While running some errands this week, I stopped to pick up a few boxes of hair color. Actually this is a pretty normal thing for me, as I haven’t seen my own natural hair color since I was 17 years old.  Yes, my online headshot is only about one year old, but my hair color is prone to change far more often.

For those who haven’t met me in person, I like change….a lot! In fact, over the years I’ve pretty much done all of the colors – from the standard brown, black , blonde, and red, to the more shocking blue, green, purple, etc. With that said, it’s a pretty regular occurrence for me to purchase three or four boxes of dye at a time.

As I piled the boxes on the checkout counter, the cashier asked me: “Are you a barber? I mean, do you do people’s hair?”

“Well” I answered, “I do mine.”

“Seriously?” the cashier asked. “I always wanted to try blonde hair, but I’m scared.”

“So what’s stopping you?” I blurted out. “No. Really. Why not do it today? Try the blonde, and if it doesn’t work out, dye it back to your natural color.”

Yeah. He wasn’t expecting that. As he tried to form a response, I could see that he was both surprised and intrigued. After a moment he replied, “You know… I might just go for it!”

Many of us have these little things that we’d like to try in our lives, but there’s that little voice of fear whispering, “Don’t do it!”.

Why is that? Why do we give in so easily?

This is as true in daily life as it is in my business. Sometimes when working with clients, they have wonderful ideas of different things they’d like to share on Facebook and Twitter, but they are afraid to try them out. I say WHY NOT TRY IT?

After all, we have all seen a business online that only talks about their products and promotions, and not much else. While this isn’t always a bad thing for every business, it can potentially become, well… boring. In most cases there are many companies out there representing your field. So why should a customer choose you?

This is why it’s critical for you to let your personality shine through in your social media presence! People connect with real people, not just logos and promotions.

Whether you express yourself with bleached hair, a passion for caffeine, or anything else, be sure that you take the time to be yourself! And don’t be afraid!

In the words of Oscar Wilde:

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”