Everything’s in place – you’re excited to realize your passion with clients and customers –
it’s time for action!
Promoting your business is both exciting and challenging, as you communicate your message, incentivize customers, and grow your brand. Focusing on both short- and long-term achievements, you have outlined your intentions for direct marketing, personal selling, advertising, and sponsorships as part of your strategic planning.
So what’s holding you up?
While promotion has a cognitive side (“the plan”), it is the emotional side – negative self-talk, gremlins, saboteurs – that interferes with your efforts, stymies your enthusiasm, and demotes your abilities. You want to bring your vision to fruition, to reach a high level of success, to be a thought leader in your industry - so how do you combat the negative and mobilize the positive?
Start your search with these emotions accompanied by thoughts from fellow entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (“-preneurs”) and leaders who share from experience:
- Courage involves moving forward despite such obstacles as fear, apprehension, and risk taking. Mike Williams, business coach, reminds -preneurs to focus on their vision and fortify their “courage to stand up for your business… to be excited… Because if you are not excited about your business, why should I be,” thinks the client from whom you want a sale.
-Preneurs must realize and deal with the ability of fear to immobilize, halt, and “punch us in the gut,” as noted by Cheryl Brunner (non-profit resource development). Hearing “no” is nothing to be afraid of – as we learn and grow each time until we get to the perfect match of “yes.” Kathy Steinman, Mary Kay sales director, commented that “when I feel the fear, I look for the fun… (as) what you focus on, grows.”
It is important for -preneurs to find positive ways to build their courage. Remembering successes through stories and mantras such as “I’ve never…yet.” Because you are always on a learning curve, it helps to remember and honor fear, failure, and obstacles - “it’s part of the journey.” (Craig Cibak, lawyer)
- Boldness means taking action despite obstacles – both tangible and intangible. According to William Hutchinson Murray, Scottish author and mountaineer, “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
As you transform to being a -preneur or leader, there may be times when you feel awkward, embarrassed, or, perhaps, rejected by your tribe. For one aspiring entrepreneur, her spouse directed her not to use their friends and family for practice or to make sales. Situations like that remind us that assumptions about who will support your efforts, contribute to your aspirations, and be beside you in your journey, need to be closely examined and not taken for granted. Being bold is having the courage to engage in unique opportunities to “think outside of the box”; to prioritize, combine, and create new values and beliefs you didn’t even know you had; to be the author of your own reality – “to look at ourselves as a source of internal authority.” (Immunity to Change, p. 53)
Consider planning for strategic boldness. While making cold calls, for example, may not be high on your promotion list, Donna Smith, vice president and bank branch manager, suggests that being strategic in selecting your connections, asking permission once the person answers the call, and being real in your interaction may well alleviate your anxiety and avoidance with this form of bold promotion.
- Respect involves honoring others and yourself. While the first thought is the language that we use when interacting, respect also involves boundaries and self-care.
Boundaries is a hot topic for -preneurs. During coaching sessions, -preneurs comment upon the need to establish boundaries for their clients and for themselves. Boundaries commonly involve days that -preneurs will and will not work; acceptance by clients for scheduling, missing sessions, and communication; requests made between appointments. Leaders worry about requests for presentations, free materials, and travel expenses. Cheryl Brunner reinforces the importance of setting “boundaries with yourself first, …to love and respect yourself, (and) draw a boundary with those who do not love and respect you.”
Self-care is not a luxury – it is a necessity. By not acknowledging this form of respect, over half of entrepreneurs face burnout due to long hours, lack of vacation time, and poor work-life balance. Yarmosh warns entrepreneurs to avoid burnout by not working all the time and to “develop an expert network of peers.” Syed Saleem, assistant vice president and bank branch manager, reminds -preneurs they need to realize and accept that “I can’t do it all by myself”; “to build teams with trust”; and to use resources such as Simon Sinek’s Start with Why to provide guidance and strategies.
To further explore promotion, courage, boldness, and respect, and examine the impact these have on your own business development and aspirations, join colleagues during Quarter 2 on Zoom events in April – June sponsored by CC Robinson & Associates. Use this opportunity to build your resiliency, heighten your creativity, and explore your enthusiasm to take new risks. For more information and registration, go to www.ccrobinsonassociates.com.
Resources
- Boosted (retrieved April 5, 2023). 10 marketing tips to help you thrive as a solopreneur. Lighticks: https://boosted.lightricks.com/10-marketing-tips-to-help-you-thrive-as-a-solopreneur/
- Gitnux (April 5, 2023). “The most surprising entrepreneur burnout statistics and trends in 2023.” Blog: https://blog.gitnux.com.
- Indeed. (December 2, 2022). Types of promotions. https://ca.indeed.com › career-development › types-of-promotions.
- Kegan, Robert & Lahey, Lisa Laskow (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston, MASS: Harvard Business School.
- Newby, Dan & Watkins, Curtis (2019). The field guide to emotions: A practical orientation to 150 essential emotions. Middletown, DE: Newby and Watkins.
- Sinek, Simon (2009). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. London: Penguin.
- Yarmosh, Ken (March 11, 2023). Coaching for solopreneurs: How to succeed as a one-person business. https://kenyarmosh.com/blog/coaching-for-solopreneurs-how-to-succeed-as-a-one-person-business/
Appreciation to attendees to The Sully Leadshare (April 5, 2023), Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce, for their contributions: Cheryl Brunner, Netta Chiorello, Tammy Meyer, Syed Saleem, Donna Smith, Kathy Steinman, Mike Williams, and guest Craig Cibak.
RSS Feed
