“Holiday creep” gets me every year.

I’ve gotten better at planning for and around it, agreeing up front to far fewer obligations to make room for the inevitable stuff that pops up. And fortunately for me, I have zero travel to deal with (the people I spend holidays with are all here in Los Angeles) and very little shopping, mostly for hostess gifts, which mostly take the form of adult beverages, which are ridiculously easy to shop for.

Still, there end up being more parties than I have energy for, and if I’m not very protective of my time, the last few definitely feel more like obligations than fun.

I think the holiday situation is analogous to the marketing one. If you set goals and plan carefully, marketing can be demanding, but it’s still interesting and even fun. If you don’t, and either put stuff off until the last minute or try to cram too much into a small space, it becomes painful and overwhelming. (And, to continue the analogy, you can certainly opt out of either, but a life without friends is about as viable as a business without customers.)

I made one huge error this week, and I actually made it a couple of weeks ago: I agreed to give the commencement address at a local technical college, down in Orange County. I was really excited to be asked, and I’d left enough room in my schedule (for those roomy, relaxing holidays) that there was time available to take the gig. But I did not allot adequate time to prepare: I felt increasingly uneasy as the date approached, and went into full-on panic mode when I stepped into ginormous banquet hall that evening. What I’d envisioned as a smallish crowd of kids was 200+ graduates, many the first in their families to get an advanced degree, hence the 4 – 8 people each of these kids had to witness their triumph. A bigger crowd, then, than Ignite, and I was far less prepared.

Fortunately, I know my material well enough to adjust on the fly. And boy, did I, because from the moment I took the mic and turned out to face the audience, it was clear to me that the sooner this strange lady said what she had to say and was done with it, the happier they were going to be. I dramatically condensed what I was going to say, simplified my delivery and language, and tried to keep it general and light while still useful. (I was asked to talk about personal branding, based on the talk I gave earlier this year to the OC Ad Federation.)

I just started reading Scott Berkun’s excellent new book, Confessions of a Public Speaker, which is chock full of great information and support around the stuff that drives speakers crazy: the unexpected, the technical SNAFUs, the sudden sweats. (I ordered it right after watching his terrifically helpful Ignite speech about giving Ignite speeches, and it really helped with my Ignite speech.) In it, he invokes Dale Carnegie’s quote about the four versions of every speech:

“…the one they delivered, the one they prepared, the one the newspapers say was delivered, and the one on the way home they wish they’d delivered.”

While I got good feedback both from audience members and some of the college staff, in my heart, the speech I delivered was nowhere near as good as that one in the car I wish I’d delivered; next time, I’ll be better prepared.

Next week: A review of 2009 and the Marketing Mix Calendar Project

“Marketing” round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• Monthly Biznik networking event I co-host
• Spoke at commencement ceremony for Westwood College in Anaheim
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

I had a dad who worked all the time. I used to think this was a bad thing—okay, I still sort of do, as he’d probably be around had he taken a little better care of himself and not worked quite so hard.

But work was what he loved, and a lot of his work was just meeting with and talking to people. Everywhere. Of all types. It was astounding to me, his schedule, so filled with appointments to talk to people—on the phone or in person, or to correspond via old-fashioned postal mail.

As I look at it more carefully, I see that what he was doing was very much along the lines of what I find myself doing: marketing by Not-Marketing. Talking to people, meeting people, talking some more. Building a network that builds itself, after a bit (although you are still always responsible for maintaining it.) I realized while I was talking to my friend Havi and her Gentleman Friend that a good deal of the work and opportunities that flow to me do so because I talk to people, either in a formalized way (the public speaking stuff) or an informal way. Maybe advertising works better for you, or maybe other types of marketing. But systematically trying stuff, then paying close attention, should illuminate your path after a bit.

“Marketing” round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• talked at Work the System Boot Camp in Bend
• did Ignite: Portland
• had dinner with my friend, Jean, and her sister (we talked shop, so it counts)
• had dinner and hung out with my friend, Areanne (ditto)
• had breakfast and hung out with Havi and her Gentleman Friend (like we’re gonna get together and NOT talk shop!)
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

This is not so much a week at it as a week off.

