Trusted Sources Serve As Guides
Author Toni Morrison’s advises us that it’s up to us to be trusted: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Her words of wisdom prompted me to author the F*ck the Bucket List book trilogy because I wish I had books to guide me when I began my journey in 2012. I felt a responsibility to help anyone who was on a journey of conscious leadership of our life.
And, since no one guided me to watch out for marketing experts with empty promises, I am here to remind us to proceed with caution when it comes to our trust and who we choose to hire to get our work into the world.
The Mechanical World of Experts
So many experts are offering marketing packages to authors, speakers and entrepreneurs right now. They claim they have the answers but too often, don’t bother to ask questions and truly listen. And this is part of the decaying mechanical world of experts who are themselves wanting to land their next client and hit their own sales targets.
And it’s mostly unconscious because they themselves may hire business coaches who feed them with the secret formulas of how to achieve “success” with their own packages and strategies.
At the end of the day, it’s an unhealthy cycle that anyone can easily get seduced by the marketing promise of helping you stand out and connect with the right people. When in essence, all you get are cookie cutter plans, social media templates, branding and kits for an already crowded market.
Some Lessons from the Road
When choosing to trust someone to help you market your book, platform or business, here are some elements to take into consideration, and please add your own.
- Transactions are not relationships. Sometimes we hire someone calling themselves a marketing strategist, and who truly believes they are, but the strategy never materializes. Be very explicit to determine if you will get a strategy that will have an impact in reaching your goals or a bunch of assets and activity. You can stand out and still not reach anyone. And when your assets like your media kit, website or social media posts, look like everyone else’s, what’s the point? It’s a noisy world and building meaningful relationships are far more meaningful than a package of assets.
- Make sure you have shared goals around the impact you want to have with joint accountability. If you are the only one who has skin in the game, the expert gets paid based on activity, which may end up being useless when it’s not in alignment with your higher purpose. Consider paying for performance as your goals are met; maybe when you reach and connect with readers, speaking contracts or business deals.
- And along the path, some people disappoint. If you are stuck in the limiting belief that people know what’s right and good for you, you will most likely be let down. Life teaches us to trust our hearts and reminds us to never outsource our core.
When it’s too good to be true, it’s usually not true. And we need to also learn to forgive ourselves when we give our trust to untrustworthy people. Because we didn’t know and made choices for whatever reasons. And now we know full well what trust means to us, we learn to make healthier choices.
On Being Trusted
And here is the rub. We don’t need anyone to market our wares because we can do much of it ourselves with a trusted community who listens, questions and guides. Sure, we might need an architect to draw up the plan for the foundation of our house. But no one else apart from us can convey our story like we can. The new world is calling us to be real and there is no longer a need to stand out or disrupt.
Trusting ourselves and creating trusted relationships are the gateway to living a healthy life. It’s no longer necessary to remain stagnant in relationships that uphold false identities for the sake of safety. We are here to work through challenging people and experiences by not getting sucked into their drama or agenda.
And knowing when to let go and let our true voice out is when we grow to our full potential like writing this post with care and love. It’s not about taking anyone down but finding ways to lift each other up.
Imagine the power of our stories connecting—instead of standing out—and working in unity toward creating purposeful treks. Tim McDonald and I often speak about how there are so many experts speaking about teamwork and collaboration, while being alone on a stage talking at an audience.
Can You Trust Yourself?
Becoming conscious—living in awareness—is key to healing our trust. There’s always a feeling deep within us that’s calling us, but the question is whether we trust it or suppress it.
When a dam bursts, there’s a sudden and rapid release of captive water. The same thing can happen to us. When something is blocking our energy, removing it can free us from its hold. We have the power to break through—in fact, we are the only ones who can.
Can you trust yourself, open your heart, and get on your individual and collective path? Sometimes the only love that exists is the one you create for yourself.
P.S. Seth Godin Joins Us at 4:00 am
And I woke up to Seth Godin’s post and had a chuckle about synchronicity and maybe you will too?
