Coming out of the closet…with an epiphany!

I've been doing alot of thinking about my business in the last few months.  Two things that have always bugged me about being in Internet marketing and helping others create and implement Internet marketing in their businesses:

1. The marketing coaching/consulting I provide are offered in a similar fashion by so many others and I have not successfully come up with a way to distinguish my business and put a unique spin on what I do.

2. I HATE how the Internet marketing gurus market themselves — it's all about the snazzy new cars, luxurious homes, expensive vacations, screenshots of their shopping cart to brag about how much money they made in a promotion — you know what I'm talking about.  Excuse me while I go and throw up…<g>  I cringe to be associated with that term or with them.

I know that any number of people always refer to my marketing automation prowess when they mention me, and while I like to find tools to help me automate much of what I do and am known for doing so, I've discovered that's not really my driving force as I have been attempting to promote myself as the Internet Marketing Automation Coach in the last several months.

Two months ago I started working with a coaching client who's a self-proclaimed introvert and have had fun helping her discover her introvert advantages and how to apply those in an authentic way in the Internet marketing world….and it hit me.

Every single solitary thing I've ever done, every system/automation process I've ever designed has been created with one purpose in mind — to let me market myself in a way that feels genuine, not salesy (I'm a card-carrying introvert, INFP for those of you familiar with the Myers-Briggs inventory) and doesn't require me to attend meetings, go out and meet people, make cold calls, and all that other crap I hate about what the pros tell you that you need to be doing to successfully market your business. 

And, even though I love to automate marketing, I just realized yesterday that I've done that to preclude having to create a team yet appear to be everywhere at once and be "out there" without being "out there.".  I'm not a team player, never will be a team player, and the thought of creating a large team for my business gives me nightmares of my former job in higher ed administration when I supervised 75 full-and part-time staff.  If it gets bigger than a VA and me, I'm not really interested..LOL..so if a team of 2 is a team, well, then, I guess I do have something of a team..<g>  Automation lets me duplicate my efforts easily, without having to have lots of subcontractors in place.

I went back and did a mental inventory, and most of my clients have been attracted to working with me because of my introversion and my strengths found in that personality type — providing substance over sizzle, marketing through teaching/educating my target market, being authentic in my writing, offering great resources, etc.

And the funniest thing in my epiphany??  Here I am, 46 years old, and I thought I was quite comfortable in my introversion and thought I had gotten over feelings of inadequacy/a little jealousy as I would compare myself to extroverts in the past.  Apparently, I still have room to grow.

I was listening to a webstream of a well-known coach's live event this week, and she was up on stage, heavily made up, and had her platinum/diamond mastermind members on the stage talking about how they increased their income to 6 and 7 figures as a result of working with her or had $250,000 product launches or have increased their income to $80,000 per week, blah, blah, blah.  I was beginning to feel depressed and and go into pity mode as I wondered why I never got testimonials like that from my clients and would I have to move to having live events to achieve the financial level of success that I want, and would I have to wear an ungodly amount of makeup to do so?? LOL

Then, BAM (apologies to Emeril), the second part of the epiphany hit.  I was AGAIN, at age 46, a well-adjusted woman, comparing myself to EXTROVERTS!  AAUGH!  I don't get those kinds of testimonials because my clients are introverts as well, and that kind of stuff doesn't impress us, nor would introverts ever feel comfortable disclosing that info.  And, secondly, I'd NEVER be at the front of any room gushing about somebody.  I do all of my gushing 1:1, thank you very much..<g>

So, after many years of being clueless and adrift in a sea of Internet marketers, I now really understand my gift and purpose: I help introverted service business owners use their introvert strengths to attract all the clients they can handle through Internet marketing.

And, my new tagline is….drumroll….Market Yourself Without Sacrificing Your Introverted Soul.

So, thanks to Sandy Martini for having Nancy Marmolejo talk about profitable essences in her Best Year Ever program that I took in Dec 2009 and to the unnamed coach mentioned above who inspired me in ways she never imagined! LOL  (still love her stuff, though, just have to figure out the introverted implementation of her advice).

Whaddya think?