Marketing Yourself Through Change

The philosophy behind selling one's self isn't as selfish as it may sound at first. But in any industry where you're dealing with people, and so few do not, the first gatekeeper to success is you making an impression. Confidence in your products and services, and your experience with both, is the most important aspect of successful business relationships. It's the tie that binds. Forget the fancy suit and the expensive wheels, the enthusiasm behind what you do should express "vocation" rather than "day job". If you truly believe that what you offer has value, others will, as well.

Not to drive this point home too hard because it seems mostly common sense, but the daily grind of a challenging company stretch takes its toll gradually. And once the motivational posters lining the walls have blended into the wall, before we know it, we're pushing away our marketing activities as faith-based initiatives that hold no real return on time or monetary investment and tunnel vision sets in. Inevitably, forthcoming vacations become our long-distance main focus, and too often, they only make things worse as we return not invigorated, but even more spiritually depleted than before. And when we allow ourselves to succumb to daily stresses simply because they've become all too familiar, our health, both mental and physical, suffers as well.

And with it, our ability to influence.

So as a personal public service announcement, it's important to refocus on the heart of your role in your company and remind yourself that there's a purpose behind your efforts besides meeting a bottom line. Setting new goals, both in and out of the office, and reexamining the way others see your company may refresh the corporate vision not only of yourself, but of those around you. Sometimes, if it ain't broke, go ahead and break it to invigorate the works. Sure, change can be scary, but so can stagnation – only it's harder to see. And if we lose our sense of who we are in what we do, our perspective as an integral part of a larger picture becomes lost as well. And when we stop recognizing our purpose in the marketplace, little by little we're asking others to do the same.