The Studio Source.com

There were a couple of responses to my call for your most burning questions that point to an important part of marketing and personal branding: you.

The questions were about name recognition, writing a bio, and how to write an About page for your website. Each requires talking about yourself in a way that engages your audience.

Unless you’ve gone through the process a few times, writing a bio or About page for your website can be stupidly intimidating. You’re not sure exactly what you should write. You want to impress people. You want to sound smart and talented and likeable, or smart and talented and edgy, or smart and talented and sophisticated.

Which might be exactly the wrong approach.

I’m kind of on the DL this week (that would be the Disabled List for those of you who aren’t into sports). I have a knot in my shoulder blade big enough to require a name, and it’s been sending late-night scouting parties north to make me grind my teeth in my sleep. I’m not in the best of shape at the moment, so until I get myself fixed I’m trying to stay away from the keyboard.

Instead of limping through a half-baked post, I have a question for you. Actually, I have a few questions:

Money—it’s a complicated, emotional subject. It’s so easy to get your self-worth tied up in it, so easy to get intimidated, particularly when you ask people to give you their money in exchange for your work.

Sit with that for a minute. You ask people to give you their money in exchange for your work. Does that make you uneasy?

It shouldn’t. It’s how our economic system works, for the most part—money in exchange for a service, or something you can hold in your hands.

When an employer rents your time, you show up, do the work, go home, and repeat the process as often as necessary (or, depending on your disposition, as long as you can stand it). There might be complaints. There’s not enough money for the amount of work, responsibility, or stress that goes with the job. There’s no hesitation about wanting more.

When you sell what you create, there might be some frayed nerves when it comes to asking for money, at least until you get used to it.

So what’s the difference?

Three people I know have said nearly the same thing over the past few days—Why can’t I get this right?

One person was frustrated at not being able to master a new skill quickly. One was trying to wrestle designs into lower price points. One was overthinking her marketing message.

Their intentions were honourable, but they weren’t getting the results they wanted, and for good reason. Trying too hard interrupts your flow. It hangs up your thinking and twists you into a ball of anxiety.

I’m acquainted with a professional artisan who does no advertising. She doesn’t have a blog, a Facebook fan page, Etsy shop or Twitter account. She has studio staff and has grown a successful small business.

Want to know her secret?

She does everything deliberately.