Copyright 2006 Robin Harris, DesignerLife
Marketing, that is the one thing that stands between many gifted people and entrepreneurial success. The question we will explore is why and what can be done about it. So lets start with a simple question that sets the stage for this discussion if you are not naturally gifted in the art of sales & marketing does marketing have to hurt?
The answer is, of course it does when its treated like some unfathomable form of torture that precludes your success. If you thrive on pain, struggling, and striving, this is fine but if you are like most people, just the thought of activating emotional pain is daunting enough to actually keep you from excavating your own potential to succeed. In fact, thinking about it and drowning in the dread of it can cause you to fail or to abandon your dreams altogether. Now I cant promise you that after reading this article, youll make a 180-degree turnaround, but I can offer a 2-step solution that will help. You can use this solution to make a shift that can give you enough breathing room to start getting this marketing phobia handled, once and for all.
Are you ready?
The beginning of all success and all failure is a seed thought that takes root and then proceeds to lock in a viewpoint that is very powerful while its presence remains transparent to us. It occurs to us like its the undisputable truth because its in the background, acting as an invisible filter that continuously attracts the means to validate itself. It unconsciously controls our inner monologues and feelings, and then it flows outward into the world as what we say, what we do, and how we do it.
Most of us have been programmed from a very early age to be invisible, to exalt others opinion of us more than our own opinion so that the fear of rejection seems like a threat to life itself. We learn to withdraw in the face of the challenges and back away from actions that take us out of our comfort zone. Can you see how this program is one that gives rise to experiences of failure? Your mind convinces you that you are damned if you try to move forward and the truth is you are damned if you dont. So imagine trying to market yourself and your business offer with this enemy running rampant in the recesses of your mind.
In our free teleclass, Learn How To Set Yourself Up For Success, we go into more details about this very topic but right now Id like to describe a simple 2-step solution that can help ease the stress that is sometimes associated with marketing.
1. Become the Observer of what gets in the way you.
2. Reframe your definition of marketing so that it inspires you.
Step 1 Become the Observers and observe how it feels when you think about moving forward, observe how it feels when you take a step forward, observe how it feels when the results are not as youd hoped. Our feelings are the way we validate our experiences as true or untrue and so when we have negative feelings and dont do anything to neutralize them, we unknowingly reinforce the failure experience with thoughts like this: I knew this wasnt going to work, Im no good at this, They were right, I dont know why I keep wasting my time, etc.
That thing you are observing that triggers those feelings of defeat is not you. ITS NOT YOU. It sounds like you, it looks like you, it feels like you but ITS NOT YOU. You are so much bigger than that, you are so much more resilient than that, you are so much more brilliant than that. You, YOU, learned to walk, to run, to read and write, to drive and so much more because you thrive on challenges. Moving outside of your comfort zone and taking on something new is how YOU grow.
Start separating your identity from the little frightened entity called EGO (Everybodys Got One) that shrinks back from life and wants to stay small, comfortable, and unaccomplished. The EGO, by design, will challenge you to soar like an eagle, or walk like a chicken. YOU get to decide which!
Step 2 - Reframe your definition of marketing so that it inspires you. Consider that marketing is nothing more than a focused and intentional form of effective communication when there is something worth saying and someone worth saying it to. You know how we mostly talk off the cuff, not really saying anything important, just blabbing off at the mouth, making small talk to erase the silence with pointless words? Well, thats not marketing. LOL.
Imagine there is something worth saying and there is someone who wants to or needs to hear that message and you take the time to mold the message in such a way that the receiver is more likely to receive it thats marketing. Imagine trying to sell your amazing product or service to a brick wall. Wouldnt that make you feel incompetent, hopeless, like a failure? Itd make anyone with good sense feel that way; a brick wall is not interested in your amazing product or service. I just revealed a prime factor that can make marketing feel pointless.
You already know how to communicate effectively with intention and focus but because you have defined marketing with such a narrow scope, you feel like marketing is rocket science, its not. Your job is to start observing yourself when you are having focused, intentional, and effective communications with people and to engage in these kinds of communications more often. From there you can transfer this higher form of communication to your business, refine it, learn more about it and treat it just like when you first learned to drive.
Lets summarize the 2-step process. By observing the EGO and consciously distinguishing it from yourself and then by redefining marketing so that it inspires you and builds on what you already do well, you will be able to experience your marketing activities as a part of your personal and professional development process. If you want more strategies to help you achieve your business aspirations, join us in one of our free teleclasses. |
