Get Over Getting Over Yourself

Nov 6

Face it: unless you have one seriously committed stalker, NO ONE will care about your business or work as much as you do. It was born from you, you're the creator, the inventor, the one who's been stewing and problem solving for YEARS to bring your ideas to life. Don't wait around for someone else to become a raving fan of your work. Be your OWN raving fan! Again we straddle yet another fine line: that of being a raviing lunatic and egomaniac to having a loving and respectful relationship with yourself. Walt Whitman did it best, in my book. To be honest? I don't want to be like Emily Dickens... alone and so extraordinarily introverted that I wrote in the confines of my home, only to become recognized as the great artist she was upon her DEATH. Nor did I want to be like Van Gogh: addicted and abused and cast aside as an iconoclastic failure: hated and mocked and treated like dirt until death and oh, yeah, he was an artistic genius celebrated for centuries and centuries to come. I don't know about you, but if I had ANY choice in the matter, I choose every time to be celebrated NOW, in this lifetime while I am alive and aware that what I'd been slaving way with for decades had finally come into fruition--that my life's purpose did in fact have impact and helped the masses, or at least a few people. I'm mostly playful and goofy, but in all seriousness, as you may know from reading my debut novel, one of my best friends in the world stepped from seven stories to his death. As much as I wished it wasn't true, it was, and living through the aftermath showed me how much impact one person really could and DID have. Hundreds of people poured out their love, support, and admiration of him. And I would almost gurantee he had no idea SO many people had loved and cared about him. It was hugely eye opening. And if that is anyone's alternative I promise you and can attest: your life has value right now. No matter what you've done, you can make a difference. Somebody loves you. You are not a nobody. Nobody is that special to mean nothing. We all matter. Truly. So, when I talk about self-promition, I know it's unlikely that a few won't think I'm a self-aggrandizing asshole. But, keep staying silent, y'all. Build your brand in isolated silence and let me know how that goes for you. I'm an entrepreneur and I don't aim to suck. I am a marketing professional, for the love of God. Shall I sit on my twiddling thumbs with my head down and mouth shut? If you know me in the slightest you know that's unlikely. So, promote yourself! If you're here, you're probably a bit of a go-getter too! And why would you bother getting gone if you aimed to be unsuccessful and unheard of? At some point, there is a fine line, but we must OWN and ROCK what we are trying to accomplish... or why are we setting out to be businessowners in the first place? Most people I know don't start this risky lifestyle because they hope or plan to fail... I odn't know THAT many masocists. So get over getting over yourself. You are your biggest fan, or should be. You are your biggest advocate, you are your greatest sales assest, the literal face to your own company. Own that. Or be a Van Gogh or Dickens. Get your validation in the afterlife, and make sure you have royalties and copyrights attributed to your unknown work so that if your volumes of amazing work DO someday get celebrated and studied for centuries to come... you or at least your offspring can benefit from your hard work and dedication. Bam.