If you loathe self-promotion, this article is for you. Links to and snippets from
How to Promote Yourself Even if You Hate & Fear Self-Promotion?
Self-Promotion is not about you.
People need to know about good things before they can let those good things help them.
In Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way, [there’s a story about] George Clooney getting rejected and rejected at casting calls. Then he “saw that casting was “an obstacle for producers too – they need[ed] to find somebody and they’re all hoping that the next person to walk in the room is the right somebody.””
With that thought in mind, Clooney decided to walk into the audition room… as someone with something special to offer. And from then on his career took off.*
Promotion is about finding a way to make a difference in the life of someone who needs to hear from you. [To put a finer point on it – It’s about their needs and interests that you can help solve, not your need for a job. Desperation is a turn-off.]
- Promote the good without hiding the bad
- People like people who are competent and a bit vulnerable
- Offer more than you ask for
- Expect everything, attach to nothing
- Your self worth does not equal your great work
The best form of self-promotion is promoting things that will contribute to the well being of others.
*I heard an even better example that applies to self-promotion and interviewing: An actor friend told her agent she really wanted to get the role of the Wicked Witch of the West in an upcoming productions of Wicked. The agent said, “You don’t want the job. You want the shoes!!!"