Let’s be weird for a second, and imagine your service, your offer manifesting as the contents of a jar on a shelf. It’s a nice jar, you invested in it looking presentable, but it’s also not see-through. Anything could be lurking within.
Fortunately, it also has a clearly written label.
Unfortunately, you don’t really know what the label says.
It should be fairly representing the contents of the jar. But since the “jar” is your point of view, you can’t ever really step outside of it and check what other people see. Looking from inside the jar, it’s absolutely clear what it contains, but the outside world is just as invisible to you as the contents of the jar are to them.
So if the jar is your POV, what is the label? For most experts, it’s their LinkedIn page or website – the first serious and dedicated sign of their presence that potential clients will see.
How can you read it? You… can’t. You can get a good sense of what it probably says, however. When you understand who will be looking, who will you be compared with, and what prominent features you want them to notice while reading your label, you will be in a good position to make an educated guess.
There is a big difference between what you know you offer and what your audience thinks you offer. It’s possible to get them to a good degree of alignment, but not before you find out how the other side sees your work.