And yet, here on my Big Couple of Weeks Off I’m feeling On in a few places. Most of the people I’m meeting up with here on my two-week stay in the PacNW, for example, are people I’ve met via online networking sites—Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. At a rehearsal for Ignite: Portland, I met a bunch of other new friends (contacts, whatever) whom I’d never have met were it not for finding out about the event through my friend, Jean MacDonald, of SmileOnMyMac. That’s right—a random happy comment I wrote about a fantastic product I happened to really and truly like led to me speaking on stage in front of (gulp) 800 people, not to mention a fun evening at a ladies-only party in the Pearl District and who knows what else from here.

Plus there was a lovely dinner and meetup with my friend, Chris Guillebeau, whom I also met via social media, and his lovely wife, Jolie (who cooks a mean black bean soup and cornbread, boy howdy). And a great collaborative-planning call with another new friend, Brooks Palmer, declutter to the stars, as well. And three or four meetups over the next week.

This is my point: for so long, when I was in the Big Boy Business World, I looked at things in a very rigid fashion. You had your fun, and you had your business. Now, they bleed over into one another, and instead of it making life weird, it makes it great. And it makes doing business infinitely better. This is one of the great joys of thinking like a self-employed person, whether or not you actually are. (Although, as someone who has basically been fending for herself since 1992, I think I have to say I am one by now.)

Just as my favorite kind of selling is Not-Selling, my favorite kind of marketing is Not-Marketing. More and more, I’m becoming an adherent of the “marketing is the truth of you, translated into the language of them” school of marketing. And that’s just talking to people—about what they do, and need, and where you might be able to help them with that.

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• rehearsed my presentation for Ignite: Portland
• went to after-party for rehearsal
• went to fab lady-party in downtown Portland
• chatted up various local merchants about their businesses (in person! so friendly!)
• wrote/sent my latest newsletter
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

Once again, I was shown the benefits of doing regular marketing during a week where I didn’t manage to do much marketing at all.

The things that most occupied my time—prepping my presentation for the upcoming Ignite: Portland event, presenting at Pam Slim’s Escape from Cubicle Nation tour, and getting ready for my upcoming sabbatical-ette in the PacNW—are all indirectly related to marketing efforts I’ve made in the months (and sometimes years) before.

Pam and I met by reading each others’ blogs—obsessively, as it turns out, although I beat her to it.

Everyone I know in Portland save one (my former apartment manager, of all things) I’ve met through social networking, for example. One of them—my friend, Jean MacDonald—I met after writing a glowing testimonial for one of her company’s products, TextExpander (I’ve since written a lengthy and equally glowing review on my main blog). It was through Jean that I found out my visit would coincide with the next Ignite.

I’ll also be attending my friend and client Sam Carpenter’s Work the System Boot Camp in Bend, OR the week after next (still a couple of spaces available, if you’re interested). Where did we meet? Via social media, and Pam Slim!

And I picked up another couple of gigs for 2010 over the past couple of weeks: one via the networking I did with my alumni group, and the other via the work I did both with my former marketing coach, Ilise, and the ridonculous number of hours I’ve spent online, futzing around with social media.

My point in all this is only partly to make myself feel better for not getting as much done (and having as many billable hours) as I’d have liked. It’s also to say that the “wins” are the direct result of a long, sometimes slow, occasionally arduous, but always rewarding process. Having a regular marketing system (or “machine,” as Peleg and Ilise like to call it) in place keeps me moving forward, even when my attention is occasionally drawn elsewhere, as it was this week.

The other thing I’d like to offer up—again, to remind myself as much as anything—is that the real benefit of all of this marketing stuff is the building of relationships. It’s relationships that bring opportunity, loyalty, reliability and their attendant rewards. Hopefully, the relationships you build are their own reward, too, of course. But they really are an integral part in getting here from there.

