No one said life was easy, and if it were we’d be at the beach partying all day. But, you’re not, nor am I, and that’s why you haven’t seen me here in awhile.
I’ve been in a rut as digital marketing has been kicking my ass, and it’s doing it so royally I had to put that A-S-S word in the headline. BTW, is A-S-S even a cuss word any more? I know no five-year-olds are reading this blog, so maybe I’m safe.
Meanwhile…
How do you feel when completely out of your element? Here are a few emotions I can share from first-hand experience – humility, humbleness, embarrassment, frustration, annoyance, anger, fear, and tears. Then comes the resignation that all these emotions are purely obstacles to success.
Indeed.
We (that means I) are our own worst enemies. If anyone is somewhat of a perfectionist (gulp, I’ve never admitted that even partially to anyone and I know it’s not true) who likes to be in control because that’s a true comfort zone, then things we don’t know are addressed with obstacles.
And, so, I found out right quick I don’t do digital marketing and to overcome my fear of it, I would just toss bricks in my way. I did, I am, I was.
I recently hired an expert to help me elevate my business to a new level. I had hit a brick wall on my own trying to grow my business online.
In the past I’ve worked with some really good people, but everyone reaches a point in their knowledge where there’s a deficiency; I had hit mine.
Digital Marketing Struggles
Digital marketing is a tough nut. Who are the people doing it well and making money at it?
It requires huge analytic thinking oriented to testing, sorting, list building (gah, my least favorite thing of all) and development of landing pages with calls to action and the software platforms to make it all work.
How copy is written is so different than a blog post and it requires short and punchy quip that entices but doesn’t sell.
Digital marketing is not for the feint of heart. You need to be trained as an expert to master it and you have to live it every day to know what the heck.
Here’s what happened:
- My fear of failure put me in a deep, dark hole. I was unable to write like I was supposed to. I did not want to be judged. I did not like to be edited. The style of writing was foreign to me.
- I wrote and it stunk.
- I was edited brutally and hated it.
- I wrote again and it stunk more.
- More brutality and people totally rewriting my work.
- I ignored everyone.
- I tossed bricks in my way and cried about it. I whined some more.
- Then I took a deep breath and finally wrote again.
- It flowed and was acceptable to my utter shock and amazeballs.
- The brutal editors and experts said they loved it, high five. (I secretly didn’t believe them.)
I wanted to quit, fire everyone and walk away from the challenge; exactly like I feel in Taekwondo every Tuesday and Thursday.
It’s a slow boat to China, and no one reaches it in a day. Yeah, Jayme, so get on a plane.
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Sorry about that, folks; the comment section had disappeared! Carry on!
Woohoo! It may feel like it’s kicking your ass, but you will kick right back and surmount, succeed and #RockHot. Cheers! Kaarina
Way to go, Jayme! What a great lesson and I appreciate your vulnerability in sharing it with all of us. It does take a lot of courage to move past our own fears, but when we do (at least when I do) we look back and wonder why we didn’t buy that ticket LOTS sooner 🙂
allarminda Hey, Hey, fancy seeing you here, Lady! How’s things? Would love to catch up with you soon. Meanwhile, yes, it’s always therapeutic to just say it even if the trolls call me stupid. People so often put on airs they know everything and guess what…nope; not true. If I haven’t stopped learning yet, that just means I will always have a rich life even when I’m 80!
KDillabough You’re so right…I’m so ready to kick it back, I have to tell you! Now I can share my stories and help everyone else!
Good for you, Jayme. One thing I know about you: Jayme – is – persistent. And look, it’s paying off. Go, girl!
Neicolec Hi, Neicole! See, if I write a post like this all my friends come with warm and fuzzies! Makes a girl feel loved! Thanks, girlfriend!
Acceptance is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? I’m packing my bags and getting on that fast plane to China with you Jayme. Enough with the head against the wall already!!!
As I read your post, I was thinking about Robert_Rose ‘s presentation as he kicked off CMI’s ContentTECH conference on Wed. (thanks for letting us know about that via your newsletter. I wish I could have stayed all day!).
He said the future of content marketing is collaborating on a new, unified strategy. We need to lever the different strengths of our colleagues to deliver on a global business strategy that drives authentic engagement. To me, that’s what you’re doing.
Being completely self-sufficient and DIYing everything way over-rated!
Have an awesome weekend!
Sharon Gilmour Glover Robert_RoseHow smart is he, Sharon? I need to revisit that keynote via the on-demand sessions that just arrived. I’m so glad we had a chance to attend a virtual conference; smart marketing and gives many of us a chance to engage comfortably.
The best thing coming out of this nightmare is that I get to walk the talk and talk it wearing my tiara.
😉
Soulati | Hybrid PR Sharon Gilmour Glover Robert_Rose ContentTECH was my first virtual conference. It was such a positive experience, I can’t wait for the next one.
And the information was such a relief. It was clear, focused on business results. It was sensible. I was able to absorb it and immediately shift to application to clients and to Light-Core. What a really great use of time.
Just a tiara? I think you merit at least a crown. Hmm, perhaps a crown is too heavy. Tiara and orb I think. No, that will make holding a glass of wine challenging. Tiara it is!
Sharon Gilmour Glover Soulati | Hybrid PRRobert_RoseLoved your free think and self discussion there, Sharon! Heh, eh? Or, shall I say, Eh, Heh!
Soulati | Hybrid PR Sharon Gilmour Glover Robert_Rose Well between talk earlier of maple syrup and ice wine, you’ve had a bit of a Canadian day so “Eh” seems appropriate.
Jayme, those who are kicking digital marketing butt today started at the bottom and fought their way to the top… Yes, it’s a bit more challenging to accomplish in the online space today; nonetheless, the only people who are going to make a dent in this space are the folks who overcome the obstacles and fight their way the top.
Cheers!
Mark_Harai You’re so right. Rome wasn’t built in a day, eh? So funny we have all these cliches with Rome and China.
Digital is all numbers. Creativity is less valued. It’s like how facebook markets themselves. They are the number two site for video watching when all the views are added up monthly (1.3bil total). But the average user watches just 1.1 videos per month. Have no idea how many are linked or posted. Meanwhile we watch on average 4 hrs of TV per day! So Facebook probably serves about 8 trillion videos just to get 1.3bil views (you wonder why they autoplay them now?) Digital ads are the same. Its a volume play. Much marketing is. So being successful doesn’t mean being more efficient. It just means having more inventory and viewers.
And with so much Digital marketing fraud with name brands having ads shown on fake sites and then charging them its a very nefarious business. Makes social media seem angelic.
Also what Mark_Harai said!
Howie Goldfarb Mark_HaraiHowie! You’re such a numbers whiz with factoids oozing out of your keyboard. I’m thinking back to campaigns I’ve always launched and realized that the measurement queens — the @Shonali of the world are few and don’t reside in this house. I also don’t think you can force that, either.
P.S. I’m hoping that new avatar of yours is a cat and not a big, ahem RAT. Eww.
Soulati | Hybrid PR Howie Goldfarb Mark_Harai You’ve gotta love peeps who live in the numbers – Cheers Howie! : )