“And what do you do at Dan Christ Digital Services?” he asked, leaning in and looking at my name tag in the middle of a Friday morning Chamber of Commerce mixer.

This was it. The moment I’d known I needed to put myself in front of for months.

Locking eyes with him, a leader of a large, well known non-profit organization, I said, “I build AI strategies and tools for small businesses and professionals.”

His eyes lit up. He nodded his head. And we launched into a conversation about how he and his team use AI now.

I know I was present in the conversation because it ended with an offer to connect if I felt I could do anything to help them, which I do. Exactly what we each said, though, is a bit of a blur.

I was too busy standing a little taller, my shoulders and chin a bit prouder, realizing that the work I’d promised myself, and you, I would do a few months ago had culminated in this conversation.

But just 20 minutes earlier, I really didn’t know how it would go.

Even Professionals Practice

As I backed out of the driveway and headed to the event , I started practicing my introduction. I needed to lock down my answer to the “what do you do” question.

The words weren’t there. Some of them were, but they didn’t flow at all.

I pulled over and started a Claude Voice session in my Brand Building Project. It contains all my work on what I do, for whom, and why. And I’d just tuned its instructions a week ago, so I knew it was the thinking partner I needed at that moment.

Driving down the road, I ran my opening again and again, struggling to hit the key words in a repeatable, memorable way. I’d be face to face with potential customers in moments with nowhere to hide.

By the time I parked and started walking to the event, though, I had the sentence locked in my brain, ready to deliver.

Did I use an AI trick to nail the event? Nope.

There are no shortcuts to success. I’d done the work.

Laying The Foundation

I’ve been working on my personal brand and writing since late 2024. Since then, I’ve built a business and delivered services to customers while refining my ideal client profile and what I want to be known for.

That’s included attending The Uprising, a unique, in-person conference, then working through how the experience changed both how I see myself and what I want to become. From that base work, I’ve been refining how I describe what I do and for whom including recently updating my title on a friend’s speaking page.

Because of the way I am wired, I am reticent to talk about myself or to put myself on, what feels like to me anyway, a self-aggrandizing pedestal. Getting this business off the ground, though, is going to require more than a modicum of moxie and swagger.

Which means looking people dead in the eye and telling them about myself.

And that’s what I did, over and over again, at the Chamber event.

Planting Some Seeds

I talked with several local business people. Surprisingly, everyone wanted to talk about AI. When I told them what I do, they almost couldn’t wait to tell me how they use their AI tool of choice or how they’re curious about getting started.

Those were fun conversations. I got a chance to validate how they use a free account or challenges they face with it. From there, I could pivot to explain how I have helped others in similar situations and how they’ve described the value they’ve gotten from our work together.

Maybe no new opportunities will come from the conversations and the five new business cards I pocketed along with my promise to connect. Maybe they will.

Regardless, I know I will do the work — already started that process for each one in fact — to nurture the connections.

More importantly, I know that when I walk into the next event or encounter the next new acquaintance, I’ll be ready to look them in the eye, shoulders squared, and connect.

Let’s Stay In Touch

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