In the world of coaching, entrepreneurship, or any business venture, confidence is seen as a must-have characteristic.

Why? Because a vast majority lean into confidence to get them on a stage, guide them through coaching sessions, or empower them to deliver compelling presentations.

But relying on confidence as your driver is a form of self-empowerment and self-motivation that pulls power from your ego. In turn, this approach leads to vanity. And nowhere in that mindset is a reliance on God.

Losing Sight of What Matters

While many view vanity and ego as subtle yet powerful forces, those traits are capable of hindering progress and obstructing the path to true expertise and thought leadership.

Similar to confidence, vanity and ego rely on self to get things done. And leaning into our Creator becomes an afterthought or is nowhere in the mix.

Relying on these traits will find us:

• Focusing more on ourselves than on others
• Lacking authenticity in our interactions
• Exploiting opportunities or people to get ahead
• Compromising our core values

King Solomon, known as the wisest man on earth, unpacked the perils of vanity and its insidious nature in Ecclesiastes.

From personal experience and godly revelation, Solomon understood how vanity distracts us from our true purpose and cause us to lose sight of what truly matters.

As a Christian Business Leader or Ethical Entrepreneur who is called to showcase your expertise, it can be quite easy to fall into the trap of vanity to the point that your marketing may start to resemble Carly Simon's lyrics: "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you."

When that happens, you risk losing your audience's attention and failing to make meaningful connections with potential customers, collaborators, and partnerships.

Build Authentic Connections

While there's nothing wrong with highlighting your achievements and capabilities, success in business occurs when you build genuine connections with your customers and clients.

[PRO TIP] Shift your focus from yourself to them. You will do this well when you apply the JOY Framework: Jesus First, Others Second, and You Last.

Customers are not interested in a laundry list of your accomplishments. Prospective customers want solutions to their problems. They want to feel understood, valued, and supported. This is where relationship marketing comes into play.

Relationship Marketing Strategies

Segment Your Email List: Divide your email list into smaller segments based on connection points or interests to send more targeted and relevant content.

Personalize Your Emails: Address your subscribers by name and tailor your content to their interests and previous interactions with your brand.

Use A/B Testing: Test different subject lines, content, and calls-to-action to optimize your email campaigns for better engagement and conversion rates.

Provide Valuable Content: Offer useful, informative content in your emails that helps solve your subscribers' problems or addresses their needs.

Optimize for Mobile: Ensure that your emails are mobile-friendly to cater to the increasing number of users who access emails on their smartphones.

Eliminate Novellas: We live in a self-imposed world of ADHD where information is king and content comes from all directions. With people quickly scanning, help readers out with short soundbites, 1-2 sentence paragraphs, bolding, and bullet points that makes content easier to consume.

Tell Stories: Use storytelling techniques in your emails to create a more emotional connection with your subscribers and to make your messages more memorable.

By incorporating these tips into your email marketing strategy, you can cultivate genuine connections with customers. When done correctly, it will pay off over time.

Shift your focus from vanity to humility, from self-promotion to customer-centricity, and from short-term gains to long-term relationships.

When you do, you will change the tune in your customers' minds and create authentic connections.