The comedy of closeness — Kelford Labs Daily

As part of a mentorship group I belong to, I’ve committed to some monthly accountability actions for my marketing.

Yes, all I do every day is tell other people how to do their marketing, but I sometimes need external help to hold myself accountable to my own.

Because we all need outside help, from time to time, to support us in doing the things we know we need to do.

If intentions were all that mattered, none of us would ever struggle or stumble. But they’re not. We need action, not just intention.

So the action I was supposed to take was getting myself on a few podcasts or live events, in service of my commitment to spend more time demonstrating expertise.

But you know what? I stopped in my tracks just as I was beginning to put my pitch together, thinking, “What if I get rejected!?”

What if someone I like and respect says they don’t want me on their podcast or in their event? How devastating would that be?

Now, you might have already realized what’s so funny about this: I would never tell a client to avoid promoting themselves out of fear of rejection (some of you reading right now might have direct experience of that). I’d understand the fear, of course, and we’d work to mitigate it (and minimize the likelihood of it), but we’d work through it.

I wouldn’t say, “Oh, you’re worried about rejection? Let’s just not do anything then.”

But that’s exactly what I almost let myself do. Luckily, though, I’ve got a group of fellow entrepreneurs expecting me, and supporting me, to get it done. Luckily, I sought outside help.

I call this the comedy of closeness: When we’re too close to a problem (like our own marketing), we can be hilariously, embarrassingly blind to the simplest truths about it.

Which is to say one simple thing: We all need outside, external, objective support from time to time to get our marketing done. It’s hard to put yourself out there, it’s hard to keep at it.

So don’t get down on yourself for finding it difficult or even, occasionally, scary.

The important thing is you don’t let that hold you back. Find an outside partner to chat with, to hold you accountable, and to be a sounding board for your ideas.

Everyone needs marketing support sometimes, even the people who do it all day, every day.

Reply to this email to tell me what you think, or ask any questions!

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