Whenever I find myself in a group of fellow small business owners, I always tune into the ways they think and feel about marketing. Like the time I was attending a webinar on conscious marketing and found myself more intrigued by the chat than the speakers. 

This is not a diss on the speakers. They were great. Their material was relevant and well presented. 

But they couldn't tear me away from the stream of lamentations the audience had about actually having to market their businesses.  And I remind you, this was during a webinar about marketing your business! 

I actually jotted down one of my favorite comments: 

But creating content to market with takes time away from doing my work!

To which someone replied with what I can only hope was a smidgen of snark:

What I’d prefer is to just sit back quietly until the clients find me.

That is some next-level magical thinking!

Still, there was something deeply resonant about this desire to disengage from marketing, to view it as a completely separate entity from a person's business. 

So many of my clients start out telling me some version of those stories. That it's not within their perceived skillset to create content. Or it's way outside their comfort zone to "market" themselves. 

But here's the thing: 

You don't get to do your genius work 

if no one knows about your genius work.

It’s as simple as that. No one buys what you’re selling unless they know what you’re selling.

So when you're putting off sending your newsletter or feeling put off by marketing in general, it might be time for a Marketing Mindset Reset.

I lead a group of small business owners through this very process earlier today and it was so exciting to see people literally shift their perspective. Some uncovered unconscious biases they had about marketing, others were able to connect to the joy that their marketing brought them (more clients, service delivered!) and some stepped out of the shadow of playing small.

It’s easy to get caught up in the maelstrom of marketing tactics available to you.

And the overwhelming “should-ness” that is so prevalent in conversations about marketing.

You’re never going to change that. What you can change is your way of thinking.

What if you let go of all the “shoulds” and “have tos” and chose the marketing tactics and processes that felt right to you?

You can make these choices. Really!

What if it was as simple as “marketing is just the ways I put my self and my services out in the world.”

You can have this mindset. Really!

Shoo away the inner critic voices that have so.many.opinions. about marketing and outcomes and perfectionism.

Marketing’s just a means to an end and you 1000% have the ability to shape it in a way that sounds and feels authentic to you!

P.S. If you want an extra nudge, I”m running my Marketing Mindset Reset

webinar again next month, and in January. Details are here.

“Well Said Wednesday” is a blog by Barbara Govednik, Message Strategist, Editor and Founder of 4.23 Communication. It’s published every other Wednesday…ish.