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 8 blog posts (seven at the main blog, one here)
• wrote/designed my presentation for Ignite: Portland
• partnered with Pam Slim to do my “branding” preso dropped into her “Escape from Cubicle Nation” workshop
• attended launch party for my friend Adam and his friend Jesse’s new web show, Put This On! (which you should totally subscribe to!) Bonus? Met Huell Howser! (Sorry about that egregious sentence construction, Mignon.)
• met up with my new friend, Lisa Sonora Beam, to touch base and talk shop one last time before we’re both in different cities
• did some more writing for my upcoming newsletter (which will be one week late—didja notice?)
• email! email! email!
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

The good news is that the Biznik meetups I initiated and have been working steadily to promote, now in partnership with my amazing friend and uber-talented designer, Heather Parlato, have taken off.

We have a solid core of people who show up each month, so that new people get folded in and taken care of by the regulars, who are all quite comfortable. The circle keeps growing, with new, interesting people joining us each time, adding to the flavor of the group, and becoming inspired to start their own Biznik events in other parts of the city.

The bad news is that we’ve gotten so comfortable, I forgot one of the cardinal rules of networking: business and politics do NOT mix, especially when you’re just meeting for the first time. Everyone who knows me at all (and most people who just spot me from a distance) know that I’m a big, fruity, crunchy, kumbaya liberal. And a vast majority of the people I come in contact are as well.

So—you can see this coming, right?—I was not even thinking when I brought a batch of equal marriage rights stickers to the meetup to hand out. I’d made a donation, wound up with a giant stack of stickers, and thought, “Great! I’ll hand them out as presents!” Most people were excited to see them—we had a big discussion in a small group about the NoH8! campaign, and how well done it was, at the last meetup; a couple people were neutral (and I now realize that they may have just been acting polite, which is more than I can say for myself).

One man, however, looked a little uncomfortable when I started handing them out. To his eternal credit, as he gave it back to me, he did not say anything nasty or sharp, just, “Here—why don’t you save this for someone who’ll use it?” I apologized (I think) and didn’t make a big deal out of it, but inside, I was dying: the last thing in the world I want to do is make uncomfortable someone who’s just showed up to mix and mingle for business. The conversation ground to a halt; it was obvious we were all uncomfortable now. Somehow, someone started it up again and things blew over without a big fuss. But I never got a chance to pull the man aside and apologize for my rudeness and presumption. I’ll try to locate him from the sign-in sheet, but if for some reason he’s reading this now, I hope he accept my sincerest regrets.

I’m at BlogWorld Expo now, through Saturday afternoon. If you’re here, too, come up and say “hi” if you see me, or @-reply me on Twitter (I’m @communicatrix.)

And whether you’re here or not, if you have any other words of wisdom to get me through the weekend without stepping in it again, do let me know!

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• more emails about upcoming Pam Slim seminar
• attended wildly successful Biznik meetup (except for my unfortunate faux pas!)
• met up with some people early here at BlogWorld Expo
• one-on-one catchup confab with a colleague-peer (mm…ketchup…)
• email, eternally
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter

I’m still in paring-down mode after last week’s meltdown (oh, the good times! the goody-good times!), so this week was a lot less about marketing and a lot more about jettisoning projects that aren’t serving my key goals and cleaning up the horrific backlog that has built up because of my poor past practices.

I’ve already detailed much of what I’m doing to pare down, as well as what I’m working toward, so I won’t belabor it here. Just by implementing a few new practices and removing a few projects, I feel a huge sense of relief, including some hope that I may come out of this year with a much clearer sense of what next year needs to look like, both from an overall sense and a marketing perspective.

The marketing keepers

Since I’ve been doing this marketing and self-promotion stuff for a while now, it makes sense for me to look at not only what’s working for me from a business perspective (i.e., what’s bringing clients in the door, and prospects up to it), but also to really look hard at what’s missing from the mix as well as what’s fun for me. “Fun” doesn’t necessarily mean whoop-dee-doo and hallelujah: it’s more about what I find interesting, challenging and engaging—what is a good fit for my skills and bent.

