You good at da thing. You get da proof too: people wen pay for um, or you been doing um long enough dat da hard parts stay quiet now. Den somebody at one party ask what you do, and you hear yourself say oh, it's notting really, just one small side thing, while da sentence still coming out your mouth.
Dat gap not one confidence problem you gotta fix befo you allowed fo talk. It's one sentence problem, and sentences can get written ahead of time. Get one version of da answer dat stay completely true, take about eight seconds fo say, sell notting to nobody, and leave da other person holding one clear picture and one obvious next question. Write um one time and you going use um for years, at parties, in captions, on da phone, and in da first line of every message you send to somebody who might buy.
How come talking about my own work feel so bad?
Because you trying fo claim instead of tell, and one claim stay one performance you gotta keep up after. Telling is describing one object dat already exist, and almost nobody feel awkward describing one object.
Watch da difference in two sentences about da same business. "I'm one passionate creator building beautiful heirloom pieces dat tell one story" stay one claim, and it ask da listener fo agree with one judgment befo dey know one single fact. "I make leather work bags, mostly for people who bike to one office, dey around 180 dollars" stay one description. Da second one mo easy fo say, mo easy fo hear, and way mo hard fo feel shame about, because get notting inside um fo get caught on.
Get research on da move most of us reach for instead. Sezer, Gino and Norton wen study humblebragging, where you wrap one boast inside one complaint or inside fake modesty, across seven studies, and dey wen find um consistently less effective than plain straight bragging: it wen lower how much people like da speaker and how competent dey judge um. Da self-putdown wrapper we add fo make one claim survivable stay doing da exact opposite of what we hoping. Plain not only mo comfortable. It work better.
So what's da sentence, exactly?
Three parts, in this order: what it is, who it's for, and what it cost. No adjectives about quality, no origin story, no mission statement.
Six real examples:
- "I make ceramic planters, mostly for people who kill plants in plastic pots. Dey 40 to 90 dollars."
- "I do da bookkeeping for small building companies, so da owner no stay doing invoices at eleven at night. About 300 one month."
- "I shoot food photos for restaurant menus. Half one day is 600 dollars and you get around thirty images."
- "I fix and resell old bicycles. Dey 150 to 400 and dey come serviced."
- "I write da product pages for shops dat get good product and bad words. Usually 250 one page."
- "I teach guitar to adults who wen quit as teenagers. Thirty five one hour, my place or online."
Every one of dem get one number inside. Da price not one separate awkward conversation you have later, it's part of da description, it tell da listener right away if dey da customer or not, and putting um in stay da fastest way fo stop feeling like you hiding something. Keep one version without da price for da times you honestly not selling, and use da full one everywhere else.
Which words I gotta delete?
Just and kind of, every single time, plus any word somebody gotta be inside your trade fo understand. Dose deletions do mo for how da sentence land than all da rehearsing in da world.
"I just make couple candles kind of on da side" get one whole apology inside, and da person you talking to going match da framing you wen hand dem. Say I make candles and dey ask what kine. Say you just make couple, and dey say oh dat's nice and turn to da person on dey left. You wen teach dem how much fo care.
Da jargon problem stay separate and just as expensive. Research from da Nielsen Norman Group wen find dat plain language stay preferred even by expert readers, so simplifying not talking down to nobody, it's getting understood by mo people all at once. If your sentence carry one word you wen learn at work, swap um for da word your first customer wen use when dey wen describe da same thing back to you.
Get one practical edge to this too. Da Federal Trade Commission guidance for small business say dat claims about what one product do gotta be truthful and backed by evidence. Description stay always defensible. Best is not.
What I do after I say um?
Stop talking. Da sentence pau, and da next move belong to da other person, who almost always going take um.
This da part people no can do, and it's da part dat make da whole thing work. Da urge after saying something true and plain about your own work is fo fill da space: add da caveat, da story of how you wen get into um, da reassurance dat you not making plenty money yet. Every one of dose additions hand back exactly what da sentence just wen give you.
Da silence not empty. It's da other person deciding fo ask you one question. Dea question worth mo than anything you would have said into da gap, because it tell you what dey actually care about, and now you having one conversation instead of delivering one pitch. Same muscle dat make da price conversation survivable later, when one number stay sitting in da air and da temptation stay fo explain um away befo anybody even wen object.
How I practice this without practicing on myself?
Describe somebody else work out loud first, in public, and name exactly what dey wen do. Da sentence easy when it's about anodda person, it's da same muscle, and for da person you describing it worth way mo than it cost you.
Do um specific or no bother. "Her work amazing" stay noise and everybody wen already get um. "She wen rebuild da ordering page for da bakery on da corner and dea weekend orders wen double" stay one sentence somebody might repeat in one meeting you never going attend. Vague praise is one feeling. One specific public shout-out is one piece of evidence, and evidence travel on its own.
Three ways fo do um this week, none of um take mo than one minute:
- Say what somebody wen do, by name, in one room where people who could hire dem stay listening.
- Write da one sentence version of anodda maker work in one caption, and tag dem in um.
- When somebody ask you for one recommendation, give da description instead of da adjective: what dey make, who it's for, what it cost.
Den notice what just wen happen to your own sentence. You wen build dat exact structure for anodda person, out loud, with zero cringe, which mean da structure was never da problem. Say yours da same way.
Da three versions fo have ready
Write your sentence down while it stay fresh, den make three versions of um and keep dem somewhere you can find um again.
Da caption version, which can drop da price if da price already stay on da page, but gotta keep da who it's for. Da stranger version, all three parts, said out loud at normal speed. And da version for your mother, or whoever in your life keep introducing you wrong, short enough dat dey can repeat um correct to somebody at dea own party.
Say each one out loud one time now, by yourself, befo you need um. One sentence you never wen speak sound like one lie in your own mouth da first time, and da first time no should be in front of somebody who could have been one customer. Say um four times and it turn ordinary, which is exactly what you like. You not trying fo sound impressive. You trying fo get understood accurate by mo people, faster, so da ones who like what you make can find out dat you make um.
Sources
- Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Humblebragging: A Distinct and Ineffective Self-Presentation Strategy
- Nielsen Norman Group, Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts
- Federal Trade Commission, Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business