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Article:
Why We Hate to Promote Ourselves by: Suzanne Falter-Barns In the last week or so, I've begun enrolling people in the next session of my Platform Push Coaching Program on my other site, www.getknownnow.com. And boy, has that been interesting. In a few brief encounters, I've learned a lot about the power of permission. The course is demanding; it requires these coaching students to really make a commitment to building their platform. Over six months they work on creating a brand phrase and identity, creating a branded website, setting up media kits, head shots, developing ezines and blogs, speaker materials and media mailings. The course requires a lot, but it promises a lot, too. So I find myself speaking to many of my registrants as they make the decision whether or not to join the program. Some are on the fence for technical reasons that are hard to overcome, but many are simply on the fence. This is how these conversations go: ME: 'Hi, it's Suzanne calling about the Platform Push Coaching Program you were interested in.' THEM: (Enthusiastically) Hi Suzanne! ME: So how are your platform building efforts coming? THEM: (Audible groan/sigh/exhalation of breath) Well... (another sigh) .... I don't know. That audible groan comes up in nearly every phone call. Nearly every one! Rare is the person who simply says, 'I'm not interested in promoting at the moment,' or even 'I haven't made time to focus on it.' Instead, there's just the groan. What that groan says to me is that getting known by the public scares them. Even thinking about it makes them feel small and inadequate. And yet they know that they must if they want to reach the people they're meant to. So they feel both guilty and annoyed with themselves at the same time. (Sound familiar?) I can relate to this completely, which is why I developed this work in the first place. It's hard to do this stuff -- not for technical reasons, but simply because of what it portends. 'They
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