Are you still wearing too many hats in your business?
As a small business owner or entrepreneur, are you still doing your own copywriting? Still managing all your social media posting? Still doing your own public relations?
I get it. When you started out, you had to do everything. You got used to wearing a lot of hats. When something needed done, you taught yourself how. And as an entrepreneur myself, I understand the temptation to sign up for a copywriting training here, and a social media webinar there, and a public relations workshop over there.
But for me, that makes sense. I’m in the persuasion and publicity business, so those skill sets are germane to the services I provide.
You’re probably not a professional marketing copywriter, a social media maven or a publicity professional.
if you’re in the lawyer business, or the chiropractor business, or the dentist business, as your potential client (or patient), I’m begging you to focus on your core skills! Be the best dentist, lawyer, or chiropractor you can be, and hire professionals to do everything else. Including your marketing.
Sure, it’s tough to admit you need help, but if you keep trying to juggle all those roles, eventually you’re going to drop a ball. Or three. You’re going to get burned out doing things you don’t enjoy and aren’t good at. Your core skill set could suffer…and so could your clients, customers or patients.
The truth is, you can’t possibly know EVERYTHING there is to know about running a business AND everything about your chosen profession. There’s just not enough time in the day.
And besides, it just doesn’t make sense from a business perspective. Think about it. Is the president of Popeye’s frying chicken? Is the CEO of Walmart working the layaway counter at his neighborhood store? Then why are you still trying to write your own press releases?
Multimillionaire success coach and author Dean Graziosi says our success “depends on making it a habit to focus on improving what you’re already good at to the point of greatness.” He continues,
Because we are told to work on the things that we naturally don’t do well, we focus on this little 10% bucket of things we suck at….If you put energy and effort into the things you stink at, it’s inevitable you’ll lose your confidence and your momentum toward success. If you put energy and focus into the things that you’re good at and become great at them, you can eventually pay someone else to do the things you’re not good at.” (Dean Graziosi, Millionaire Success Habits)
Think of it like this. Let’s say you’re a dentist and you take one of those ubiquitous self-rating quizzes with a title like, “How good are you at marketing your dental practice?” Your results look like this:
To no one’s surprise, you’re really good at doing root canals. Not so good at writing copy, generating publicity, attracting new leads or keeping your dental practice’s Facebook page updated.
Experts in such things tell us that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve unconscious competence in a complex skill. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that if you invest 500 hours in practicing a particular skill, you can move the bar up by ten or twenty percent. (Let’s be generous and say 20%). Here’s what the chart looks like now:
So the good news is, I don’t want to see anyone else if I need a root canal! Clearly, you’re the best. You’ve gone from really good to a perfect 10.
The bad news is, you started out being bad at marketing yourself…and after investing hundreds of hours in practicing those side gigs, you’re still mediocre-to-average at best.
But you’re not alone. I’m lucky enough to have worked for some truly gifted business owners. I’ve helped generate leads and create conversions for best-selling authors. Inventors. Attorneys. Interior designers. Manufacturers. Luxury Realtors.
They’re absolutely the best at what they do. And before they hired me, every one of them was less than stellar about communicating their value to potential clients. They sometimes sucked at promoting themselves (even though they’ve all accomplished newsworthy things). Literally every one of them has used the phrase, “I hate to toot my own horn.”
And that’s perfectly OK. No one person can be great at everything. (Plus, my clients’ lack of marketing and PR expertise is what I count on to make my living.)
Generating and closing leads is the lifeblood of every business. Just as you shouldn’t trust me to adjust your spine, keep you out of jail or give you a root canal, you shouldn’t trust your marketing or copywriting to an amateur like yourself.
Full-time copywriting, marketing and public relations experts like me have a greater understanding of persuasion, sales psychology, and media relations than you do. And unlike you, we can’t wait to loudly and unapologetically toot your horn!
If you’re ready to get all that annoying marketing and PR stuff off your plate, so you can focusing on being the very best at your “jam,” why not get in touch today? Schedule a free Compatibility Chat and discover how good it feels to focus on what you love, while we focus on getting you the leads, sales, and publicity you deserve.
