I am a horrible salesperson. I hate shameless self promotion. To be honest, I feel a little naughty every time I talk about what I do as an artist...like every sentence is a sales pitch to constantly remind people to "buy my shit!". Instead my friends, family, and husband bombard people with my work, which makes me feel even more guilty as I sit in the shadows while they promote me. I stand back with a dumb grin and a shrug that says "yeah...I make stuff, but you don't have to buy it."
Where do these feelings come from?
A while back NPR was talking about the income gap from the most wealthy to the poverty stricken...and the emotions that run rampant, especially during this election year. They brought up how some people do feel guilty making money knowing that there are those in much worse off conditions. Somehow that subconscious attitude gets ingrained in our actions to a point where we no longer really succeed...or want to succeed. As if that extra money we earn gets taken from those who already have less. Meanwhile the money-makers have it ingrained in them to succeed and to always want more. People with dwindling finances see this as a greedy attitude. But can the desire to succeed and make money really be considered greedy? I don't have any clips from the NPR show, but I did come across this article which sums up a lot of what was said during the show.
When it comes to promoting myself and my business, I know what I have to do. But like any good Virgo, I have to plan, practice, and be prepared. We are in an era where technology is unavoidable and necessary for most to succeed. I have to back up my art and ideas with a one-two punch website that can go into complete detail. People like websites. Sure, at an art fair they can physically see my work, but people LOVE to go home and Google me...check me out and browse through my website (now that's naughty). And at the very least, if it's hard to talk about myself face to face...at least a website can say it for me!
Secondly, I will at some point have to verbally communicate my business and talk myself up. I've decided to really take on the networking challenge. Early spring I made it to a Women's WOTV4 Networking Conference at Standale Interior. There was food, wine, and about 200 chatty women... I wasn't one of them. My usual routine is to stay on the sidelines, observe, and talk when someone speaks to me. I actually learned a lot! A lot of what to do and especially what not to do. There were some women who really conducted themselves professionally and were quite pleasant to talk to. Half the time it seemed as if they weren't even trying to promote themselves. As far as what not to do? Well, there was this woman who was not subtle...at all. In fact, kind of downright rude. As the conference was dismissed and people were packing to leave, she was practically cramming business cards down peoples throat.
"Here's my business card!"
"Here take one! it's for $20 off a haircut at my salon!"
"Here's my card!"
..........
Really? One of the speakers at the conference had, not just 30 minutes ago, ended a lecture about why it's a bad idea to pass out business cards all willy nilly. People just throw them away, or they don't remember you because there was never any one on one conversation...and they end up tosings it out anyways.
As she came closer I hoped to just slip by unnoticed. She stopped me with her card and a "HI!!"
"Here's a card for $20 off!, it works for hair color too!"
I tried to at least sound interested and spark a conversation.
"That's great! I've been needing some fun colors! Do you have purple?"
She nodded in a mild distraction and said "yeah", then turned to bombard people with more cards. Well...I tried. The card went in the trash.
............
The whole point of doing these networking events is to help me think less about the guilt I feel when promoting myself. Because I shouldn't feel guilty about wanting to get my business out there and to succeed. I may have a website that can say it all, but no one will find it if I don't get out there. And, it's easier to just think of it as simply talking about my ideas and what I want to start up. Because that's what every one else there is doing. Just talking. It's harmless. When people are interested, they will want more information and I'll be able to back that up with a healthy guilt-free conversation and a bad ass website!
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