Overcoming the Fear of Marketing
Every time you market, you put yourself on the line. You risk rejection, embarrassment, failure . . . or worse. So if every phone call, networking event, speech, media interview or public appearance is a chance to make a fool of yourself, why should you do it? Isn’t it better to play it safe and not risk failure and public embarrassment?
While reading, “Never Eat Alone,” a book on networking by Keith Ferrazzi, the following paragraph jumped off the page at me:
“Ultimately, everyone has to ask himself or herself how they’re going to fail. We all do, you know, so let’s get that out of the way. The choice isn’t between success and failure; it’s between choosing risk and striving for greatness, or risking nothing and being certain of mediocrity.”
The only people who do not fail are the ones who never try. Once you accept that you will sometimes fail, it becomes easier to take a chance. Don’t assume that every risk will end in disaster. Wonderful things can result from taking that chance.
Still afraid? I have to tell you something that may bruise your ego a bit, but can also make it easier to accept the occasional failure: No one else cares about your life. At least, not all the day-to-day details. They are all too wrapped up in their own lives to worry about the minutiae of yours. That may sound harsh, but take comfort in the fact that if you do something embarrassing, the only person who will remember it or care about it six months from now is you.
The next step is for you to stop remembering and reliving every misstep. If you asked me about my failures, I would have to think hard to remember them. It is not that I have never failed. I fail all the time, and some of my failures have been doozies. But I know that when I attempt new things they will not always work. I look forward to what I will do next, not backward to a time when I screwed up.
Change your attitude about failure. As Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Each failure teaches you something that can help you succeed, so start seeing those experiences formerly known as failures as “learning opportunities.”
The next time you hesitate to do something because you are afraid you will fail, imagine what will happen when you succeed. Each telephone call brings you closer to making your sales goals. A speech puts you in front of customers, or movers and shakers in your industry, and opens new doors. The next person you greet at a networking event could be the person you have been trying to meet with for months. A television interview could lead to new business opportunities, or even a new career.
Decide if you are willing to falter occasionally on your way to greatness, or if you prefer to stay mired in mediocrity.
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