pt.1: on being and becoming

here's the deal...i have this blog...


no kidding.


every so often i convene my head and my hands in this location, and get my thoughts on screen...


i recently discovered that my blog has a stats feature that allows me to see where in the world i'm being read, number of page views, traffic sources, audience, etc. knowing this has made me want to be read more. exposure has become an addiction. i engage in shameless self promotion more than i care to admit, but not as much as i'd like to :-) i update my social networking sites to reflect my recent writings, in the hopes that one more person will read me. i've even looked for other ways to get my blog address out there so that i can get more readers because a writer--no matter the genre or forum or amount--is no writer without a reader...and you wouldn't be a reader without a writer :-)


i have become acutely aware that readership depends on how i promote myself. certainly, if you don't like my style or my topics, then i won't gain you as a regular reader. this is never far from my mind as i look for ways to market my blog and as i brand myself as a blogger. but bottom line, my existence as a writer falls short if i haven't advertised myself as a writer or if i stop writing. i have to put myself out there. i can't exist as a writer if i don't have a reader, and i won't have readers if what i write isn't believable, and if i want to call myself a writer i have to keep writing...i'm becoming and being a writer, but only because i continue to write.


let's get to my point...


the canadian marketing association defines marketing as a set of business practices designed to plan for and present an organization’s products or services in ways that build effective customer relationships.


a related term, branding, has been described in this way by disney ceo michael eisner: "a brand is a living entity - and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures." 


perhaps the most transferable concept and example to use here is the résumé, where your hiring hangs on how you sell yourself to your potential employer. in the process of marketing yourself for a particular position or promotion, ideally you present yourself in all the ways that will convince the hiring personnel that you are the best one for the job. the skills, experience, and education that you put on display on that piece of paper are the products and services that have been poured into your life that you have honed...all the gestures you've been shown by teachers, parents, leaders, mentors, friends, co-workers, etc. this pouring into your life is exactly what can work to help you build effective relationships. 


you don't become you on your own. who you are becoming hinges on your associations, so associate wisely if you want to be enriched, not undermined. you--the brand you are becoming--is hopefully always evolving, growing, in that perpetual state of becoming. it's a process. you are a process. remember that this life is a journey, and your arrival doesn't actually occur until the journey's over. you're not made. you're being made. simone de beauvoir once made the statement that one is not born a woman, but becomes one. in like manner, you're not born a reader or a writer or an employee or an employer or a parent or a spouse...you become one. and it's a lifelong process.


the way i see it, when you're applying for that job and tailoring your résumé to reflect the job application, you are meticulous in your execution if you want to get noticed. if you want to get overlooked, be sloppy, be arrogant, be pretentious, be condescending, be patronizing. act like you've already arrived. and forget your audience.


but if you want to be noticed, be real. put it out there...your strengths, your weaknesses, your fears, your abilities. remember you're becoming. you're not there yet. and remember your audience.


howard schultz of starbucks says, "customers must recognize that you stand for something." in other words, selling yourself does not include selling out. if you put reliable and organized in your résumé, make sure you are. if you say you're honest, and you lie, you've stopped being honest. if i say i'm a writer but don't write, i'm no longer being a writer. if you stop being and becoming, your credibility of what you say you are goes out the window and you won't have 'customers.' put yourself out there; people will appreciate that you did, and you may even generate a following...you can't expect your ratings and stats to rise until you do; and you won't keep them if you're not taking a consistent stand.


my tautological point: i've already said it. sell yourself without selling out. remember you didn't become you on your own. and you're not there yet. whatever it is, keep being and becoming that. you're a process that can't stop.


now go.