You Are Your Own Best Marketing Rep!

Any small step taken toward reaching a goal is better than none at all.
Lamar Cole

One Small Step

Self-promotion, though daunting for some, can be accomplished (and accomplished well) by taking one small action step at a time. If you look at the whole, big, whoppin’ picture of marketing your book, chances are you’ll decide that it’s all too much, and it would be a much better idea to just give copies of your manuscript to your friends for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Other Holiday of Choice and be done with it.

Overwhelm. I don’t know about you, but sometimes, actually, most times, I become paralyzed by overwhelm when I have to deal with the bigger picture, or the end result. This happens to me when I get into the “I’ve got to finish my book” (or finish my weekly newsletter, truth be told), or I have to clean the whole house- pretty much when it comes to anything I want to complete.

By just biting off a piece, taking one small step, or obliging myself to a short increment of time (fifteen minutes, let’s say, or five, or just one minute if that’s all I can muster)- I can begin, and the overwhelm usually passes. I didn’t learn this all by myself, mind you.

Jill Badonsky, M.ED., inspirational seminar leader, artist, and creativity coach, channeled a specific muse to help with the problem of overwhelm and gaining inspiration to take small steps: Marge.

In her book, The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a bodyguard) Badonsky introduces Marge (named for the protagonist in the Coen Brothers movie Fargo), who personifies the attitude of “okay now, let’s get started,” suggests tackling any goal by taking small steps in small increments of time.

In his book One Small Step Can Change Your Life: Using the Japanese Technique of Kaizen to Achieve Lasting Success, Robert Maurer, Ph.D., explains how successful one can be in any area by applying the process of taking one small step. This technique has proven time and again to work whether it’s applied to a personal goal (such as losing weight) or to big business (like a Japanese car manufacturer).

Let’s go back and take a look at the question I posed in last week’s marketing tip:

What are some things I can do, starting today, to promote my book?

Do you feel any resistance when you read that question? It’s okay if you do. Do you know what the resistance is? If you can name it- great. If not, that’s okay too. Regardless, maybe it’s just too big a question. Try making the question smaller:

What is ONE small thing I can do, starting today, to promote my book?

Last week, I shared Bob Barker’s suggestion about brainstorming. If you’re up for it, try brainstorming ONE idea. Write it down (putting the idea on paper, or your computer, can help you see it better). If that feels like too big of a step, see if you can come up with an idea in your head. Try to visualize the idea. Let it brew and manifest itself in your imagination.

See where that takes you. Can you expand on that idea? Can you see yourself actually utilizing the idea? If you weren’t able to write it down before, try doing that now.

If you can’t, that’s okay. Congratulate yourself on simply thinking about it. If you were able to write it down, congratulate yourself for doing that.

If you feel like it, try jotting down one, small action step you can take to get your idea moving. Write as much as you can or as little as you can.

Whatever you were able to do, know that you accomplished something. Congratulate yourself…because you took one step towards promoting your book!

Recommended reading:

One Small Step Can Change Your Life: Using the Japanese Technique of Kaizen to Achieve Lasting Success, by Robert Maurer, Ph.D.

The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a bodyguard), by Jill Badonsky, M.Ed.

Both are available at Amazon (as far as I know they’re not available digitally…yet)