Archive for overcoming fear
Why Market Leadership is a Process, Not a Goal
Posted by: | CommentsWhat a delight to log onto my blog this morning and read the comments from Oliver and Jon. It’s such a boost to know that people are reading, and that what I’m writing strikes a chord. Thank you to both of them. And thanks to Herb who’s comments on an earlier post – want to versus how to – which touched on market leadership, gave me much food for thought.
There seems to be a bit of synchronicity going on here. On Sunday evening I watched Julie and Julia for the first time and, blow me, if Ed doesn’t recommend it in his webinars on Market Leadership yesterday. (See Module 4, Day 1 of The Challenge).
One of the things Ed mentions that puts people off becoming a market leader, is that they think they will get negative responses to their stuff as well as positive. He doesn’t disagree.
A lot of people choose the web because they feel they can be anonymous, he says. But the problem with this is that if someone else comes into your market, who has a presence and a following, your business will be “blown out of the water”.
Does that bother me? Nope. Because this isn’t about a business.
But hang on. Ed makes it clear that part of Market Leadership is doing something for no reward so isn’t “the business being blown out of the water” a bit of a contradiction? But, I digress . . .
Although you might not think so, from reading my blog, I am one of the “wishing to stay anonymous” ones. At least that’s the part of me I identify most with.
I feel like someone who is holding back, peering through the bushes, waiting to see if it’s safe before I come out to play and yet, I’m writing this blog. I’m choosing to expose myself so to speak!
I suppose it’s just a question of degree. How much exposure can I stand? But there’s no denying there’s a part of me that wants to get out there or I wouldn’t be publishing.
Yesterday, as I was writing my post, I found myself thinking, “why are you bothering to put that bit in about crying?” – “Who’s going to want to read about that?” And, in fact, I toned the story down.
But here’s the interesting bit . . .
What do these 2 comments have in common?
“thanks a lot for writing this blog post. I got a LOT out of it… It’s one of the topics I have been “failing in my head” over a lot.
My Dad runs his own business and I have seen what can happen if you postpone the inevitable. It got really really ugly.
Good luck with your outsourcing from this point forward!
Oliver”
and
“Just wanted to say that you hit the nail on the head with the part about this is what it feels like to be alive.
I couldn’t agree more…
Everyone knows the phrase about doing one thing that scares you every day, but in their uninspired comfortable existences most people wouldn’t willingly put themselves in a position where they’re tested… let alone actually step up to the plate when it came down do it.
Jon”
Answer:
They are about Oliver and Jon and their viewpoints. They’re not about me and my story and whether I cried or didn’t cry. And that’s the clincher. Because market leadership is about service. As Ed says “It’s about serving your market and putting something into it”.
So . . . service is good. I like it that other people find stuff I write helpful. BUT, I like even more the idea of doing it my own way. When I try to do what the expert’s tell me it all comes unstuck. Remember the posts I wrote on The Challenge because I thought I should . . . boring!!!!
So, market leadership, like so much else, is best viewed as a process.
It’s not about setting out to be a market leader. It’s about putting yourself out into your market and seeing what emerges. It’s about learning what works for you, personally – about finding your own way. It’s about stepping out from the bushes and risking being seen. It’s about adding what only you uniquely can add. It’s about putting YOURSELF into the market. Nobody else can do that!
Scarey? Yes, maybe.
But exciting and life enhancing? Most definitely!
Outsourcing Tears and Fears and Meeting the Challenge
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s hard to believe it’s almost 2 weeks since I last posted. But it’s been a real “head down” time for me. I’ve had my son to get sorted for the new term and his Woodcraft camp, wedding dressings to peruse with my daughter, friends and relatives staying and re-engagement with the whole oustourcing thing.
So, here I am again in my favourite cafe, skinny cappuccinno and ham and mozorella panini ordered, ready to write. If I’d stayed at home the tasks of the day would have taken over and it would have been an even longer gap between posts.
So, where did I leave off?
. . . I was off to find 20 likely candidates to email.
This time I foccused most on English language skills. I sent 20 emails and received 11 responses, 2 of which were to say they were no employed elsewhere. After some emails back and forth where I was looking primarily for examples of content they’d written, I chose 2 people from the remaining 9 to take on on a trial basis. John Jonas of Replace Myself recommends taking on 3 to 4 with a view to finding 1 good candiate. But I’m glad I only chose 2. Even that was a lot to manage.
One was primarily a writer (I’ll call her Elaine) and I had most hopes for her. The second (I’ll call her Ann) had some SEO experience as well so I set her off with a 5 Day Traffic Blitz project from Web2Mayhem.
