Marketing with Confidence

By Jennifer Barthé

Marketing with Confidence

How to eliminate fear andprocrastination when it comes tomarketing your products, services,and yourself

This eBook is based on the blog posts found on:

© 2009 By Jennifer BartheCopyright holder is licensing this work under the

Create Commons License, Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Special thanks to Steve Pavlina and David Meerman Scott . Steve helped me realize theimportance of marketing from the conscience and David helped me understand the power oftransparent marketing.

share this book with your friends!Tweet about it, share it on Facebook and MySpace, email to your friends, and post it on yourblog. Send it to anyone you think may need it.

Marketing with Confidence Jennifer Barthé

Table of Contents

Page 1 IntroductionPage 3 Playing the Waiting GamePage 5 Sincerely Believe in Your Product or ServicePage 8 Get Out f the Wrong Line of WorkPage 12 Get Rid of Your ExcusesPage 22 Focus on Social ContributionPage 24 About the Author


Introduction

Alright, so you’re having a really hard time putting yourself out there and askingfor what it is that you want. Perhaps you’re self-employed and need new clients.Or maybe you’re unemployed or underemployed and need a new job. Whateverthe case, the idea of facing rejection is strong enough to keep you in yourcomfort zone.

Some of us were taught as children that it’s rude to toot your own horn or bringattention to yourself. Growing up in the Southern part of the US, I was alwaystold by adults that “Children were to be seen and not heard”.

As adults, many of us are still remaining unseen and unheard. We prefer toremain in the background, in our comfort zones, avoiding failure. Who wants tofall flat on their face and experience the pain and discomfort of disappointment?But by staying in our comfort zone, we deny ourselves of the opportunity togrow and live full lives. We prefer to remain timid and in return subjectourselves to long-term disappointment, frustration, resentment, and evenjealousy.


“What liesbehind us and

what liesbefore us aresmall matterscompared to

what lieswithin us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson American Poet

Page 1

The purpose of the book is not to teach specific marketing tasks. Instead my aimis to help you recognize why you’re procrastinating and letting fear keep youfrom marketing yourself, your services, and your products. There are tons ofmarketing books that will tell you what steps you need to take in order topromote yourself. However, very few of them describe the type of mindset youneed to have in order to feel good about what you’re promoting. This eBookaims to fill that void.


“Whether you beman or woman

you will never doanything in thisworld without

courage. It is thegreatest qualityof the mind next

to honor.”

James Allen American Author

Page 2

Playing the Waiting Game

Does this describe you current state of mind?- You’re often stuck in “planning mode” and unable to action.- You’ve read business books but rarely implement the lessons learned.- You think something “out there” needs to change before you can succeed.- You consistently ask others for advice before you’ll take action.- You believe that talent and experience is all that one needs in order to succeed.


“Waiting ispainful.

Forgetting ispainful. Butnot knowing

which to do isthe worse kindof suffering.”

Paulo Coelho Brazilian Author

Perhaps you’re waiting for the right businessopportunity or job to show up. Lots of peoplethink that all they need to do is createsomething and people will automaticallycome their way. Unless you already have anextensive network, only telling a handful ofpeople about your product or service is notgoing to get you far. You must be willing topromote yourself on a daily basis, no matterhow hard or slow it can be.

Page 3

What if I told you that the only thing you needed to succeed in life was simplypassion combined with self-discipline? Passion by itself is not enough to get usto the finish line. Our level of passion is dependent upon our present mood.Some days we may be extremely passionate about something, but on the nextday we may not. Passion by itself is not very reliable without self-discipline toback it up.

Self- discipline combined with passion helps us get things done when we don’tfeel like it. It allows us to stay up until 5 in the morning to finish an importantproject. It makes us exercise even though we’d rather stay in the house. It pushesus to go to work in the morning, despite our a long commute or a boring job.Self-discipline combined with passion creates a consistent flow of action.

How can you develop the habit of self-discipline and combine it with passion?


“You win byworking hard,making toughdecisions and

buildingcoalitions.”

John Egler American Politician

Page 4

Sincerely Believe in Your Product or Service

Let GoNo one wants to admit that they’ve invested a significant amount of time into aproject, task, skill, or product that’s mediocre. Instead of facing the truth, we tryto justify our lack-luster results. We hear ourselves say that “It’s the economythat’s to blame. If more people were interested in what what we had to offer,then business would go up. If companies we’re hiring more, it would be easierfor us to get a job” and etc. But why do we like to hold to our excuses?