The newsletter is a no-brainer, as is the blog. In addition to providing the means to share useful information with clients, prospects and fans, they keep me writing and the more I write—my core competency, by a country mile—the better I feel and do. I’m keeping my skills sharp, growing as a writer, and, because of the relentless nature of the writing, discovering by combination of necessity and accident some new avenues for my writing. Poetry Thursday, which I re-started earlier this year after not being able to write one single more long blog post, has turned out to be one of the most popular things I write. And I’ve never, ever identified as either a poetry lover nor a poet. Go figger.

The podcast is a surprisingly fun vehicle for me. I resisted it when Peleg and Ilise first suggested I try my hand at it, but like other things I think I hate until I meet them and fall in love, I’m a convert. What’s more, I’ve been genuinely shocked by the enthusiastic response to it from listeners. To me, the idea of listening to content when the same stuff is available to read is crazy, but that’s just me. And I love doing them, so there you go. Because of my commitment to the calendar project, I won’t starting my own podcast until 2010, but it’s gonna be a hum-dinger, trust me.

In-person networking with Biznik has been richly rewarding. I have really enjoyed hosting the events in the Marina, and it’s been thrilling seeing other people discover the value of them: so much that they’re willing to start up their own events. Having Heather come on as co-host was the greatest single thing that happened in the entire process. If anyone is interested in getting a regular event up and running, I strongly suggest figuring out a great, ambitious, fun, trustworthy colleague to partner with. You’ll each take the heat off of each other, plus you’ll forge an incredible bond. Heather even made me an SCD-legal pie for my birthday! (see pic top right!)

The marketing also-rans

Ilise, I’m ducking in advance, but cold calling is off the menu right now. Honestly, it’s been off since I abandoned the idea of taking my little branding and marketing song-and-dance for actors on the road. The combination of eviscerated university endowments and my split focus killed off my enthusiasm: as the old saw goes, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. I’m really, really good at talking to actors about how to market themselves. But it pulls me from other stuff I’m even better at. The good news is that once I have a real reason to pick up the phone and ask people questions, I have no doubt that I’ll be able to. So this isn’t a loss—it’s a real win.

I love my Biznik events, because I’m making great connections while I hone my leadership skills, build something much bigger than myself, and hey—just have fun! (Don’t discount fun, ever!) But I’m going to be far, far more judicious about the number and types of other events I go to. I just can’t hit that many big conferences, unless I’m speaking and they’re paying me for my time. C.C. Chapman has a fantastic podcast episode on what he’s calling Personal Price Tags that addresses this; it’s short and compelling and well worth a listen. I get that it’s going to require more effort on my part to research what are and aren’t good events, but that’s much easier to manage than wasting time at the wrong dance.

The marketing “maybes”

I have to be careful, here, because I have a well-documented and chronic case of Eyes Bigger than Stomach Syndrome. But these are other marketing ideas that have my interest:

A video podcast, series of videos or narrated presentations/screencasts. It finally hit me that after all those years of performance and presenting, I have chops that I’m STUPIDLY letting go to waste. Plus, I love it. I love talking and I love performing. Not everyone is going to want to see and hear this stuff, but some people, we’ve established, like it better. So, untapped market + Colleen Fun = DO IT. Somehow.

A book. Yes, that book—the one that some people have heard me yakking about for years now. I finally have the title and the idea. Well, that’s not quite true: I have two titles and two ideas for two totally different books. Not sure how that’s going to play out, but I have until January 1st to wrap my brain around it. (I plan to start the proposal for one of them sooner.)

A tour. Not sure what this means yet, but I have a vision of myself doing some more extended versions of my now-annual PacNW trip. If you have ideas—or better yet, if there’s a way you would love love love for me to show up in your town, please let me know.

As usual, a huge part of the reason I’m blathering all this stuff in such detail is that I’m hoping to gain some clarity. Seeing it written out is helpful right away, but feedback from objective sources is always welcome. What am I missing that’s glaringly obvious to you? What do I do that’s good for me and for you that I should turn more attention to?

