“Marketing is not an event, but a process … It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely.” – Jay Conrad Levinson
Marketing is a lifestyle. Like working out or playing piano, it’s a practice. A habit.
Does that make you feel exhausted? Me too, sometimes, in the same way that flossing and brushing my teeth seems impossibly hard some nights.
Where does our resistance to regular actions that we know benefit us come from? Like marketing ourselves.
For me it goes like this: this is going to take so long. And it’s not going to feel pleasant. I’m going to have to contort my brain into saying valuable, insightful stuff, when really what I want is to lay on the couch and read a book. And what if it’s not worth it? What if no one comments on my post or watches my video or leaves me a review?
When I actually sit down to DO the marketing work, though, it doesn’t feel bad at all. Yet the anticipation gives me grief (sometimes to the point that I put the task off indefinitely!).
What’s that about?
It’s something to do with: time is precious, and I want to spend it doing things that make me feel good + I know will pay off. At least one or the other. For example:
- Reading books: reading books makes me feel good. Full stop.
- Weightlifting: while I’m weightlifting I don’t feel good, per se. My muscles hurt, I’m panting, and my hands are shrieking in protest from gripping that heavy dumbbell. But I know it will pay off in more strength, toned muscles, a sense of accomplishment and bragging rights.
- Eating ice cream: ice cream is delicious and eating it is extremely enjoyable. Full stop.
- Playing piano: a lot of the time, playing is aggravating. You hit the wrong notes. Your fingers won’t obey your mind and play gently or softly, instead they just bang around on the keys. It’s impossible to get the timing right on those three measures, so you play them over and over again with the metronome. But you know it will pay off. If you practice every day, pretty soon it will be enjoyable… at least until you start your next piece.
- Marketing: while I’m doing it, it’s pretty fun! Not as fun as reading or ice cream, but I love writing and talking. I love ideas. Connecting with people is my favorite thing. But… will it pay off? Am I doing the right things for the results I want? Do I enjoy making Facebook Like interview series enough intrinsically to make it worth it? What about that gut feeling that it will pay off, but I don’t know when? How can I spend time writing insightful commentary on LinkedIn, when I have all these deadlines to meet?
Marketing yourself takes a combination of faith, vision, commitment and patience. Like many things worth doing, it’s challenging – especially because you can’t be sure of your outcomes…or can you?
Practicing an instrument won’t guarantee that you’ll be the next Yo-Yo Ma… but it does guarantee you’ll get better and better. Weightlifting won’t guarantee that you’ll become the strongest woman in the world… but you’ll get stronger and stronger. Marketing yourself doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get on the Fortune 500 list or sell your company for a kabillion dollars or keynote the next conference in your industry. But you will. get. better.
This post is part of my 100 Blog Posts in 100 Days series. View the rest here.
