Self-promotion: the Boogey Man under the Bed

Even just thinking about marketing ourselves is enough to give most of us the screaming heebie-jeebies. If we’re unlucky enough to dream about it, we wake up in a cold sweat.

Why is that?

I think part of it is that we don’t fully believe that we’re worth promoting. Even when we have a strong belief in our own talent, on an essential level most of us fear that we’re unlovable.

And if that’s true, self-promotion does nothing more than expose us to pain and potential ridicule. No wonder we avoid it like the plague.

But let’s stop for a moment. We all have things inside of us that we’re pretty sure would disqualify us from being loved, if only they were known. All of us.

And when we hear someone else that’s brave enough to bare their soul and share their pain, what’s our response? I can’t speak for everyone, but my response is that I can’t help but love them for it.

And in those moments that I don’t? Well, that’s usually because what they’re admitting to is something I share in common with them but am unwilling to face in myself. In other words, it’s my problem, not theirs.

The only thing that’s holding us back is a groundless fear. The fear of being unlovable.

The boogey man.

Because each of us are not just lovable, we’re infinitely lovable. And what’s more? We’re filled with infinite potential.

What’s the practical side of all this? Well, once we really connect and realize that our fears are, frankly, ridiculous, we realize one other key fact.

We are all dorks.

In the best way possible, of course. What I mean is that we don’t have to take ourselves too seriously. We’re all here just trying to do our best. There is no epic battle.

Once we realize that, the rest is fairly simple.

We get the best promotional tools we can (headshots, well-edited resume, reel, biz cards). We become active in the acting community. We make friends. We work our butts off.

And we open up our mouths. (When’s the last time we unashamedly introduced ourselves as actors?) Because, at the end of the day, marketing is just about sharing.

And we learned how to do that in preschool.