By Jeff Beals
Mastering the art of personal branding, or what I like to call “Self Marketing Power,” requires a certain attitude.
You can’t market yourself if you have nothing to market. That means you must work hard at all times. Marketing without solid performance behind it is but a lie. As you promote yourself, you must constantly work hard. The harder you work and the more you produce, the more confident you will feel, and therefore your self marketing efforts will come across better. This creates a snowball effect, because the better your self marketing is, the more opportunities you will have to be productive.
A self marketer with a good work ethic will search for opportunities everywhere. Be curious. Sometimes the best opportunities come from the places you least expect. Constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to promote yourself. Pounce when the opportunities show up.
To be effective in self promotion you must think big and take risks. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone. Perhaps you are somewhat shy or are new to your business and thus intimidated by industry veterans. Don’t waste time on fear and worry. It leads to dis- appointment and inaction.
For many people, their first forays into self marketing are small. That’s a fine way to gain experience and build self confidence. Grassroots self marketing can start very humbly. The key is to keep building up your efforts. You will never gain the highest levels of name recognition and respect if you don’t do something big at some point. Once you break through the big risk “barrier,” all subsequent activities will not seem like such a big deal.
There is an old saying that life comes down to just a few big moments. Don’t let timidity prevent you from seizing big opportunities in your life.
Self marketing is a positive-sum game, not a zero-sum game. Everyone can win. Just because one person becomes a rock star in an industry or community doesn’t mean that someone else cannot. Some people, even some successful ones, have a difficult time understanding this.
No doubt you have come across someone who can’t stand hearing praise about someone else. You say something nice about someone else, and that person feels compelled to refute it, bring up a negative thing about the person or at least minimize it with a quick barb or roll of the eyes.
Anyone who behaves like this is telling the rest of the world that he or she has a low self esteem or a compromised sense of self worth. One of the most important rules of the self marketing game is to never tear down others while promoting yourself. In fact, we should take this rule so seriously that we should go out of our way to build others up as we promote ourselves. Nothing looks so bad as to come across as jealous, envious or spiteful.
Jeff Beals is a professional speaker and award-winning author, who helps professionals enjoy greater success through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. He delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide. To discuss booking a presentation, go to JeffBeals.com or email at info@jeffbeals.com or call us at (402) 637-9300.
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