“Self-confidenceis the first

requisite to greatundertaking.”

Samuel Johnson English Author

One of the main reasons people procrastinatewhen it comes to marketing, is because theydon’t really believe in what they’repromoting. It doesn’t matter if they haveyears of experience. Being talented is notimportant when you lack faith in yourself.Even having connections won’t matter if youdon’t believe in your ability to create andprovide quality products and services.

Page 5

Why is complaining so comfortable? Complaining protects us from makingmistakes.

How to Let GoYou know it’s time to let go of a product, service, job, or just about anythingwhen you:

- Cringe every time you tell people about what you’re promoting.- Pray that people don’t call you back complaining about what you sold them.- Spend all of your spare time immersed in leisure activities to avoid reality.- Find yourself unable to get past fear, procrastination, and worry.- Do just enough to get by or not get fired.- Don’t take the time to cultivate our abilities or talents.- Complain about what’s not working, but do nothing to change the situation.- Talk about what you’re going to do instead of actually doing it.- Continue to invest in a business that’s not working but you stay to save face.- Do the same things over and over again but expect different results.- Keep yourself busy when all you’re really doing is spinning your wheels.


“Workinghard and

working smartsometimes can

be twodifferentthings.” Byron DorganAmerican Politician

Page 6

Just because you’ve invested time and effort into a project, product, or yourcareer, it doesn’t mean you have to stick with it if it’s not working out for you.

I’ve written plenty of blog posts that have never published. In 2008, I createdthree other blogs before launching Jennifer Barthe.com in 2009. It took meweeks to re-design the layouts of my old blogs and to come up with writingtopics. Yet, because I didn’t really believe in what I was doing, I took all of theold blogs offline.

Even though I worked really hard at creating nice web designs, the quality of mycontent was sub par. I had invested time and money into these blogs and readplenty of blog marketing articles, but I never did anything with what I learned.I could have saved face and kept on blogging for months, putting out superficialposts and building a bit of web traffic. However, I didn't want to live my life thatway. It was the same story with my marketing career. I had invested years intomy identity as technology marketer, I didn’t like my job anymore, and I knew itwas time for me to walk away. I was too scared to do anything about it though.

So for months, I didn't do anything but focus on figuring out why I was havingsuch a hard time getting ahead. After 9 months of intense journaling andreading, I realized that I letting go of what no longer served me was only thefirst step, to really make progress I would need to go a step further.


“Risk meanseverything from

being honest aboutyour faith, to

moving, to quittinga job that's payingyou a fortune butit's not what's in

your heart. Riskingthings is one of the

biggest fears wehave.”

John Tesh TV PersonalityMusician

Page 7


“You have torisk going toofar to discover

just how faryou can really

go.”

-T.S. Eliot American Poet and Critic

Get Out of The Wrong Line of Work

Turn Around and Change DirectionIf you’re self-employed and not doing well, then maybe you’re in the wrongtype of business. Or you could be in the right line of work, but your productsneed to be upgraded or replaced. If your career has become stagnant, then getout of your current job or upgrade your skills. Whatever you decided to do, takea step back and ask yourself how you can do things better. It makes no sense tohold on to your old way of living if it prevents you from experiencing true joy.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not operateat my fullest potential while being in the wrongcareer. Duh! I had to allow myself to let go ofthe ledge and move on to something better. Ineeded to find out what I really wanted to dowith my life. Sometimes we can fall into theright line of work through trial and error. Or wemight have to try out ten things before findingthat which we’re good at. It’s precisely for thisreason that being between jobs and careerscould be a blessing in disguise.

Page 8

If you don’t really believe in:

- Your products or service, I mean really believe in them- Your abilities and talent- Your right to success and true happiness- The fact that you can make a difference in the lives of others- Putting your conscience ahead of money- Proving people with social value

Then you will always procrastinate and make excuseswhen it comes to market your business or yourself.

