by Amy Applebaum
Want More Money – Share Your Wares! I was speaking to a client yesterday who said something that shook my world. She is an artist and we were discussing “getting her work in front of people” so they could purchase her insanely extraordinary pieces of art. Her comment to me was this, “I have always felt that if my art were good enough, people would buy it. So, I just assume that it’s not.” I was shaken because if you saw this artwork – you would flip out! It’s incredible.
Some back story – this artist has created some of the most extraordinary
pieces you have ever seen. Where are these pieces? In her garage!!! Sitting there. Waiting to be purchased… someday… when her art work is “good enough.” That is CR-P!!! Isn’t this crazy? This is crazy thinking? CRAZY! She has been punishing herself all this time; judging her work; telling herself she’s not good enough; determining her stuff isn’t good enough. All the while, there are specific people out in the world who have been robbed of even having the opportunity to see her work, let alone purchase it. And her self-confidence has been compromised.
Now this is interesting because as you read this… you know this isn’t logical. I mean how can anyone purchase her art work if it’s nowhere to be purchased and nobody is seeing it?
So, I investigated further to find out why she hasn’t spent some time getting her work out to the people who can purchase it. She said, “I never thought to and didn’t want to seem salesy.” Huh? Didn’t want to seem salesy.
Now, this conversation is NOT unique. In fact, I work with entrepreneurs all over the world and KNOW this conversation isn’t unique. The conversation I’m talking about is being afraid to share what you have with others. And this can be for a variety of reasons. It can be “fear of rejection,” “fear of failure,”… we all have good reasons why we don’t share our work with others. But, if you want to be successful, you will have to move past these fears.
We all do this in our own way, avoid sharing our incredible products and services with the people who are interested in purchasing them.
THE MISCONCEPTIONS:
- 1. Sharing your “stuff” with others is pushy or salesy.
- 2. Sharing your “stuff” with others will lead to rejection or failure.
- 3. Sharing your “stuff” with others is scary.
- 4. If we create something great… people will just “find it and buy it.”
THE REALITIES:
1. People can’t know what you have to offer or even consider purchasing it if you don’t share it with them. We share through inbound and outbound marketing: social networking, promotions, publicity, SEO, advertising, etc.This is NOT sales. A sale occurs when a transaction takes place. Someone couldn’t even consider buying what you have if you have not gotten it out there. So, instead of judging the marketing process, embrace it. Recognize that the ones who market are the ones that end up selling. And, btw, you created AWESOME products/services right? How can anyone get the benefits of them if you don’t tell them about it? How can I coach you if you don’t know that I offer coaching services? You can’t… so I must tell you. Then I can provide you value. These are the laws of business. Don’t fight them, don’t argue with them… EMBRACE THEM!!
2. It is possible that if you “get your products and services” out there, that people will not buy them. However, you can’t make the proper modifications to the product or service if you don’t get feedback from people. Whether it’s your art work, or any other product or service you have, you NEED feedback to make it better for the audience that you are creating it for.
3. Sharing your stuff IS scary if you are concerned with “rejection” or are worried about whether someone will like it. And, if you’re a human being, these are probably concerns of yours. That being said, so what? Again, you can’t get better and provide for your community if you don’t get it out there. You can change your story about fear. You can decide, at any time that rejection isn’t something to take personally as much as it’s information for you to consider and then determine if the feedback makes sense to you and whether you’ll make changes in light of that feedback. It’s all about your perspective.
If our example artist doesn’t begin letting people know about her art work… nobody will purchase it; nobody can give her feedback so she can make even better; nobody can benefit from its beauty. And this would be unfortunate – she would be sabotaging her success before she even gave herself a chance.
So get your “stuff” out there!
To Your Success,
Amy