After 2 days I could see that that Ann was going to be a better choice. They were both very keen and both worked hard but Ann followed directions more precisely and actually had a better standard of English. To be fair, Elaine’s English was very good compared to other writers I have tried over the years but I found myself editing more of it.
I’m the first to admit that my standards are very high and I was tempted to go with “good enough” and keep Elaine on but my gut was telling me not to. That opened a whole ‘nother can of worms.
I felt really, really bad telling Elaine I didn’t want to keep her on when I knew she was desparate for the job and had tried her best.
I normally deal with this type of situation by coming up with a load of rational reasons as to why I should keep her on and then doing so. This just makes matters worse as I’m really just delaying the inevitable.
This is an old pattern of behaviour that doesn’t work.
I could see the most likely result of ignoring my feelings now would be that I would have to tell her later, anyway, that I didn’t want to employ her. And it would feel even worse, having raised her hopes and I would have grown more and more frustrated.
I was surprised how hard this was for me and ended up becoming very tearful over the whole thing. But, better out than in!
The next time I have to do this it will be less emotional and the time after that, easier again. So I feel I’ve made a big step forward with this.
I’m never going to have a successful business if I can’t make the hard decisions. And, of course, that is also true for you.
Although, what’s hard for me may be easy for you, whatever your personal challenges are, they will need to be faced and taken on.
But, ultimately, this is good. This is what makes us feel alive. It’s a bit scarey at first but there’s such a sense of achievement and movement that it’s well worth doing.
So, if anyone needs a bit of a support with a challenge they’re feeling stuck with, please feel free to contact me and I’ll do my best to help you tackle it.
Too Nervous To Think Up A Title
Posted by: | CommentsI got up this morning wearing my internet marketing coach hat, primed and ready (or so I thought) to offer coaching during Ed Dale’s 2010 challenge. I went to the computer and, next thing I know, I look up and an hour has passed. And since then 2 more hours!
This is a classic example of fear and procrastination working their evil and stopping me before I even start.
At times like these, I’m not even able to notice the thoughts that are operating but I know they are there because I feel nauseous and my hands are shaking slightly – classic symptoms of fear.
Blimey, you may be thinking, what an earth is she preparing to offer that has her in such a tizzy?
- – - Nothing that I haven’t done in other forms, hundreds of times before.
- – - Nothing that isn’t a great love of mine.
But that’s the thing about fear of course, it’s not rational!
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My intention had been to write a blog post about preparing to fail the 2010 challenge but I was stopped in my tracks.
So, being a believer in the old adage to “practice what you preach” I have taken myself off to a more productive environment. And I’m writing this in my favourite cafe armed with a capucchino and panini.
But, even the lure of those treats was not enough to move me initially so I had to resort to another favourite tactic of mine – dipping into my “inspiration file”.
Today I chose to rewatch Jonathan Fields’s video ‘Turning Fear Into Fuel‘ and that finally got me moving.
Towards the end of the video he addresses the audience and asks who’s sitting there, NOT doing something that has the opportunity to make them come alive and yet would do it if they were 100% certain they would not fail?
Well, that would be me then.
I love coaching.
It certainly makes me come alive.
My client’s love my coaching.
So what’s there’s to fear?
Well, this is Ed’s baby and he may be mad at me for offering coaching without asking his permission and this may be the one time when my coaching is crap and people might send me hate mail and I might get really, really bored with it and other people taking the challenge may resent my offer and question who the hell I think I am to step in here and I could be wildly successful and find that there is no way back and I might discover that internet marketing coaching is not as great as I think it might be and I’ll have spent all this time and energy on a website that is now redundant and way too personal to sell and then what the hell will I do for the rest of my year of mentoring with Ed and . . . and . . . and . . .
Well, I think you get the picture.
So, let’s cut to the chase here . . .
Do I want to do this?
. . . Yes!
So what’s the next step?
Create a Skype account solely for the 2010 challenge and tweet about this post . . .
. . . done!
Details of my 2010 Challenge coaching will follow. Unless, of course, Ed contacts me and tells me to remove this post and/or my inbox starts to fill with hate mail and . . . no . . . wait . . . hang on . . . done that. Been there.
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If you are reading this and NOT doing something that has the opportunity to make you come alive please Skype me on challenge.100 and let’s get you onto the next step.
Jonathan Fields’s Turning Fear Into Fuel Speech
Posted by: | Comments“I cannot resign myself to the notion of living the rest of my life in a vacuum of regret.
I cannot resign myself to the notion that I will have spent time on this earth with never having done anything to actually come alive, out of fear.
And I cannot fathom that in some way, in my action or inaction, I may have taught my daughter . . . to do the same.”
- Jonathan Fields
