The Power of First Impressions: How Your Image Affects Your Business Success!

Long ago, I came to understand something: people don’t respect others based on age alone, or based on morals—most often, not even based on religious status.

Instead, people respect social status and financial positions!

I know it is ugly for many people to accept, but it is the reality of how our world works.

My brother passed away a few weeks ago, and we accepted guests for three days who came to offer their condolences. 

During those three days, I watched how people behaved when a religious person came to offer condolences, how they reacted when an average-looking person came, how they reacted to a known relative, and how they reacted to a wealthy or high-status person.

Something that stood out more within those days was when a well-known politician arrived. The moment he stepped out of his car, the elders sitting close to me started telling me, “Mr. X is here,” even though I could clearly see him arrive.

Some of them were even older than him, but before he even reached where we were sitting, they all stood up to greet him, and none of them sat until he sat down, even though some of them were older than him.

That level of respect was given to him only because of his social status and nothing else!

I am sure if you think, you can find examples of similar events that you have personally witnessed.

And if people respect social status, then it is crucial to develop the right self-image as an entrepreneur if you want your customers or clients to respect you and want to do business with you.

The Power of First Impressions

It is very easy to give a good first impression, but it is extremely hard to change a bad first impression.

Once people have a first impression of you, it is hard to do something that will change it. It is not impossible, but it is hard.

I always liked to dress well, and when I was working as an administration officer, I used to work with large supermarkets and supply them with products through sales reps at a good arrangement.

I was struggling financially during that time because my salary was not good, but because of how I dressed, whenever I visited one of the supermarkets to speak with the manager, I was treated like the owner of the company I worked for 🙂

One time, I entered the supermarket holding some samples of a new product, heading to the manager’s office. I met him on the way, and he quickly directed one of his staff to take the product I was holding. 

Before I left, he asked one of his staff to take my bag to my car—not knowing I didn’t have a car at the time 😂

The point is, I presented myself well. I never lied about anything, but I was perceived as “important,” and so I was treated as such. I had an easy time working with the managers because of that.

How Can You Present Yourself Right Online?

This can be challenging if you are just getting started in online entrepreneurship because you have limited experience in most of the presentable stuff and you don’t have the money to hire branding experts.

But you can start with one simple goal: whatever you put out online, make sure it is at the highest standard that you can present.

If you are creating graphics like Facebook banners or social posts, find inspiration from high-industry standards and make sure yours doesn’t look cheaper. 

Don’t rush things—spend as much time as you need to brand your business or personal brand professionally.

Whatever makes you look cheap or amateur, avoid it at all costs—things like typing errors in your content, stock images with other brands’ watermarks, and bad AI-generated graphics or content.

…But Don’t Get Stuck!

As important as it is to be professional, nothing beats action. So don’t let yourself get stuck in the pursuit of perfection.

Try your best to avoid the obvious mistakes I mentioned above, but at some point, you have to just get yourself out there, do your best, and aim to improve every single day.

Even today, I looked at some of my earliest YouTube videos that I turned private because of how embarrassing I looked. I laughed when I saw the terrible angles, bad audio, and my stupid posture. 

The channel didn’t go anywhere because it was just bad, but I am good now because I started the best way I could and kept improving. 

If I didn’t start, I would never have become as good as I am now.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is, people will give you respect based on the level of social and financial status they believe you have.

And it all comes down to giving a good first impression and building a respectable self-image.

So, whatever you do online, never forget the importance of giving a good first impression.

Cheers 🥂