniquely awesome.
Sure, it’s a bit of an oversimplification. However, helping people understand who they are and the possibilities contained inside them is core to what she does.
The Key to an Unforgettable Introduction
For Joanna, how to introduce yourself is really all about the future. She’s quick to dismiss the idea
that to tell people who you are, you have to tell them what you did in the past.
Instead, she recommends establishing your credibility then focusing on future possibilities. It’s this magic combination of the two that makes people go “Hey, I want to work with you!”.
Whenever I’m introducing myself… I’m intentfully talking about who is the future me. That’s who people actually want to meet.” – Joanna Bloor
The Cinderella Principle
Joanna uses the story of Cinderella to explain how to approach introducing yourself. She points to two key principles:
- Be clear about where you want to go: Cinderella knew she wanted to go to the ball. Make sure you’re super clear, and specific, about your destination.
- Have the confidence to make a grand entrance: The Fairy Godmother may have magically transformed Cinderella, but Cinderella still needed to make a grand entrance to be seen. Likewise, don’t be afraid to talk about yourself and tell people who you are and what you do. How can people choose you if they can’t see you?
After chatting with Joanna for over an hour, I really didn’t have anything to say but, WOW! She’s a human dynamo, bursting with energy and inspiration. I absolutely loved having her on the podcast.
There’s so much to take in here so I can’t wait for you to listen. Bring a notepad!
In this episode:
- Joanna shares her journey on how she got to where she is today. I learnt so much in this question, not only about Joanna, but also her take on what question we should be asking instead.
- We discuss why women feel uncomfortable selling themselves – this is eye opening, and relates to our experiences from as early as 8 years old.
- How to introduce yourself so you’re unforgettable – Joanna actually completes an exercise on me to show this in practice.
- Why it’s important to change your introduction based on who you are talking to
- How women can differentiate themselves so we’re not just “one of the guys”
- And how to flip the perception of being caring, empathetic and nurturing as strengths, instead of a weakness.
- And so much more!
Episode Resources
- Joanna Bloor on LinkedIn and Twitter
- Joanna Bloor business website
- Register for LIVE! with Joanna (every Friday at Noon PDT)
- Watch previous episodes of LIVE! with Joanna on her YouTube Channel
- Ted Talk, How 3D printing helped me lose weight, Joanna Bloor
- Book, Recursion (author Blake Crouch)
- Article, How to introduce yourself so you’ll be unforgettable (in a good way!), (Ideas.Ted.com)
- Book, Unhappenings (author Edward Aubry)
- Book, The Taster (author V.S. Alexander)
[Full Disclaimer: Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means we receive compensation, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through the link.]
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