Marketing "My Way": A 6 Month “Experiment” Begins

Charlie - A Master "My Way" Practitioner

How long does one have to feel crappy inside about the way one is approaching something, for example marketing, before realizing there’s a better way?  Apparently far too long when that one is me.

 

BACKGROUND

Ever since embarking on my business remodel – and more importantly – hiring two bang up coaches for a pretty penny to help doulah me through the birth of my new business baby – I’ve been in a marketing froth.

You see, up until now (my guilty secret) I’ve never given a rat’s ass (wherever did that statement come from?) for “traditional” marketing.  Make that any marketing.  Yes I threw a business web site up, but even then, I never chased after clients for references.  Never anguished about updating the website too much, except every year to update the copyright year. And you see, the thing is, I never had to.  (Give a rat’s heiney about marketing that is).

Instead, I did my one-on-one relationship marketing, I reluctantly put up a Linkedin profile when that became all the rage, but most importantly - I helped clients successfully make positive changes happen in their career and in their personal and professional life. There were more folks promoted than I can count.  New career and life paths forged.  There were career transitions, salary increases, new skills learned, vastly improved 360 feedback and performance results, improved work life harmony, on-boarding, off-boarding, lots of “this really matches me” jobs found and/or created…..and in turn……these happy clients and HR Business Partners referred their friends, family, colleagues, and employees on to me.  And so it went. On and on.  It was organic.  It worked.

Somehow though, upon embarking on my business remodel – I tossed all these old ways out  – certain that because I was making  some big "paradigm shift" changes to my business – these old ways wouldn't work.  That to attract my new “ideal clients” I would now have to market in a whole new vomit and fear inducing way.  Oops.  Did I just say vomit?  That should have been my first clue. The fact that my two fabulous love them to pieces coaches, Amy Ahlers and Christine Arylo, are both marketing power houses (attracting clients, coaching and helping hundreds of people a year AND raking in the big bucks to boot) only added more fuel and froth to the marketing story I was telling myself. 

OH THE STORY-LICIOUS LIES WE WEAVE

A story that went something like this:  To be over the moon successful (as successful as say my coaches are?) I must now do marketing in a whole new “everybody who is wildly successful is doing it this way” way if I hope to achieve the results I wish and dream for in my business (even if my business model is nothing like theirs).  And thus believing this story, I frothed.  The mere thought of some of these new marketing concepts making me want to toss my lunch.  (In defense of my coaches, they never said I had to do these things, it was all me.  Me and my inner mean girls for sure!)

WHAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT? WRITE A NEW STORY

Then I wrote my Positive Penny post.  And all became crystal clear.  Being and expressing myself authentically in my life and in my work is crazy important to me.  It’s what brought me to this point in time in life.  It’s what spurred me to get out of a corporate job and into coaching 15 plus years ago.  It’s what sparked the current remodel of my business.  When I think about why I do what I do – it’s because I want so much for others, like you, to live and lead an authentic life connected to wisdom too.  

To know who you are (warts and all) and to express yourself authentically.  To share your gifts, talents, and wise intelligent fully expressed self with all of us.  I want your heart to sing at work.  Hell, I want your heart to sing everywhere. Because ultimately – all that positive energy oozing out onto the planet has got to have a positive impact on the Earth.  Better than oozing non-stop negativity – right?

My authentic self?  She’s a bit of a rebel.  She doesn’t want to do what every other service provider and their momma is doing to market – unless doing so makes her heart sing.  Her heart sings when she writes, takes photos and creates beautiful, sometimes inspiring, sometimes informational, sometimes awareness shifting, sometimes “just because” blog posts for you. 

It sings when she contemplates creating a new and beautiful web-site.  A space that invites people in to take time out and stay a short while. A space where they can nourish, nurture and refuel their busy hard working souls.  Perhaps leaving a little more inspired, uplifted, informed and energized as a result.  A space that allows potential clients to reach out for help to make their personal and professional lives hum at ever evolving levels when they feel / know it’s time to do so.  She – who is me - wants marketing to be fun.  To evolve.  Organically. 

THE 'MARKETING MY WAY' EXPERIMENT

So I thought to myself, what if I gave myself full permission to “market my own way” for the next 6 months?   What if I treated this as an experiment - as something to try on to test and see how it works for me?  To see if giving myself space and time to do things my own authentic way garners the results I want.  The relief, joy, and palpable enthusiasm I felt as I thought about this was all the "YES" I needed.  And thus, the 'marketing my way' experiment was born.   At the end of 6 months, and probably at points along the way, I'll take a pulse check and measure results.  If I’m not getting the results I've envisioned, I'll consider making adjustments at that time.    

CO – CONSPIRATORS

I shared my marketing epiphany and experiment with budding co-collaborator (and heck of a cool gal Fiona) who is working on a business remodel of her own.  She’s a little ahead of me remodel wise, and on our collaboration calls, has jokingly referred to Sales and Marketing as “S&M”. (If you don’t get what that means, please don’t ask me to explain, ask Fiona.)   When she heard about my experiment, her response was an emphatic “I want to do that with you too”!  So off we go, together, doing this thing called marketing our own way.  

