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Bake Sale Jitters: I don’t want to be annoying!

Bake Sale Jitters is a regularish look at the stuff that keep our business from being as much fun as a bake sale. If you have something that's giving YOU the jitters, let me know.

Along with fear of rejection (we'll get to that tomorrow!), the biggest thing y'all tell me about Sharing Your Thing is that you don't want to be annoying.

And of course you don't! Who does?
(Other than 10 year old boys. They seem to thrive on annoying. If you doubt it, lemme send you one of my little brothers.)

First, acknowledgment.

Being annoying is one of the least pleasant things ever.

(I was a very talkative 12 year old. I know this feeling-annoying-thing intimately.)

And being surrounded, as we are, by annoying marketing, it's sometimes hard to see how we can share our thing without grossing people out.

Even after all this time, I still have little moments of Oh no! What if that's totally annoying?

(Top Secret: I just had that feeling, right before sending my tweet about how Tuesday is the last day to sign up for my Bake Sale Fun class. That's when I decided I should write this.)

It doesn't have to be annoying

First, remember this: Sharing a message isn't, on its own, annoying.
It's the way you share it.

Just think of the friend who calls to tell you that gas is $.20 cheaper down the street. She shared a message. Was it annoying?

Now, if that same message was tweeted 20 times in an hour by the gas station, you'd be annoyed.

But sometimes it is

Let's figure out what annoys YOU about marketing*, especially as we see it on Twitter, Facebook and via email.

*Marketing (in this context) = the sharing of a message that the sender hopes will lead to action (sale, info, etc) .

This is what annoys me:

Unwanted
Interrupts the conversation
Repetitive

Your list of Annoying Things may be totally different. It'll help if you make up a little list right now and keep it in mind.

Go on, make your list, I'll wait.

Ok, now. This? The above list? Is NOT the only way to share your message.

Be unannoying

One of the easiest ways is to pretend that it's Opposite Day.

If you were one of the slimy people sending a message on Opposite Day, what would your message look like?

Mine would be:

Wanted
Timely
Interesting
Connect-y (meaning it deepens our already existing connection)

Notice that the first thing on the list is Wanted.

This is HUGE.

If people WANT the thing you're selling, than they will be THRILLED to hear about it. They are waiting to hear about it. They are on the edge of their seats excited.

So if you only ever talk to those people, in a way that respects them and your own human-ness (don't act like a robot or sales-machine), you won't even come close to annoying.

Take your own list and flip it.

What would your Opposite Day super-awesome messages look like?

I know! We so totally just scratched the surface here. We'll talk more about the specifics (where and how) to share your thing in a non-annoying way in the new course. Registration closes tomorrow.

Bake Sale Jitters: But I don’t want to put ME out there!

Bake Sale Jitters is a regularish look at the stuff that keep our business from being as much fun as a bake sale.

The foundation of Bake Sale Marketing is that it (all of your promotion + sharing + stuff) is coming from you: from your passions, your joy, your essence. It's not icky because it's not manipulative. You aren't faking your excitement and you're truly making + sharing your thing because it is awesome.

But this focus on you-ness can be uncomfortable.

As one of my clients recently said about her writing,

“I'm afraid to make it sound like me…because what if the people get to know me?”

This may be, a little bit, about fear of rejection (which will talk about later in the week), but I think it's also an issue of safety.

What if you're uncomfortable having YOU out there?

First, acknowledgment.

This IS hard. And scary.
It is so much bigger than just our business. It's our relationship to ourselves, others, the world.

Also, please know: It's not just you, lots of crafty artistic types worry about this.

And reassurances.

You don't have to do anything that feels uncomfortable.
Really.
We can find a way to craft a delightful and passionate business that feels safe.

Some ideas:

Create an alter-ego.
I started with an alter-ego, because I was much to shy to share my yarn with the world.
Yours could just be a nom de plume or it could be an entire character.
This isn't inauthentic, as long as it's still you behind it all.
Keep it a well-kept secret.
Whether from your mother or your co-workers, you do NOT have to tell your real-life people about your thing.
Keep your blog password protected when you get started, if it will make it easier to write. Lock your tweets. Don't friend people on Facebook.
Remember that it will be harder for people to find out about your thing if you keep it a secret, but that doesn't mean you have to jump out of the shadows before you're ready.
Be hard to get.
For us crafters, our thing is already limited; we can only craft so many things in a given day. Play with that hard-to-get-ness by highlighting + promoting this fact.

Maybe you only offer things once a month.
Maybe you only sell at select venues.
To make this work, find a place you are VERY comfortable and work on making it a sustainable venue.
Set boundaries.
Guess what? YOU get to the be the person who decides how much of your youness gets shared.
Maybe it's just your favorite color on the background of your website. People don't have to know that's why it's there, you can just do it.
Maybe you make a line of pins inspired by a beach. You don't have to share every memory of that beach, or even when you went there, or even that you went there. Just share the part that feels good.

The coolest thing about creating safety is that you don't have to sit down and plan it out.
You can, if that helps, but you can also bake it right in.
As you write a description, add what feels right.
As you tweet, decide to write what makes you feel safe.

You never have to share more than you want, but I encourage you to think of some things that you would be comfortable sharing.
Knowing what parts of your you-ness you want to share will give you a starting point as we work on drenching your business with joy + you-ness.

PS. I really need to put this PS on everything I ever write, ever: everything I know about putting-your-thing-out-there and acknowledging-the-scary, I learned from Havi. Specifically her Blogging Therapy series.
Well, that and life and trial and lots of error.