What Do People See?

I attended a ceremony at my daughters' school. The Kindergarten playground was given a much needed makeover and was being named in honor of a Kindergartner's baby brother who died last winter from Trisomy 18, a fatal genetic disorder. It was a bittersweet moment, listening to the family speak of their son and at the same time, watching the youngsters bursting with excitement as they waited for the official "go ahead" to PLAY. I was honored to be part of it and to bear witness once again to this family's grace, courage and strength. A few days after, another mom came up to me in the schoolyard and said, "Did you see the photos from the dedication ceremony? You were in a lot of them -- you looked great." At this point, I almost turned around to look behind me for the person she was speaking to, but it turned out she was talking to me. "Me?", I asked. "Yes, you always look so put together", she commented. Again, I nearly turned around. Because if I had to describe myself, "put together" would definitely not be on my list of adjectives. Funny? Yes. Put together? No. I'm a 39 year old mother of 3 who hasn't had a full night's sleep in 2 years. Most days, I fly by the seat of my pants and wear one of my "uniforms", a pair of jeans or khakis with a boat-neck, three quarter sleeved top in black, grey, brown or navy, and my FitFlops. My only accessories are my 10 year old Tag Heuer watch and my 2 year old son, Brendan. I am by no means "put together". But that's how this woman sees me and as they say, perception is reality. It made me stop and think about how other people see my online presence, the photos of me and the website that represents my business. Do these things tell the story that I think I'm telling or do they say something entirely different? I wonder. When people visit your website, what do they see? What is their perception of you and your product? What does your social media presence say? What story are you telling? Because as this woman proved, what they see is much different than what you see. Test it out. Ask a few friends to give your website the "Rorschach Test". Tell them to blurt out their immediate thoughts and then go a bit further into what their perceptions are. 

Do your perceptions match? Are they completely different? Will you change anything based on their feedback? Let me know below.