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (four at the main blog, one here)
• attended the second Biznik Chicken Wing Thing
• lots of email (although the system helps when I apply it)
• morning and afternoon checkins with Facebook and Twitter
• sent hard copy thank you notes and a thank you gift
• revised one page on my website

I attended two completely different events this week.

The first was a dreadful, infuriating waste of time. The people I talked to were mainly unfriendly, unreceptive and not people I was at all interested in meeting. The panels were tedious and poorly planned; I got nothing valuable from them. Even the traffic was bad. I left early, in a foul mood.

The second was a wildly illuminating and energizing investment in myself. The people I talked to were mostly lively and engaged—so much so that I found it difficult to pull myself away from our conversations to get back to the program, which was filled with great ideas that inspired me. Even the traffic wasn’t too bad. I left early, in a great mood.

The trick, of course, is that these were two different days of the exact same event and, with the exception of Tony Robbins as a presenter the second day (he really is exceptional!), nothing changed—except me.

The first day, I woke up later than I wanted to and had a slew of things hit me sideways, out of nowhere, via my inbox. I’m not sure how many of them were genuine emergencies, but somehow I got caught up in them. Before I knew it, I was leaving a full hour later than I’d intended to the previous evening, which put me square in the middle of hideous morning rush hour traffic. Figuring I’d beat it with surface roads, I instead ended up on a long, frustrating, bumper-to-bumper tour of Los Angeles’ West Side. I showed up in a horrible mood

The second day, I woke up slightly later than I wanted to, but much earlier altogether because the night before, I prepped myself for bed earlier. I limited myself to an abbreviated version of my habitual, obsessive-compulsive, morning digital check-in (comments to the blog, items of excessive delight or despair in my inbox, quick scan of Daily Beast/Twitter/Facebook), made myself eat a light breakfast and hightailed it over.

Traffic was ass, as is the fashion of my adoptive city, but I picked a good playlist, got in the far left-hand lane and—surprise!—my freeway experience was just fine. Arrived early enough that the exhibitors were just setting up with no one to talk to, so I talked to them and got a lead on some PR writing work for a friend. Got a seat close to the stage for Mr. Robbins, then moved up to the half-empty front row: good karma (I’m a speaker, too) and more practice at putting myself out there. During his (TWO-HOUR LONG!) speech, he singled out a woman who was a 22-year entrepreneur with annual revenues of $22 million. I made a point of seeking her out later and we had an amazing talk.

I could go on and on (and on, although not as long as Tony Robbins!), but I have things I want to do today and so do you. And that’s my point, really: what am I doing to make the things I want to do happen? Or, to paraphrase my way more organized and fit and, let’s face it, financially successful friend Jason Womack, “How do I want to show up for things?” I can create the room I need, devise and implement the systems to support my work and stay tuned in to what’s really happening (as opposed to what I wish was happening, or any number of other things). Or I can blow it off and continue to live in chaos, making stuff but not making significant advancement toward my heart’s desire.

The point of the calendar is to help organize what I need to do, and to focus on doing those things one at a time, but at its heart, it’s a system for dealing with stuff. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff—possibly too much stuff—but I’ve not been doing it systematically. The daily blog posts are ingrained as a practice, as is this weekly one (although this week, I fell behind.) Ditto with networking: in my brain, I know that I need to be hitting a networking event per week, so as I plot out my weeks, I make sure that an event is slotted into each one. It works like magic, just chipping away at this stuff*. I need to introduce those kinds of systems and that kind of order to all my work, I now see, if the marketing stuff is going to be effective. After all, if I’m running a crappy, broken-down business because of lousy practices, all the marketing in the world ain’t gonna help it.

I’ve already started implementing some new rules and regs here at communicatrix HQ, and I intend to devote a significant chunk of time to getting my house in order for the balance of 2009. As much as I’d like to do a million other things, too, focus is the cure. If I can restrain myself a bit now, I sense that the payoff down the road will be huge.

Have you had some kind of breakthrough in this area? What made it happen? Which systems—small or large—did you put in place that significantly shifted things for you?

xxx
c

*I playfully call it pushing the c*cksucking boulder up the motherf*cking hill. If you need a shot of inspiration and can handle some seriously blue language, you’re welcome to sing along.

