In a recent Huffington Post article, Marcia Reynolds - author of Wander Women: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction - states that “when women talk about themselves, they earn more. She cited a reason why many women feel burned out in Corporate America and opt not to climb the corporate ladder is that too many women think it takes “hard work and long hours” to advance in a company. But she says it isn’t just hard work that moves your forward - it is increasing your visibility and building key relationships.

While Reynolds’ premises focus on the corporate women, women entrepreneurs can also benefit from both increased visibility and fruitful relationship-building. Both require something that many of us fail to do: Self-promotion.

The first step to self-promotion is to know what you bring to the table in business. Identify what you contribute beyond your skills and knowledge. What traits do you possess that drive you to success?

Reynolds includes an exercise in her article for women to better articulate their worth, and I’m excerpting it here because you need to do this:

Describe a peak experience where you felt fully alive and excited about your work. This could be while you were working on something, or at the end of a project or challenging situation. What five things did you contribute to creating this peak experience beyond your work knowledge and skills (personal strengths, gifts, talents, emotions, attitudes, values, unique sense or perspective)?

She also recommends keeping a success journal where you don’t just list what you accomplish but pinpoint the traits you have that helped you accomplish them. Learn more about Marcia Reynold’s work at Outsmart Your Brain.

What are your personal strengths? Talk about yourself!

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