Have you tried just… being better?

Col’s recent poll revealed what many of us already know. Most people admit they’re bad at marketing and sales. We avoid it.

Instead, we lean on referrals and word-of-mouth. We hoping the quality of our work speaks loudly enough to bring in the next client.

Col thinks many of us would be more successful if we focused less on blaming “bad marketing”, and more on becoming brilliant at our craft.

After all, being bad at marketing feels psychologically safer than facing the fear of being mediocre at what we actually do.

Go you good things!!

Who cares most about my expanding bald patch?

Me. Nobody else gives a shit.

Except it’s kinda news to me. Some recent video footage really tells it like it is! When else do I see the back of my own head?

Video shows us as we truly are, not as we imagine ourselves.

One of my jobs is helping people get comfortable with how they show up on camera. It's tricky territory, and most people find this confronting to the point they'll often choose total avoidance.

Nearly everyone has a complex about some aspect of their appearance.

But that thing you’re self-conscious about? There’s a good chance everyone else has either

a) not noticed, or

b) accepted it without judgement.

They’re too worried about their own shit to care about yours.

YES I REALISE I AM IN DANGEROUS TERRITORY HERE. PLEASE ACCEPT THIS HUGE CAVEAT FOR PATRIARCHY AND MISOGYNY BIAS, ABLEISM AND PRIVILEGE AND ALL OF THE THINGS.

Those factors are real and true and I’m not here to judge your experience. These barriers can be hard to overcome.

But Col and I both work with people who are the face of their business. And typically, the more comfortable you are with yourself, the more successful you’ll be.

Your hair, face, weight, voice, teeth, mannerisms - ALL OF IT - is already what people see every day. Show up anyway. It’s better for your business and your soul.

Yes, that’s custom lycra at Burning Man 2012.

PLOT TWIST at 90 seconds.

And yes, there’s a genuinely useful business lesson hiding in there.

In this week’s Fink Tank, we argue why you need to bang on about your core messages way more than feels comfortable.

Because the thing you’ve repeated 100 times?

Your audience has maybe heard… once.

Which is once more than you wish you’d seen the moustache I was rocking in 2012.