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (four at the main blog, one here)
• 3 free consultations (1 was donation from last week’s speaking gig; 2 were to make up for poor planning!)
• met with another client and one of my colleagues on a cool new project
• attended the Twitter 140 conference
• submitted proposal for blogger’s pass to Le Web 2010
• email! email! email! (others complain, but I love it)
• informative, supportive, entertaining behavior on my social media outlets
• sent actual hard copy thank you notes
• revised two pages on my website

Some weeks, you spend most of your time marketing, or working, or whatever-it-is that takes you away from whatever the rest of it is that you do in the course of a week

This was one of those incredible week’s of having to push myself a little bit harder than I’d maybe have liked, because so many opportunities came up. (And believe it or not, I actually turned down a couple of opportunities, because even optimistic me realized that something had to give.)

So while I know I’m usually the one who goes on and on (and on and—well, you know), I’m going to keep it short and sweet this week.

I worked hard. Maybe a little too hard. I definitely found the outside of my ability range (is that even a thing? “Ability range?”)

But I think it serves as a useful reminder that all of this stuff is about finding things out: who exactly your target is, and has it shifted? What exactly the market is looking for, and are you prepared to deliver? Which times of the day and which days of the week can you push a little bit harder? How much rest will you need to schedule in after the pushing?

And again, what systems are you putting in place so that you don’t have to deal with the same problems again? Because problems are fine—they’re just you, bumping up against the edges of things. It’s the repetition of the same problems that starts getting…problematic.

After some discussion with my Significant Other, we’ve decided to cancel all plans for this weekend and just chill. “Chill” may mean puttering, but we are both restored by that. And “chill” will definitely mean unplugged, not “on” time. We’ve both had a lot of “on” time this week.

I’m happy with where this week took me. I’m just not sure I want to go to all those places again.

Live. Learn. Live some more.

xxx
c

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 5 blog posts (four at the main blog, one here)
• met with a client for dinner
• met with another client and one of my colleagues on a cool new project
• Monthly Biznik Meetup I co-host with the amazing Heather Parlato (who made me SCD-legal pie for my birthday!) If you’re Los Angeles-local, sign up, then join us next month!
• spoke to the Orange County Advertising Federation on Personal Branding in a Postmodern Age (latest iteration of the “You, amplified” platform)
• attended WordCamp LA (and, as per usual, all the good stuff happened in the hallways)
• did some recon and saw a competitor’s general presentation
• email! email! email! (others complain, but I love it)
• informative, supportive, entertaining behavior on my social media outlets
• sent actual hard copy thank you notes
• met with my accountability group to go over goals made and missed
• enjoyed birthday dinner at Benihana (okay, not marketing—but DELICIOUS)

I’m currently reading a very slim but quite curious and decidedly interesting (to me) volume on becoming a better salesperson. Frankly, a lot of the stuff in there is just foreign to me: I’m not a big salesperson, and I’ve never been a natural one. This is probably a combination of training (very inside-the-lines, where the lines are dictated by nuns and other Persons of Authority), wiring (introvert) and experience (9-to-5 world of advertising, followed by the surprisingly 9-to-5 world of commercial acting, where, while you are technically self-employed, you still have Big Daddy Corporate Producer cutting your checks and Mr. Agent Man brokering your deals).

One thing I wish I’d learned earlier is the fine art of shutting the hell up. I can’t count the times I’ve lowballed myself into a corner or extra work or taking stuff on I shouldn’t at all because I don’t know how to keep my trap shut. I am that person who, when handed the rope, could do the cartoon-quick fashioning of it into a noose, hurl it over a rafter and hoist myself with the grace of an aerial acrobat.

This week, I noted two very different occasions where shutting the hell up was warranted.

