JKLTip Self promotion is easier when you have your values clearly established and stick to them
The premise is clear. In order to serve people, they need to know about us. If we don’t have a team promoting us, then how will people find out? It’s simple, we need to promote ourselves. This can be a difficult thing for us. But the bottom line is if we don’t become popular someone else will. What if your message could be more helpful than theirs?
We often feel like we are bragging, or being selfish by promoting ourselves. If you struggle with this too, you may want to check out the article “Shameless Self Promotion”.
We can’t have our cake and eat it too. If we want to have a big impact, we need to reach out to the world. This means we will have people who don’t like us. It also means we will feel vulnerable, awkward and confused at times. That’s a good sign if you truly want to grow something far greater than yourself. Keep going.
Once we appreciate the importance of self-promotion, what do we do about getting over the initial hesitation to do it?
Self-promotion can be a scary thing to execute on, even if we believe in the overall cause, or philosophy. The antidote to this yucky feeling we get around promoting ourselves is simple. We must focus on gratitude and truly, genuinely serving others in our interactions.
It is possible to have your ego in check and appreciate that you can sincerely help others if only they knew how to access your content. If your reasons and motivation are truly important enough, then just turn loose and promote, promote, promote.
The 8 Things
Here are the top 8 things I think you should keep in mind when building your personal brand. If you do these, then I promise you are free to promote yourself as much as necessary. If you do them and people still complain, they simply don’t get it.
1. Know your authentic, core values and never work in opposition to them.
2. Love your tribe and appreciate their opinions. Model the use of listening, feedback and constructive criticism.
3. Find ways to demonstrate making mistakes, vulnerability and authentic learning.
4. Celebrate your successes, because it inspires others, showing them how momentum builds by piling little victory on top of little victory.
5. Don’t have a “due date” for success. Keep doing the next most important thing in work mode and alternate with family, friends and hobbies mode.
6. You won’t always get it right, but make sure you are passionate and truly believe that what you are sharing is the best thing for your audience.
7. Never be a salesperson more than a person who brings others unconditional value. Don’t expect anything in return. No exceptions.
8. Just Keep Learning
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** Read Why Just Keep Learning: JKL Post