The only thing that’ll be easy for you to market is what’s not working in yourlife. You won’t have problems telling people about the bad economy, the lack ofjobs or business. It doesn’t matter how many business books you read. It doesn’tmatter how many blogs you subscribe to. It doesn’t matter how much educationyou have. If you don’t have faith in what you’re promoting, you’re just wastingyour time and giving people sub par service. Let go of what’s not working andsee how much fun authentic, conscious marketing can be. Don’t be so stubborn.


“Many arestubborn in

pursuit of thepath they havechosen, few inpursuit of the

goal.” Friedrich Nietzsche

German Philosopher

Page 9


“Severalexcuses arealways lessconvincingthan one.”

Aldous HuxleyEnglish Novelist

Get Rid of Your Excuses

Excuse #1: “I’m scared of being rejected.So what? If someone rejects your offer or product, then move on to someonewho does want it. If you’ve got a worthwhile product or skill and market it likehell, then in the end people will come looking for you! Please remember though,that not everyone is your ideal customer. Trying to sell to anyone with a pulse isa waste of time.

Excuses are comfortable because they allow us tojustify our actions. We get sympathy from wellmeaning folks and that make us feel good.Unfortunately, excuses only lead to long-termdenial and resentment. When we hold on tight toour reasons for why we can’t do something, wesettle for life’s bread crumbs instead of the wholeloaf. Isn’t it better to just let go, face our fears andgo after what we really want? Here are some ofthe common reasons why we don’t let go:

Page 10


“Complainerschange theircomplaints,

but they neverreduce theamount of

time spent incomplaining.”

Mason Cooley American Writer

Excuse #2: “Only Marketing people know how to do Marketing.”Everyone knows how to market a product, service, or person. When youbadmouth a certain former US president (you know who), you’re practicingword-of-mouth marketing. You didn’t read a book or get a degree in masscommunications to learn how to do it. You just opened your mouth and let youropinion out. Marketing is simply telling people about a certain something .Every time you tell someone about the latest sale at Macy’s, why you don’t likeMcDonald’s burgers, or post videos of your new car on YouTube, you’remarketing.

Excuse #3: “I’m only looking for a job, I don’t have time to learnmarketing.”If believe that you don’t have time to learn how to market your skills, then youcould be costing prospective employers millions of dollars to NOT beemploying you. Think about all the great things you could be doing for aprospective employer, how much money you could make for them and yourself,and how you could improve their product line. If you’re really good at what youdo , then get out there and let people know. Screw sending out resumeswhenever a job opening pops up. Network with recruiters and companies onsocial networking sites, in person, blog, podcast, do whatever it takes.

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“If you havetime to whineand complain

aboutsomething

then you havethe time to do

somethingabout it.”

Anthony J. D'Angelo

Excuse #4: “I don’t know how to market.”Earlier, I showed that bad-mouthing a certain former US president is consideredto be a form of marketing. Anyone can get good at marketing themselves andtheir products, provided their willing to learn. When you first start out, it can bea bit scary, but if you keep trying, you’ll build up the skills needed to succeed.

Improving your marketing skills is easy, just as long as you really believe inwhat you have to offer and you’re willing to work hard. There are plenty ofgreat books, CDs, blogs, podcasts, college courses, and real life situations tohelp you get your feet wet. Even if it takes you a while to get results, don’t giveup.

The benefits of learning how to market what you really believe in includes:

- Helping millions of people improve their lives (the Internet can help with that)- Becoming an expert in your field- Being in able to meet your physical, emotional, and financial needs

The only benefit of not learning how to market is thatyou get to complain about everything. But who wants to

be around a complainer?

Page 12


“Action and faithenslave thought,both of them in

order not betroubled or

inconveniencedby reflection,criticism, and

doubt.”

Henri Frederic AmielSwiss Philosopher

Excuse #5: “I’ve read marketing before, they don’t work.”Perhaps you bought a book and did what most people do after reading it,

NOTHING!

One of the worst habits you can develop is to be addicted to buying self-helpand business books and not using them. You’ll fool yourself into thinking you’remaking real progress because:

- Buying books feels like you’re really doing something about your situation- You get to tell all your friends about which trends and authors are hot- You entertain yourself by reading interesting material- You let other people borrow your stiff, which makes you look smart

But here are the REAL The benefits of the habit:

- You waste money and time- You stay in denial- You’ll experience emotional highs and lows whenever the novelty wears off

Page 14


“Faith is tobelieve whatyou do not

see; thereward of thisfaith is to see

what youbelieve.”