The fine art of shutting the hell up, learned

The first was at a networking event I attend semi-regularly, and always enjoy, even if it hasn’t netted me work (yet). At this point, I’m outrageously relaxed at events in general (another benefit of regular attendance) and at this one in particular, so I’m perfectly happy to go into question mode and let other people run on at the mouth. Which, amazingly, some do to an extent that goes from amusing to surprising to jaw-dropping and on to amusing again. Some people can talk and talk and have it be fascinating, but most people’s favorite subject is themselves, which—PARADOX ALERT—means that most people who like to run on are usually running on about the wrong thing.

In this case, at least two people talked themselves right out of any referral I would ever, EVER consider throwing their way. And I’m not concerned about currying favor and getting the referral in return because—PARADOX ALERT—when someone is that bad at listening, there’s a non-zero chance they’re also going to be bad at sending my Right People to me.

And when I thought about it, this happens more often than not: people talk themselves out of more jobs they could ever possibly talk themselves into, because 90% of good communication (which is a foundational element of any sane and sound marketing plan) is listening.

The fine art of shutting the hell up, applied

Believe it or not, I don’t spend all of my time marketing, although I realize that sometimes, it seems that way. Sometimes, I have actual presentations to build or paid stuff to write or even (gasp) clients.

I’m relatively new to consulting, and even newer to coaching, so I don’t profess to know it even close to what looks like all with either. Coaching, especially, has always seemed sort of mysterious to me, so when I took on my first couple of clients, it was with the explicit proviso that they were getting me on the relative-cheap as part of a grand experiment I not only wasn’t sure would work out, but wasn’t sure I wanted to have worked out. Because I’m squirrely and private and the like.

The first several sessions, I talked…a lot. (Because hey, I’m the communicatrix, not the listenatrix.) And I’m sure I delivered some bang-up information. But at one point in the process, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, part of my job as coach was this teach-a-man-to-fish thing, and part of that might just be shutting the hell up and letting them do a little casting. Or whatever it is those fisherman types do.

Amazingly (or not), my very smart client got everything just as quickly, if not more so, than listening to my big song and dance. Listening is as awesome in day-to-day business as it is  in selling—surprise, surprise.

Bonus-extra for tired marketeers (not a misspelling!): more listening significantly lessens drag on you, the marketeer. So there you go.

Marketing round-up for this week:

• 6 blog posts (five at the main blog, one here)
• September newsletter (you subscribe, right?)
• interviewed a supercool dude for next month’s actor-marketing column
• revised some marketing pages on my website
• networking event
• met with my genius friend, Jodi Womack, about various business plans we each have (and made a bonus-extra impromptu visit to the birthday party of a smart WordPress marketing type)
• met with my genius friend, Karen Kohlhaas, whose audition seminar I’m teaching today
• teaching that seminar for actors today!
• bazillion emails (still my main and preferred mode of communication)
• bazillion birthday greetings on Facebook/etc (what is UP with all the Virgos!)

And yes, Sunday is my birthday, so feel free to wish me a happy one!

xxx
c

The calendar is a living document.

Which is to say, it’s meant to be adapted to yours need rather than you blindly following it.

Since, as I mentioned last week, I’m rejiggering the posting schedule to somewhat lighten the burden that having multiple deadlines on a Monday creates, I thought I’d take this piece to do some adapting of my own. (Show, don’t tell, as Mrs. Kent used to say.)

So to break things up—and maybe put something out there to reflect upon as we here in the U.S. get ready to call summer quits for the year and gear up for the “back-to-school” stretch of work before the holidays kick in and dump eggnog all over us—I thought I’d do a bit of reflecting on what’s happened over the course of the year, and how it’s going to affect the way I move forward for the rest of the year: which big projects will I be tackling, where will I be focusing my attention, etc.

And because I’m a creative type, I’m doing the damned thing as a Q&A—where I both ask the questions and supply the answers. Self-involved? Maybe. Efficient? YOU BETCHA.

Q: Looking back over the year, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?

A: Without question, the value of incremental work done methodically and, for the most part, executed against some kind of a plan. (Is that one thing?)

