Last summer, I attended a remarkable five-day training
known as the Enlightened Warrior Training Camp at which I
learned eight essential attitudes of warriors-those who
will stop at nothing to achieve the cherished, fulfilling
life they want for themselves.
These warrior attitudes are adaptable to almost anything:
finances, relationships, depression and much more. I find
them particularly useful when applied to marketing for
solo-entrepreneurs, professionals in private practice and
small business owners.
First take this little quiz:
T/F 1. Marketing is hard, and I don't really know what
works best for me, so I tend not to do much.
T/F 2. I know what I should be doing, from a marketing
perspective (I've got a list a mile long!), but I just
can't find the time to do it.
T/F 3. I don't feel comfortable doing marketing tasks
(it always feels a little slimy), so I put off marketing
for as long as I can.
T/F 4. I tend to neglect follow-up calls, figuring that
people will call back when they're ready.
T/F 5. I resist doing a blog or writing articles on the
grounds that I don't have enough to say, or that I'm not a
good writer. (The old "not enough" belief that keeps many
of us from marketing ourselves.)
T/F 6. I'm too busy working IN my business to get around
to writing a newsletter (one of the all-time best ways to
market yourself), so I don't send one.
T/F 7. None of the marketing things I've tried have
worked, so I wonder why I should bother.
T/F 8. I'm not very technical. Consequently, I don't
have a well-functioning website that generates me regular
leads; it also keeps me from creating e-products that my
clients would find useful.
If you answered true to even three of the above statements,
I'm sorry to say it, but you are a marketing wimp.
Don't worry...you're in there with the best of us. We can
all find ways that we're being wimpy about our marketing.
So what does it take to go from marketing wimp to marketing
warrior? Here is my improvisation on the eight warrior
attitudes learned at Enlightened Warrior Camp (with credit
given to T. Harv Eker and Peak Potentials Training, who
developed them).
1. A marketing warrior acts in spite of fear. Marketing
warriors are not fearless, but they don't let fear stop
them. In the past, I've let "What if it doesn't work?" stop
me from trying new marketing strategies. Another common
fear among professionals with a private practice is: "What
will others think of me when I put myself out there?" What
are you afraid of when it comes to marketing? What's the
worst that could happen if it were true? What action can
you take in spite of those fears?
2. A marketing warrior is willing to do whatever it takes.
First, you have to ask yourself what that "whatever" is.
What will it take to market your business? What will it
take to learn what it will take to market your business?
What will it take to get a newsletter out to your
constituency every month? What will it take to make
follow-up calls to every single qualified lead within two
weeks? When you break it down, you can tackle it in smaller
pieces. And then just frickin' do it!
3. A marketing warrior does everything at 100%. How often
do we get distracted by little things or meander through a
morning without the 100% laser focus that's essential to
hot results? I know when I'm on a tight deadline, I can go
like the wind through tasks that might take four times as
long any other time. I've begun giving myself mini
deadlines to complete tasks (and celebrating when I
complete them on time!). What percentage of "full-on" do
you typically do your marketing tasks? How can you bring
that number up?
4. A marketing warrior is willing to do what's "hard." The
definition of "hard" differs from person to person. For
one, asking for referrals is unbearable; for another,
networking lunches are of the devil. Sometimes what's
"hard" is easily handled by someone else (as in our
newsletter and article services for therapists and
coaches); other times you have to tackle the hard stuff
yourself-or live with mediocre results.
5. A marketing warrior acts in spite of his/her mood. My
best trick to get to my marketing when I don't feel like it
is this: I repeat to myself, in a dramatic whine: "I don't
want to do marketing today. I don't feel like it. Today's
not the right day for this. It's too hard. I just don't
feel like it." And as I repeat this whiny "mantra," I'm
sitting down to my desk. I'm turning on the computer and
opening the file I need. I'm gathering the numbers to call,
etc. Pretty soon, I'm into the marketing project I need to
be doing. It works like a charm!
6. A marketing warrior is bigger than any obstacle. What is
your biggest obstacle? Is it that you don't know how to
market your practice? Is it money? Time? I guarantee you
that whatever the obstacle is, others have faced the same
obstacle and gotten around it somehow. Usually the obstacle
is mental chatter that says, "I can't" or "It's beyond me"
or "I'll fail."
7. A marketing warrior succeeds in spite of anything. If
you're determined to succeed in your marketing,
nothing-NOTHING-can stop you.
8. A marketing warrior never gives up. It's not that
deciding to be a marketing warrior means everything you
touch will instantly become gold. Marketing is all about
trial and error. If you stop at error, you'll never find
the gold.
These warrior attitudes are good to keep nearby, like taped
to your computer, for regular viewing. When put into
practice on a regular basis, they begin to form a
rock-solid foundation for your business.
----------------------------------------------------
Linda Puig is a newsletter marketing expert, a writer with
nearly 30 years' professional experience and president of
Claire Communications, which provides high-quality,
low-cost articles to busy professionals who don't have the
time or inclination to write articles.
http://www.articlesforsale.net
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