Have you ever thought about marketing, and been instantly exhausted?
Or overwhelmed?
A lot of new life coaches have marketing myopia, in this case meaning that they are either:
1) Focused on being EVERYWHERE! ALL AT ONCE!! to the exclusion of everything else or,
2) Totally overwhelmed by marketing, and therefore figuratively hiding under a bed.
I actually have another name for this condition, and I like to call it The Onion Paradox.
Here’s the short definition: The Onion Paradox is the problem you have when you finally start to market your new coaching business. You stretch your learning, try new things, and put yourself in new situations in order to put the word out.
But doing that is HARD, it requires effort and facing rejection, and it’s easy to lose energy. It’s like peeling away the layers of an onion, peel too much and there’s nothing left. But if you don’t peel at all, it doesn’t work to cook.
Put another way – if you don’t consistently put yourself out there, you don’t have a business.
But if you exhaust yourself by putting yourself out there too much, you can kill your confidence and your motivation (and your ability to help your clients).
So how do you find the happy marketing medium, the place where you are a bit uncomfortable but also still nice and oniony?
I’m so glad you asked. 🙂
This is where coaching skills come into play, and the good news is that we all have them!
There are a few different ways to peel the onion, but the one that has been working for me most often is also the most simple (isn’t that always the way?).
Here’s step one to letting go of marketing myopia and the Onion Paradox
And it’s one simple phrase: Permission to focus.
For me, I have a global business with many marketing channels. I’m able to do that because I have a team to help me produce and manage content.
But even with that, there’s usually one place that is generating the most results, or is the future of where I want be.
So, I focus my personal attention on the thing that is most productive in terms of marketing, and give myself permission to forgo the rest for now (and, when appropriate, leave it to my team). I teach this to my Build a REAL Business students, and it’s a freaking relief to know you just have to be awesome at one major marketing platform and can stop worrying about all of the others.
So take a deep breath, and give yourself permission to FOCUS.
Here’s step two to letting go of marketing myopia and the Onion Paradox
Step two is pretty simple: I say this (it’s a phrase I recently picked up from Master Coach Dr. Maria Nemeth) “Nevertheless, I am willing.”
I also like “Progress, not perfection” as another one, if you like to mix things up.
For example:
“Nevertheless, I’m willing to put myself out there and market in a focused, consistent way.”
When I say something like this, it reduces the exhaustion and gives me a shot of motivation :).
Because the truth is, the discomfort of stretching and growing, especially in marketing, never leaves you. For example: This week I was talking to different coaching schools about partnering with me on my Build a REAL Business program, and it was super uncomfortable because it was a new effort for me (if your coach training program did a terrible job of preparing you for business and could use some Coach Pony, please write back over here and let us know!). I had to take a few deep breaths and remind myself that I’m willing to build these new relationships and stretch out of my comfort zone. And I had to let go of a few other efforts because this one is so important.
Your homework
I want you to first give yourself permission to focus. Don’t be everywhere all time! (In fact, here’s a bunch of stuff you can ignore in your business right now). Instead, I want you to think about the most productive marketing streams for YOUR business, and go there now.
And then, when it becomes overwhelming, or tiring, or just something you don’t want to do, be willing.
Give yourself that space to be willing anyway, and focus on making progress. You’ll get there!
To jump start your thinking, here’s some practical help
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