Three things are vital to any entrepreneur’s success. Social media (for self promotion), persistence and self-confidence. Without them whatever ideas, products, services or offerings the entrepreneur would like to spread is doomed plain and simple. A great ‘idea’ will only go so far before fizzling out. It’s the promotion and execution and hours and hours of painstaking self-promotion that counts. Here are some of the top ways to promote yourself and your business as an entrepreneur in 2022.
I love the motivational video with Benedict Cumberbatch on YouTube which highlights the ‘just do’ impetus to cure ‘analysis as paralysis’ – a huge threat to Entrepreneurs who have to sweat every detail.
According to Martin Zwilling, “In the entrepreneur world, your perception is equally critical, except the “managers” in this world are your investors, customers, vendors, business partners and team members. I just finished a book by Dan Schawbel, Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success, which will help you maximize these perceptions”.
Here is a quick guide to some of the changes that Schawbel sees in the workplace that require self-promotion and some updates and motivational links and articles that I have added to promote yourself as an entrepreneur in 2022!
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How to Promote Yourself Successfully as an Entrepreneur
1. An “idea” is just the beginning. Use your business idea to kick start your relationships with co-founders, investors, customers and business partners. Your ability to promote yourself and learn from these will determine your ultimate success.
2. Pursue skills you don’t have right now. A U.S. Department of Education study shows that soft, interpersonal skills have become more important for success than hard, or technical, skills. Entrepreneurs need to have leadership skills, as well as an ability to work in teams and listen. Coaching skills, consulting skills, which you can learn from advisors and networking with peers, are also a plus.
3. Polish your reputation, as it’s your best asset. Your blog page views might be good for your ego, but in the grand scheme of things, what matters more is how much people trust you, whom you know, who knows about you, and the aura you give off around you.
What other people think you can do is more important than what you have done.
Your Reputation as an Entrepreneur
4. Your personal life is now public. With the internet and social networks, things you do in your personal life can affect your success in a big way. Manage your whole image, rather than ignore it. Even the smallest things, like how you behave, your online presence — or lack of it — and whom you associate with can help build your brand or tear it down.
5. Build a positive presence in new media. There are plenty of benefits to new media, if you maintain a positive presence. Your online social networks enable you to build your reputation, connect with people who have interests similar to yours, find educational opportunities and put you in touch with people who can help your startup.
Entrepreneurs Must Build Connections
6. To promote yourself as an entrepreneur you must play nice with people of all ages. The combination of economic need and increasing life spans is keeping everyone in the workplace longer. As a result, you’ll need to work well with people of all ages. Each generation tends to communicate differently and offers a different view of the marketplace.
7. The one with the most connections wins. We have moved from an information economy to a social one. It’s less about what you know (Google search will help you in seconds), and more about whether you can work with other people to solve problems.
If you don’t get and stay connected, you’ll quickly become irrelevant.
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8. Just one person can change your life. Remember the rule of one? All you need is that one mentor, one believer, one investor, that one major customer or that one distributor to keep you ahead of competitors.
It’s up to you to get that key person on board to support your business. Self-promotion in the right way can make all the difference.
9. Hours are out, accomplishments are in. If you want to grow your business, stop thinking about how many hours you work, and aim for more milestones and traction. Success is more results, not more work. Measure your results and promote them.
Help others realize your value. Ironically, the only way to get others to realize your value is by helping them. What goes around comes around.
If you’ve set out to be a blogger or a digital entrepreneur this is not a 9-5 gig. Sure you can work from anywhere but more often than not you will be working MORE often than not.
The kicker is though, it’s a labor of love and something you’re passionate about. In that way, it’s a win/win. You love helping others and you love what you’re doing. How many people can say that?
10. Your entrepreneur startup is in your hands. Be accountable for your own business success and take charge of your life. Look for win-win business relationships, since people won’t help you if you are not helping them. If you aren’t learning and growing, you have nothing to promote and aren’t benefiting anyone.
The challenge for all entrepreneurs is to gain visibility and show value without bragging and coming off as self-centered. Take personal credit where credit is due, but also share the successes of the team, other bloggers, your mentors and the business milestones with everyone success leverages success.
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Conclusion
Now, how do you start? To promote yourself as an entrepreneur, I like Schawbel’s recommendation to do one thing every day, like add a new skill, or build a new relationship that will advance you. Developing this “One Step Forward a Day” habit will keep you current, make you feel more fulfilled, confident, and increase your ability to promote yourself as an entrepreneur.
It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you keep going.
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