The Annoying Art of Self-Promotion

"Self-promotion" --- the very words set one's teeth on edge probably because at this time in history most of us are aware that it is necessary if we are ever going to accomplish much of anything. It is exponentially important depending on how much your own livelihood and well-being are dependent on your own efforts. To get a job we need to promote ourselves and our abilities. To improve our businesses we need to promote what we can do and what we have to offer. To pursue our avocation we need to promote whatever it is that we love. It is all very necessary and, if you are a person who was raised by modest, moderate people, it is often very difficult.

I was thinking about all of this over the last few days because I decided it was past time to do some work on my own business web site. I spend hundreds of hours working on other people's sites to promote their businesses and their products and their art and their books and very little time promoting my own. Part of my reluctance to do this is just that "good little Catholic girl" sense of modesty and self-abasement. Well, I haven't been a good little Catholic girl in a number of decades so it is time to get over that.

So, this weekend I worked on the home page of Valentine-Design and I actually like the results. Of course now I have to work on the inside but that seems less daunting now that I have the new home page in place. Take a look. I have a lot of new web sites to be added and quite a bit of other material too. This year's projects have included a lot more Flash "movies" and they need to be included as well.

Actually, making the Flash movie for Valentine-Design's home page gave me a bright idea. A lot of author's these days are promoting their books by creating slick, attractive little videos --- sort of commercials --- that they post to the web to promote their books. I thought about this a lot and decided to give it a try. I have a ways to go before my commercial (actually I'm told they are called "promotional videos") is ready to go public but it quite a lot of fun to work on. There's a lot to learn about Flash and about music editing. There's also a lot to consider --- how do you fascinate and intrigue without giving too much away? And do it in less than a minute?

We live in a tough world where competition is fierce. The World Wide Web has given us a powerful tool in allowing us to do business with the world but, at the same time, we are also competing with the world. It is not a good time to be shy about what we can offer!

Back when my whole cyber-harassment situation was going on one of the things that my harassers kept whining about was that I spent all my time promoting myself, that everything I did was all ego, all about wanting attention, all about me, me, me. One of them is still whining about it. That effected me deeply for quite awhile until one of my friends consoled me saying, "You're promoting what you can do, what you have to offer to others if they want your skills and your talents. That's not only not a negative thing, it is a wonderful thing."

I think it is important for all of us to remember that. We all have something to offer and if we are lucky enough to be able to earn a living doing that we are doubly blessed. On the sidebar of this blog there is a poem attributed to Marianne Williamson that says "who are you not to shine" and "you do not serve the world by playing small". It says that when we let our own lights shine we encourage others to do the same.

So I hope you will look at my new home page and that you will check back to see my book's promotional video. And, most of all, I hope that today and from now on you will let your light shine --- heaven knows the world needs all the light it can get these days.

Thanks for reading.