Overcoming My Fear of Marketing Myself: Step 2

by lwooten in entrepreneurs, marketing

Marketing Self Assessment
Now that I’ve confessed my fear, it’s time to move beyond it. Whenever I’m down in the dumps, it helps me to look back at the things I’ve done well. So step 2 of Overcoming My Fear of Marketing Myself is to identify my marketing skills and strengths.

As part of the prep work for the StacyK Academy S’marketing course, Richard Roppa and I have developed a S’marketing Skills Inventory. The goal is for class participants to recognize the skills they have. Throughout the course, they’ll determine how to best use their skills to meet their marketing goals.

Here’s a sneak peek at just SOME of the things in our evaluation. (We can’t give it all away).

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Overcoming My Fear of Marketing Myself: Step 1

by lwooten in Uncategorized

Screenshot 2016-01-14 13.41.24

About five years ago, I took singing lessons from a fabulous woman named Marta Hansen. Most of her students were children or teenagers, so when it was time for the recital, she told me I didn’t have to do it. Well, I wanted to.

My husband and sister and daughter all sat in the audience. When I got up to sing Greensleeves, I told the audience “I’ve overcome my fear of public speaking, now I’m working on overcoming my fear of public singing!”

And while I’m not ready to get our there with Taylor Swift, I like that approach. Face your fear and get on with it.

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What’s this procrastination all about?

by lwooten in Uncategorized

A series on learning how to market myself.

When I launched my new website last November, I had great intentions to get out there, blog more and shine.

Didn’t do it. I could give you a bunch of excuses, but that’s all they are, excuses.

Then, the New Year hit and I had great intentions. And while I can still say this week qualifies as the new year (heck, it’s January), I haven’t done much.
Give me an F.
Give me an E.
Give me an A.
Give me an R.
What does that spell? FEAR! Fear got in the way of my ability to market myself.

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What took you so long? (subtitled, why is marketing yourself so hard?)

by lwooten in marketing, marketing attitutude, Uncategorized

That’s the refrain of my children—what took you so long? It is also the refrain I have to myself, lately, as I finally launch my new website. Although I hate to admit it, I’ve been working on this site for more than a year. My goodness, you may say, what has taken you so long?

So many of us in business for ourselves don’t put our needs first—the cobblers children have no shoes.

Maybe more importantly, marketing yourself is hard—even if you are a marketer. Here’s my theory why:

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4 Reasons Entrepreneurs Need a Community

by lwooten in business focus, entrepreneurs

Having a community of resources to turn to makes a huge difference not only in an entreprenuer’s business, but in her life as well. Having had my own firm for more than seven years, I’ve developed a network of individuals I use almost as a board of directors for my small business. The time I spend with them is actually a strategic investment in the growth of my business, in how I serve my clients and in my sanity.

Here’s what my business confidants provide me:

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Why?

by lwooten in nonprofit strategy

Recently I facilitated a meeting to clarify goals for a local nonprofit in my role as a consultant at the Center for Nonprofit Management (CNM) in Dallas. Using CNM’s process, we had just completed an organizational assessment — really analyzing the organization’s strengths and areas for improvement.

Image: graur codrin/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: graur codrin/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After presenting the information, we broke into groups by area to come up with some achievable goals. I was mingling in the room, ensuring each group understood its charge and was making progress addressing it when I came across Why Guy.

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How do you do, Frank?

by lwooten in Uncategorized

Recently, I was asked to give feedback on some marketing pieces. I was happy to do it, but worried because while I am always well intentioned, sometimes I am blunt. My husband calls me Frank. I diligently reviewed the piece and wrote my recommendations for improvement, as well as the specifics of why the pieces were not working. And then I asked Mr. Frank to review it to make sure the tone was what I intended.

While I am a professional communicator, I never underestimate the value of an extra pair of eyes. And the closer you are to the subject matter, the more important it is that someone else review it. Jargon, corporate speak, acronyms can muddy the water of the story you are trying to tell. And while it all makes sense to you, your reader might misunderstand.

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Social Media, Headaches, and Prioritizng

by lwooten in Uncategorized

Friday, I attended a workshop by Kim Young of The Forest and the Trees at the Dallas Social Venture Partners First Friday Luncheon Series. Head spinning, I left the informative session realizing I hadn’t even blogged in a while, let alone Tweeted or used any of the other social media tools at my disposal.

It got me thinking about priorities. And it got me thinking about the myriad directions nonprofits are pulled and where they should focus their time and energy. So, thanks to Kim, here are a few thoughts.

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Motivation

by lwooten in Uncategorized

My friend, coach,  and blogging mentor Laurie Foley‘s blog post today about Daniel Pink’s new book Drive got me thinking about motivation and audience.

In my role as a nonprofit consultant, I recently did a survey to find what motivated folks on a specific board in which they were serving. They had choices like giving back to the community, creating a personal connection with the organization, a passion for the mission, etc. Eighty nine percent responded “the opportunity to give back to the community.” When asked why they enjoyed participating, the biggest response was that it gave them a feeling of accomplishment.

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The Relentless Networker and Coopertion.

by lwooten in Uncategorized

I had lunch yesterday with the Relentless Networker. I learned a couple of things while enjoying my time with Paul.

  1. Do not order Tom Ka soup with noodles while networking. The noodles are very slurpy and messy to eat. At one point, I looked down and I had lovely coconut soup splatters on my sweater. Not my finest moment. Despite that, there were some jewels from the meeting.
  2. Coopertition. No, that is not a typo. Coopertition, according to the Urban Dictionary, is when two rival team up to help each other compete. I thank Paul for introducing me to the term.
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