St. Augustine

- People will start to see you’re all talk and no game- You’ll lose faith in yourself

Excuse #6: “I don’t want to feel like I’m selling something.”When you’re promoting anything you believe in, whether it’s your business oryourself as a job applicant, then you’ll feel bad if you don’t tell others aboutwhat you have offer. Now that doesn’t mean you try to make everyone yourcustomer or you apply for every job in sight. However, it means you focusing onproviding real value to the people who need your services most.

Excuse #7: “I’m shy and don’t feel comfortable promoting myself.Read books on self-confidence and get over the shame of tooting your own horn.If you’re doing something worthwhile, don’t feel bad about telling other peopleabout it. People can tell how you feel about yourself by the way you speak,dress, and by what you talk about. If you don’t come across as confident, you’llhave a hard time getting what you want. Perpetual shyness is just a way to avoidrejection.

Excuse #8: “I’m too old, young, live in a small town, am broke…”It’s never too late or too early to learn or do anything new. There are people 16

Page 15


“Life ishard. Afterall, it kills

you.”Katherine Hepburn

American Actress

and 60 years old using Facebook. I’m 28 and am writing this book. It costs next tonothing to market a product online and you can promote it from any location, justas long as you have Internet access. Money, age, location, and skill level is not anexcuse for doing nothing.

Excuse #9: “I DO believe in what I’m promoting, shut up.”Then how come you’re not dying to tell everyone about what yourself? If you’respending more time talking about why people aren’t buying your products, hiringyou for a job, or even taking you out on dates, then you’re right, you do believe inwhat you’re promoting. Trouble is you’re promoting bad news that no one wants tohear but you!

Ultimate Excuse: “The economy is bad, ain’t no jobs, and business is dead.”Opportunities are available for those who really want them. It may not be easy tocreate your own luck, but it’s certainly not impossible. Lot’s of people haveprospered in bad times and through personal hardships. Want to know what reallyhard times looked like?

Life During and After the Civil WarPresident Lincoln had to deal with a war-torn nation and the economic tensionsbetween The North and The South. The Southern states (Confederacy) were cash

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“America willnever be

destroyed fromthe outside. If we

falter and loseour freedoms, itwill be becausewe destroyedourselves.”

Abraham Lincoln Former American President

poor and depended upon forced slave labor to feed its economy. The Northernstates (Union) had skilled laborers and its economy was depended uponIndustrialization. During the Civil War (1861-1865), money was tight for bothsides, but the Confederate states suffered the most.

When the Confederacy seceded from the Union, it started printing its owncurrency. But when the Union began to block the Confederacy's trade routes,preventing Southerners from getting food, clothing, and weapons, widespreadpanic and inflation took place. Basic food staples such corn and bread becametoo expensive for the average family. In addition, farmers could not afford thegrains needed to plant crops and many of them went bankrupt.

As the war progressed the number of slaverevolts increased (a good thing) and more slavesran away. However, many of the slaves whomstayed behind, were subjected to increasedviolence and diminished food supplies. Theywere forced to work barren lands and weren’teven allowed to keep the small amounts of foodthey grew. Damage from the war also accountedfor failed crops. Soldiers from both sides

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“An institution orreform movementthat is not selfish,must originate inthe recognition ofsome evil that is

adding to the sumof human suffering,or diminishing thesum of happiness.”

Clara BartonNurse and Philanthropist

slaughtered farm animals, crops, and stole food. Everybody in the South waseither going hungry,bankrupt or crazy.And to think, for what? They weren’teven winning the war! There were riots and protests all over the place. DuringThe Richmond Bread Riot of 1862, 3,000 hungry people people went into thestreets of Richmond, Virginia, shouting “Bread or Blood!” At that point,people were more concerned with eating rather than fighting a losing war.

But despite all of these problems, a few individuals made good of what theycould find during and after the war. These people created their own good luck.

Clara Barton

Clara Barton was a nurse for the Union during the war. Shecreated a program to help bring medical supplies and healthcare to soldiers located in remote battlefields. After the warended, she established a relief program to help relocatemissing soldiers. She personally went into battlefields andsearched for the dead and wounded who were left behind.

