3 Secrets to Overcoming Your Fear of Self-Promotion

You've got your online business up and running at last, and now comes the part you love to hate--promoting yourself.  This is a huge stumbling block for many online business owners, especially those who are introverts or who may have been in a supportive or back-end role in a company and made the magic happen behind the scenes while the limelight fell on their supervisors or other more outgoing colleagues.

Think about the people in your company who were promoted or left for a better position.  Were they always the "best person for the job?" Perhaps, but probably not.  What they were good at is consistently being the best at the process of getting the job, even though there were others vying for the same position with more experience, greater skill, or greater knowledge (perhaps that was you!).  Many highly qualified and very smart workers are passed over every day for promotions they deserve because they haven't figured out how to promote themselves within their own company.

This fear of self-promotion follows many service business owners into the self-employment world, as well. However, the reality of owning your own business is this:  If you don't toot your own horn, no one else will.  Waiting around for recognition or to be noticed for your skills or talent doesn't work when you're self-employed.  In fact, it's a sure way to quickly run your business into the ground quickly.

So, if you're an introvert or someone who doesn't relish giving yourself regular accolades, how do you learn to promote yourself without feeling that you are bragging or selling?  Here are 3 tips to help you overcome your fear of self-promotion:

1.  Take stock of what you do well and your accomplishments.  Sometimes your gifts and accomplishments are apparent to everyone but you.  It took me awhile to figure out that I had a unique talent in finding tools and resources to automate a business because I thought everyone could do this.  What kinds of compliments regularly come your way?  What have you accomplished that you shrug off as "no big deal?" If you're having difficulty compiling this list, ask trusted friends or colleagues to help you out.

2.  Use your gifts (writing, researching, organizing, listening) to your advantage.  I've never been comfortable at telling people what I can do, but have no hesitation to demonstrate to them what I can do.  This means that I use writing to my advantage to create authority websites full of content useful to my target market, regularly repurpose my content in various mediums all throughout the online world, answer questions on forums and discussion lists frequented by my target market, hold teleclasses or speak at events where I can teach others what I know, and ask lots of questions both when I do a complimentary "get-to-know-you" session as I decide to whether to take on a new client and when I attend in-person networking events.  For networking events, it makes much more sense to me to ask "How can I help you?" rather than starting a 10-minute monologue about how great I am.

3.  Find someone who is doing what you want to do and copy them. Rarely do I come up with an original idea.  I'm ALWAYS modeling what I'm doing based on what someone else has done but adjusting it appropriately for my style and my business. Because I'm a great scanner (easily pick up and retain lots of ideas) and love to find new and innovative strategies, finding great models to emulate is fairly easy for me.  If I really like what this person is doing and think that I can learn much from her, I pay for access to that person, typically through some type of coaching or mentoring program. If I'm unable to get access to someone, I get as much exposure to her as I can in other ways, like by subscribing to her ezine, blog, social networking updates, or enrolling in her teleclasses.

Promoting yourself may mean that you have to force yourself out of your comfort zone, but you can successfully learn how to do this with authenticity and integrity.  Try these three strategies in your business and watch your self-promotion confidence muscles develop and thrive!