“How long have you been walking every day for exercise?” my physical therapist asked, looking at my right knee.
“I’ve been doing all the stretching exercise you gave me,” I told her. “Twice a day, most days.”
“But, are you walking?” she asked again.
“No, I, uh…”my voice trailed off. The truth is I’d been worried that walking would make the pain worse. Worried it would flare up and cause the recovery to slow down or even go backwards, so I’d stopped my daily walks.
My physical therapist went on to explain how joint nutrition is built through movement; they need movement to be healthy. She explained that sometimes because people are afraid of the pain, they avoid movement.
But that’s the last thing you need to – to stop moving.
This is the same thing I see happen when people start marketing their business.
When many people think about marketing their business in an authentic way, one with commitment and forward movement, a fear arises, and they avoid moving.
The list of things people fear about marketing their business is long. Some are conscious fears. Many are not.
You’re afraid you don’t know how to “do” social media, email marketing, Facebook lives, content creation, Snapchat stories, or whatever the latest thing that the market says you have to be doing to market your business
You’re afraid you’ll be criticized or rejected by your friends, family, colleagues (former and present) or potential clients.
You’re afraid you’ll be ignored. Completely and utterly ignored.
You’re afraid your real opinions are crazy, embarrassing, irrelevant, flimsy, not-well-thought-out, or the stuff of first world problems
You’re afraid you’ll never match up - to others in your industry, your fellow trainees cohort members, your older sister, or anyone with a real J.O.B.
You’re afraid there’s no market for your creative, healing or coaching services so why bother
You’re afraid you’re not trained enough and that soon enough you’ll be exposed as the fraud or fool you sometimes worry you are. How am I to think I can do this work?
Did any of these give you a sort of sinking feeling of recognition?
I could write a much longer list because there are many more reasons I’ve heard and an infinite number of variations on the ones above.
To grow your business, healthy marketing needs movement.
It doesn’t need violent, radical, all-out, just do it! movement, but it needs movement. Steady, consistent progress in small, doable steps.
And, it’s something you can do.
Just like walking on a knee that’s healing, if you do it with love, steadiness, and a little help when you need it, before you know it, you and your business will be up and running.
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