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New York has always been a
career-oriented city. If one does not have a career, they will make one
up rather than apologize for being a housewife, or home-maker. It’s only
because I had a wonderful New York socialite for a mother-in-law that I
ran smack into this. She wanted so much to expose me to her side of
life. And loving her the way I did, I made myself fully pliable.
She was entertained in lavish
style and reciprocated in kind. And those being my ‘green’ years, I did
everything I could to hide my terror at these functions. I felt
incredible pressure to be ready with input on any subject.
New Yorkers seem to judge
everyone by certain achievements -- their schooling, their career, or
their business address. It’s been said there’s no place like it for
vocational humiliation. And sooner or later -- the dreaded question is
posed, “Where did you school?” or the fatal one, “What do you do?”
If you give the name of your
High School or the fact that you don’t do anything at the moment, you
may draw raised eyebrows or a soft, “ah-h”. These questions are a
personal measurement; a quiet pass-fail test for future social
gatherings. Do you have some interest, activity, or purpose in common
with the interrogator?
Looking back on those times,
I think I did a fair job of fluffing it. I had to accept that in certain
surroundings, my identity would be tied to what I did, not in what I
was.
Fast-forward several years
and New York is now only a memory. Yet I bring with me those valuable
lessons as I open new chapters. The Internet came into my life and while
it’s been a cruel teacher, it certainly has been thorough. It’s ringing
Anthem -- Lead, follow or get out of the fast lane!
The hardest part of
entrepreneurship was in marketing me. It’s not much different than my
story above because I am still judged by my achievements. The “What do
you do?” question may be silent, but it’s still there. If you expect to
lead you better have good reasons why someone should follow.
Marketing yourself on the
Internet should not be a struggle, unless you make it so. Naturally it’s
a lot more rewarding if your efforts result in clients calling you ready
to work with you, and even better when these clients turn into
worthwhile paychecks. Networking is a contact sport.
There are numerous ways to
make your achievements visible. Start an Ezine or Newsletter to gain
subscribers. Make your weekly or monthly output full of good tips and
techniques. Set up a website and offer free items; there are plenty of
these to choose from. Start a blog and get it syndicated so many, many
people read it. Write Articles. Write an Ebook and give it away. Bottom
line -- get your name out there over and over again.
What you do better, faster,
cheaper and with higher quality than your counterpart, is where you will
begin to stop following and start leading. Think of marketing as “giving
something” instead of “trying to get something” and this mindset will
result in word-of-mouth business. Surfers merely want to know that you
understand their situation, and next, how you will help them.
Experiments done in 1927 by
Bluma Zeigarnik showed us that we remember interrupted tasks the
best. Who knew? The reason was simply that “the tension created by
unfinished tasks helps us to remember”. Let’s offer an example of this.
You’re watching the news and
you hear an announcement like, “Today, the borrower becomes the lender.
More on that story later but first…” Don’t you find yourself glued to
that broadcast, even knowing that they will air the rest of the story
last? That’s an effective use of the Zeigarnik effect.
You can connect this
principle with marketing, and you should. The “interrupted task” is your
advertisement that is incomplete. Because we dislike things to be
incomplete, readers will satisfy their curiosity for the “rest of the
story” by inquiring. But be aware, people will be fooled once, but not
twice. Be sure you fulfill your teaser.
Today, I write my own
paycheck. What do you do?
© 2007 Esther Smith
Smith is an accomplished artist with two online galleries, an
author/publisher and believer in residual or leveraged income. Her ebook,
Invitation to Internet Success, is free to all.
http://thepermanentventure.com/InternetSuccess.pdf
Contact Info at the bottom of her website:
http://thepermanentventure.com/2up.htm
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