Calling it an experiment though doesn’t work for her – which is just fine by me.  It doesn’t matter what she calls it, as long “her way” works for her.  I’ve invited Fiona to guest blog here about her experience, so stay tuned! 

What About YOU?

Where in your life are you aching to try on a 6 month "XYZ My-Way" experiment?  You know the place I'm talking about.   Maybe it's about marketing and developing your business too.  Maybe it's about how you approach your health and well being.  Or perhaps it's about how you lead your organization, team or project.  Or it might be about how you approach parenting, or relating with a loved one.  Or maybe it's about how you approach finding a new job, or develop yourself professionally.  Whatever it is,  do share!  We'd love to hear all about it!

(Remember please – I’m advocating for positive, highest self-expression here.  Not – let me beat you up and cause you pain cuz that’s my way of expressing myself ways.  Nothing that will cause intended harm to other living souls please).  

STAY TUNED!

I'll be blogging some time soon about initial results, which popped up immediately in the first two weeks of the experiment.  Mind boggling actually.....so stay tuned for more from me and maybe Fiona too about the marketing "MY WAY" experiment! 

A Penny for Your Positive Thoughts

As I’ve set out on the path to remodel my business to align not just with my head, but with my heart, gut and soul – I’ve reawakened a part of me I wish didn’t exist.  (Which of course is why she persists.)  I call her Nervous Negative Nelly.  She’s been fretting up a storm these days – hands wringing – agitated and anxious.  She worries about everything and constantly points out things that cause her great alarm.  Your income is down this year.  You haven’t invested in your 401K this year.  You don’t have new programs and services full formed and designed yet – or the new language for them.  You aren’t 100% clear as to who your new ideal clients might be.  Even if you were clear, how are you going to reach out to them?  What if this new venture fails she wails?  What then?  And on and on. 

Nervous Negative Nellies can be so debilitating.  I find myself sometimes spending more time swatting away at her fly like fears than spending time dreaming up positive thoughts and ideas of the future I know deep down inside I am creating.  Added to the horror of this is being in the business of working with people to help them ease and move through their fears to live and lead wildly authentic, meaningful and satisfying lives from a place of connected wisdom.  Like – who the hell am I to work with others when I so clearly (she smugly says) seem incapable of doing so myself? 

Well screw you Nelly.  Meet Positive Penny! Yeah, that’s right.  Bet you didn’t know I had her in me did you? Positive Penny is happy to help me take charge of my thoughts and emotions.  She thrives on helping me focus on what’s important.  She's an expert at helping me reframe all your negative garbage Nelly to see the other side of the coin.  (get it – Penny – coin?)  Penny says it’s high time I invested a little more in my current self and business – having done such a bang up job all these years of investing in my future "retired" self.   She knows how good I am at managing my investments, and expects positive returns on the investment I'm making into Business 2.0 too.

I like Positive Penny.  She stand with her feet firmly planted on the ground, hands on her hips – oozing energy and forward moving can-do enthusiasm.  She leans and flows into all things positive and encouraging.  She knows there is time enough for everything, one thing (and one step) at a time.  She’s acutely aware of how intuitive and powerful I am at manifesting that which is important.  She knows my gifts, strengths and essences – and champions me to live and express myself authentically.  To lead my life firmly grounded in who I am – expressing myself outwardly naturally and organically.  She knows how vitally important it is to me to help my clients too to express their authentic selves in their life and in their work.  And she knows that I’ve always attracted the “right" clients, in the “right" time with ease. Why for heavens sake, she says, should any of that change?

Positive Penny is warm and loving and damn powerful.  Nervous Negative Nelly pales in comparison.  Side by side – Nelly seems so tiny – growing smaller ever still as I shine Penny's positive light on her.  I can tell that Nelly needs a rest.  I see her turn to Penny who takes her into her arms – and Nell’s worries and concerns melt away in her warm embrace.

It feels so good to turn up the light and volume on the positive.  To bask in Penny’s love and energy.  To view the world, my business remodel, and the days ahead through her eyes.  To see the positive potential and possibilities she sees.  And to know that she – is me.   

We all have a little Nervous Nelly & Positive Penny in us.   Should you be giving your Nelly (or Nat) more air time than is productive for you – try turning the volume up on your Penny (or Pat).  Notice what happens as you do.   Notice how new positive thoughts, possibilities and feelings emerge, form and grow.  Expand that positivity even more - and notice how this lifts and energizes you - and how the negative dims and fades away.  

Enjoy the positive!  Enjoy the energy!  Enjoy the shift!      

P.S.  I went to the gym after writing this post and upon my return - I kid you not! - smack dab in the middle of the pavement right in front of my driver's side door lay the penny pictured below. Placed just so so as not to be missed.  A reminder gift from the Universe for all of us to keep thinking those positive thoughts.  A bit bedraggled and run over a few times maybe - after all, the Universe has to make do sometimes with what's available in a pinch - but a powerful "Penny for your positive thoughts" reminder all the same.  Thanks Universe!