Q. Close enough. What exactly do you mean by “incremental” and “done methodically”?

A: Ah. Well. I’ve always been sort of a workaholic-type, willing to spend any amount of energy on a project I’m enthused about. But I wasn’t so good at the drudgery (see how I look at it?) of mundane, daily tasks. I like to say I’m a starter, not a finisher, and the overflowing plate of commitments still requiring my attention for that last 10% of work attests to that. Although I have managed to knock a few things off of it.

The big work spurts are fun for those of us who dig that stuff, but it’s the daily wax-on/wax-off that strengthens the muscles that move you forward.

Q: Do you think that the overflowing plate you speak of might also have to do with an inability to say “no” often enough?

A: It’s like you know me!

Yeah, definitely. I have a problem with disappointing people, plus a dash of God Complex. And it’s taken me a looong time to gain any sort of realistic grasp of how long things actually take.

Q: Sounds familiar. So how have you gone about getting a grasp? Has the calendar helped at all?

Definitely, the calendar helped. At the most basic level, the idea of “one networking event per week” and x amount of time with social networking, etc., was useful. I started to see just how much those things took, plus a sense of what they took out of me.

Q: The energy drain was bigger for certain things?

A: Oh, yeah. I’m an introvert. Cold calling and in-person networking and speaking all take cave time afterward. I’ve learned the hard way not to schedule things too tightly around them.

Also, I’ve gotten a much better grasp of how my brain and constitution work in general. Now I schedule client work for certain days and times, writing everyday for a certain time, marketing and paperwork-y stuff for other times. It all makes more sense now, which I think is a combination of both doing it a lot and turning my attention toward it.

Q: Interesting. Have any other patterns emerged as a result of the work that you can share?

A: Tons. Well, some, anyway.

I’ve learned that I need to chunk up some of my tasks better. Like adding little bits to the newsletter as I find them, so I don’t have a knock-down-drag-out once monthly. (There were a couple of close calls, but I’ve only gone off the schedule once.)

I’ve also learned that I need to schedule downtime: for rest, play, reading, etc. Lame, maybe, but it’s the way I’m wired. Why fight it?

And I’ve started adding features to the blog, both to spice it up and reduce the load on me. It’s pretty hard cranking out a good, 1,000-word essay four or five times per week. Writing reviews and (ulp) poetry gives my brain a break, while it also trains me to write different kinds of things in my own voice. I’m the communicatrix—why shouldn’t I be able to write a Referral Friday review of a great t-shirt shop as well as a diatribe about change?

Q: Why, indeed?

A: Exactly!

Q. So with two-thirds of the year behind you, how do you see this final third shaping up? And how has the calendar work gotten you there?

A. Great question!

The rest of this year is going to be about prepping some huge projects: a book proposal, a secret publishing project for the holidays, an under-the-hood overhaul of my website.

Doing all this marketing work is directly responsible for my vision of what the future holds, as well as for my having gotten to this new point of doing so much more consulting and speaking. I want to keep doing the consulting and speaking, but at a higher and higher level, and that means I can’t put off the book any longer.

Q: How did the calendar affect things, exactly?

A: The more I wrote and spoke and put the word out there about my writing/speaking/consulting, the more feedback I got from people. And it was the feedback that was so directly responsible for showing me the next steps: what do people want? What is resonating with them? What problems do they have that I could help them wrassle to the ground?

I got a little feedback before I got so serious about putting myself out there, but it really increased as I did more of the marketing and networking.

Plus, my network just kept expanding in exciting, unexpected new ways that opened up other avenues of opportunity. I’ve got a collaborative project for actors that’s started to take shape; my increased networking and visibility is what made that possible. And I have so many more resources to draw from, things just feel more possible than they did a year ago.

Q: Wow—that’s fantastic. Anything you’d like to leave people with?

A: Yes. Get the support you need. A group, a buddy, a coach, a mentor—whatever. And be prepared to provide it for someone else. Support and accountability are the final keys to making this work. Having my accountability group—not to mention the commitment to posting my progress here every week—really made the difference between wanting to get things done and actually doing them.

Q: Thanks for your time, Colleen. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you do next.

A: Me, too. Including this week’s podcast—that oughta be interesting…