As you may have guessed, P.I.S. P.O.U.R. is an acronym.

A rather clever one I thought… and I’ll admit it, at the time of the brainwave, there was a little shimmy to celebrate the creativity!

The acronym describes self-limiting behaviours that, as a business owner, specifically one who owns a service based company, you might be familiar with:

• Procrastination
• Impostor syndrome
• Self-sabotage
• Perfectionism
• Overwhelm
• Uncertainty (of the fear of failure)
• Remuneration blocks (around not charging your worth)

How many can you relate to? 🤨

Here’s the thing…

Mindset. Is. Everything.

Mindset is the thoughts and beliefs you live by. It’s the point of view that you see, hear, interpret and react to the world around you.

Problems occur when your beliefs manifest as P.I.S. P.O.U.R. behaviour. The outcome of which, can affect all aspects of your personal life and in business.

As a copywriter, I’ve battled with internal bullying beliefs (IBBs) for a long time. I call them IBBs because they usually come from within. From the inner critic in charge of the not so helpful internal dialogue that can all too often be set to repeat mode.

For the most part, I was unconscious of these beliefs. Through my own research and interest in psychology, human behaviour and how the brain works, I started to become more consciously aware of the beliefs that were unhelpful to me. My knowledge expanded further due to different approaches to personal development and working with incredible clients in that space.

Today, I see the same behaviours in everyday life by observing people. Everyone has them. You will have them too, whether you are aware of them or not.

P.I.S. P.O.U.R. behaviour when crafting copy

When writing copy and content for your business these beliefs can cause writer’s block… blank page syndrome… articulation affliction…

• How many times have you disregarded a draft social media post?
• Failed to hit the send button on a newsletter or promotional email?
• Put off changing your website copy or launching that blog?
• Found a mundane task to do instead of writing your bio?

Many people want to write copy for their website and content for their social media profiles. They have great ideas and tons of valuable information to share.

But they’re stuck.

They’re too busy worrying about the future … reliving the past … unable to move forward … battling with inner critics posing multiple P.I.S. P.O.U.R. reasons why they shouldn’t do something.

• Who are you to guide others?
• You don’t know enough to be the expert
• What if people disagree with you?
• What if you get found out?

Other people don’t want to write. But they still struggle with defining ideal clients, creating unique selling propositions and even understanding their own why in business and purpose in life. Because of this, they scrimp on spending the time needed to effectively articulate how they serve their clients. They struggle to translate the required information in a brief and, as a consequence, may not gain the outcome they are looking for from the external help of a freelancer or agency.

Being P.I.S. P.O.U.R. is the cause of many sales and marketing struggles for business owners

I’m not a mindset coach or counsellor. I’m a Storypreneur (more on why I chose that title in another article), but I know from experience that P.I.S. P.O.U.R. behaviours stunt the growth of a business.

For many years I blamed overworking, people-pleasing, cash flow issues and setbacks on:

• Not enough hours in the day
• Not having the right clients
• Lack of experience
• Not having the right tools or the right people…

The list goes on – and not much of it was is valid.

They were all excuses for not making the right choice. For choosing not to write the promotional email and be consistent with social media content. Choosing not to put my prices up. Choosing to say yes to clients and projects that didn’t align with my values. Choosing to not invest in the right equipment or software and ‘make do’ instead. Choosing to address everyone in my copy.

Do any of these excuses ring true for you?

Letting go of P.I.S. P.O.U.R. behaviours

As I consciously started to focus on what I really wanted (in life and in business) and put myself first, I felt more confident in my writing. I was clearer about the clients I wanted to work with. I understood why I was attracted to certain projects – for all the right reasons.

The first step to overcoming these behaviours is to notice when you feel frustration, anger, disappointment, sadness or resentment.

These emotions are signs that you are out of alignment with what you are doing. Observe what takes place before you feel this way.

• What has happened?
• Who have you been in contact with?
• Where have you been?
• Is it the project you are working on?
• The people you are working for or with?

The more you become aware of when you feel out of alignment the more empowered you will be to make a change. To make a better choice that puts you in a state of flow.Being creative and telling stories was my flow. Finding a lesson learnt and a meaningful message in a story is a natural way to attract like-minded people. In contrast, the people-pleasing mode I was stuck in for a long time will always bring the wrong people knocking.

Ditching P.I.S. P.O.U.R. behaviours, or at least being aware of when they are at play, will guide you to being in flow. For me, this has been adopting a storytelling approach to my copywriting and pursuing writing for pleasure.

The ‘investigator’ and ‘experimenter’ have been handed the reins for 2022

This year I’m on an open storytelling journey that no longer needs an acronym to hide behind.

If you relate to being P.I.S. P.O.U.R. on any level I think you’ll enjoy the anecdotes I have planned. They will be lessons in overcoming self-sabotaging behaviours penned as a relatable tale. The stories and techniques will be valuable to you as a business owner, whether you are on the same journey as me, a few steps behind or even a few steps ahead.

Using storytelling as a technique in your marketing approach will help you to become more confident in defining your voice, personality, clients and unique offering. It’ll be fun.

Overcoming perceived limitations will enable you to carve the perfect place in your market with copy and content that speaks the language of your ideal clients.

How? Because it will be:

• Aligned with what you really want
• In flow with your purpose
• Value based
• Natural not salesy
• Easy

What P.I.S. P.O.U.R. behaviours have caused blocks for you in the past and how have you overcome them? I’d love to know in the comments.