Next, she set up a program to help war-torn families on both

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“A man'scharacter

always takesits hue, moreor less, fromthe form and

color of thingsabout him.”Frederick Douglass American Author/Activist

the North and the South get food, money, clothing, and emotional support. Laterin life, she established a little organization you’ve probably never heard of, TheRed Cross.

Years on non-stop work for a cause greater than herself and all of the toiling inthe battlefields looking for missing soldiers, diminished her health. Yet despitethis she continued her work. She traveled all over the world to establish RedCross offices in Europe, Turkey, and China. In addition to her selflessdedication to the Red Cross, she tirelessly fought for the equal rights of freedslaves and for women’s right to vote. Clara was an un-married woman, living inwar damaged 19th century America, and yet she managed to accomplished quitea lot.

Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland in 1818.He illegally learned how to read as a child and taught otherslaves how to read in secret as a teenager. He wasrepeatedly beaten with whips because of his kindnesstowards others. On his plantations, he was always tiredinstill hope in the other slaves, convincing them thatslavery would one day end. He taught them that they werehuman beings who were being stripped of their basic rights.He escaped slavery at age 21.

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“A battle lost orwon is easily

described,understood, andappreciated, butthe moral growthof a great nation

requiresreflection, as

well asobservation, toappreciate it.”

Frederick Douglass American Author/Activist

After becoming a free man, he built a prolific public speaking career at the ageof 23. He published his autobiography by age 27. He was not only a tirelessadvocator for the equal rights of slaves and but also for American women.

After the Civil War ended, he served in public office as the President of theReconstruction-era Freedman's Savings Bank, a bank set up by the USGovernment to help the freed slaves become financially independent. He wasalso the first African-American to be nominated for President by a major partyroll-call vote during the 1888 Republican National Convention. He later lost toBenjamin Harrison for the final Republican Presidential Nomination.

Douglass, a former slave in the 19th century,managed to accomplish quite a bit.He was also married to a white feminist at a time when women weren’t allowedto vote and interracial marriage was illegal in some parts of the country.

If Clara Barton and Frederick Douglass could shake things up at a time whenminority groups were oppressed, the nation was in ruins due to a brutal war, andNetFlix wasn’t invented (ok, bad example), then what’s stopping you?

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“Men valuethings in three

ways: as useful,as pleasant or

sources ofpleasure, and asexcellent, or as

intrinsicallyadmirable orhonorable.”

Mortimer Adler American Philosopher

Focus on Social Contribution

Once you decide to stop pimping so-so products orservices, and are ready give up your excuses, then it’stime for you to start focusing on what you can do tomake a difference in the lives of others.

Your main concern should be to focus on creating orproviding a valuable service to others. The product canbe your skills, something your company has created, ora service you want to offer.

But what if you don’t know what you want to do?Ask yourself the following questions until you can come up with answer:

What am interested in?What do I have offer?What are the real benefits of what I’m offering?How am I denying people of the services they need when I don’t market myself?.

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“To succeed inlife in today's

world, you musthave the will

and tenacity tofinish the job.”

Chin-Ning Chu Chinese Businessman

If I need to improve my skills, how can I get started today?Am I willing to price my services accordingly?

Keep asking yourself these questions until you can come up with answers thatmakes sense to you.

ConclusionIt’s doesn’t matter how much time you spend learning how market yourself orbusiness, you will not be able create consistent results if:

- You’re not passionate about what you’re doing- You don’t want to develop the self-discipline necessary to market on a consistent basis- You’re marketing a mediocre product or service and you know it- You like to make excuses for why why you can’t make it in life- You’re not interested in proving real value to other people

I’ll close this book with a wonderful quote from the Buddha:

“A good person gives in five ways: out of faith, with respect, at the right time, generously, and without denigrating the other."

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About the AuthorJennifer Barthe is a former a technology marketerwho now spends her time teaching others how toperform authentic online and viral marketing.

She is dedicated to taking the fear out of marketing,thereby helping people market their skills, services,and products with greater ease.

She blogs and podcasts at www.jenniferbarthe.comand can be found on Twitter several timesthroughout the day. She currently resides in Boston,but loves to hang out in NYC on the weekends.

Find Jennifer on: