Why am I so bad at marketing? Insecurity, Over Thinking, and Writing
Before we get to that we’re going to have to talk about operational security. I like privacy as a concept. It’s never fun when other people can track you without your knowledge or consent. But, I’ve realized over time that if I want to get anything done or collaborate with other people that I will have to have a public presence. This was further confirmed and ignited when I was doing a LinkedIn learning module on personal branding. If someone looks me up, I realize that I have the ability to create and show what I’ve done. I have the ability to fully consent to the publish of the information I want online.
Originally, the ideas of ‘making stuff’ didn’t really make sense to me because most things that I have learned have been from other people. That was until I was reading Simon Willison’s blog, ironically, of what to blog about. The quote that stuck out to me was this:
“I recommend adding “write about it” to your definition of “done” for anything that you build or create.”
It stuck in my mind because it was very similar in concept the Minimalist Guy’s espouse of a focus on creation rather than consumption. Or in other word - being results driven. I am extremely results driven.
While I am not attached to the results because failure is in every part of life – “Do not let the results of action be your motive”. I very much measure my past successes based on the gradual steps and actions I got to that specific goal.
To know, you must perform intellectual work, not merely be smart. I bet you are smart enough.
In college, when I first to weightlift I identified that the thing stopping me was not action but the underlying knowledge I needed to make a specific routine. In the same way today the thing stopping me from making and creating more was the knowledge that the documentation or log of my learning is as important as the end product itself.
It doesn’t matter if your project overlaps with thousands of others: the experience of building it is unique to you. You deserve to have a few paragraphs and a screenshot out there explaining (and quietly celebrating) what you made. - Simon Wilson
The Journey of making a good project starts with learning how a great one was made.
So why am I so bad at marketing? Because I thought my ideas needed to be hyper-original or on the cusp of groundbreaking research. While I still strive for that in my though process, I’ve found that over time most “original” ideas or problems are solved by finding the gaps in the way current solutions are solved or implemented. And once you find that gap, that’s where you can truly add value. But until that point in time comes your work and many others are a remix.
Being a DJ at life sounds fun to me, will you join the party?