Newsletter Email: Value Translation Framework
You know that moment when someone asks what you do and you hear yourself say "I'm a consultant" or "I'm a photographer" – and something inside you dies a little?
The words feel like sawdust in your mouth. You watch their eyes glaze over with that polite-but-distant smile that screams 'next conversation, please'.
Meanwhile, you're screaming internally: But I just spent three years helping a struggling tech startup completely restructure their operations and avoid bankruptcy. I don't just "consult" – I save businesses. Or: I don't just take photos – I capture the essence that makes artisan bakers' work irresistible to their dream customers.
Sound familiar?
The commoditisation trap that's killing your credibility
Here's the brutal truth about what happens when you default to generic job titles.
You've just thrown yourself into the same bucket as every other person who calls themselves a consultant, coach, or creative. The person listening now has exactly zero reason to remember you, hire you, or refer anyone to you. You're competing on price because you sound like everyone else.
But it's worse than that.
Your nervous system knows you're performing. That hollow feeling when you hear those words come out of your mouth? That's your body rejecting the disconnect between who you actually are and how you're presenting yourself.
You have twenty years of hard-won expertise. You've solved problems most people can't even identify. You approach challenges in ways that are uniquely yours, shaped by everything you've learned and experienced.
None of that comes through when you reduce yourself to a job title that could apply to 50,000 other people on LinkedIn.
You're not broken – the system is
What makes you different already exists. You don't need to manufacture uniqueness or transform into some polished version of yourself that sounds like a corporate press release.
You need to translate what's already true.
Your specific background – whether corporate, creative, technical, or completely unconventional – shapes how you see problems other people miss entirely. The particular way you guide transformation isn't just what you deliver; it's how your mind works, informed by every failure, breakthrough, and hard-won lesson along the way.
This isn't about crafting clever marketing messages. It's about finding words for what you actually do that don't make you feel like you're dying inside every time you say them.
When you stop performing and start transmitting
Here's what shifts when you can speak clearly about your actual value.
Your energy changes first. Instead of that drained, hollow feeling after networking events, you feel energised. You stop apologising for taking up space in conversations.
The person listening leans in instead of looking for an escape route. They ask follow-up questions. The right people get excited. The wrong people politely excuse themselves – which is exactly what you want.
In client conversations, you build authority faster because you're speaking from genuine expertise rather than hiding behind professional jargon that means nothing to anyone.
Most importantly, you stop feeling like a fraud every time someone asks what you do.
The structure that cuts through the noise
The pattern that works is this:
"I help [specific type of person] [achieve specific transformation] so they can [desired outcome] without [what they want to avoid]."
But here's what makes it powerful: the specificity that makes people think "That's exactly me."
Not "small business owners" but "burned-out corporate directors who want to freelance but are terrified of starting from scratch."
Not "I'm a photographer" but "I help artisan food makers capture the soul of their creations so their customers feel the love before they even taste the product."
Not "grow their business" but "translate fifteen years of project management expertise into a sustainable consultancy that pays the mortgage without destroying their nervous system."
When you get this specific, something magical happens. The right person stops scrolling and thinks: How did they know exactly what I'm going through?
The conversation becomes real instead of performative. You attract opportunities that actually use your expertise instead of treating you like a generic problem-solver who'll take anything that pays.
I've mapped out the complete 5-step process for creating your own value statement that doesn't make you want to hide under a rock every time you say it. Plus real examples from food photographers to business coaches that show how this sounds when you get it right.
If you're tired of introducing yourself like you're apologising for existing, the full framework is here.
Your expertise already matters. Now you just need words that prove it...
Louise