How to Shamelessly Self Promote

You know that friend who always tells you how awesome they are? “I got straight A’s in college, so I’m pretty smart. I was also a starter on the basketball team…so ya…I was pretty good. People at work always tell me how funny I am.”

That’s the annoying self promoter. It comes across in the business and social media world like this. “Will you tweet my new business idea? It’s going to change the world. Also can you blog about it? I’ve already gotten *name drop, name drop, and name drop* to tweet about it.” Yes you’re annoying, and no I don’t want to tweet your new business idea.

But then I run across folks all the time that want to get involved with what I’m doing. They’d love to write for Sunday| Mag. They’d love to guest blog on one of my sites. They’d love if I joined in on one of their projects. The problem is…they don’t want to be the shameless self promoter, so they don’t really ask. They just skirt around the question and hope I offer. That’s not the way to do it either.

Here’s what I’ve found. It’s all about your heart attitude. Are you wanting to help others, or are you wanting to make your name great?

When I started Sunday| Magazine, you might say I shamelessly self promoted. I cold-called a bunch of people to write for the mag, and listed the names of the folks already involved. I talked about the different projects I’d started. I did everything the guy in the second paragraph did. But there was an intangible truth behind my ask.

I wasn’t starting Sunday| Magazine to make my name bigger. I really wanted to create a resource for the Church. I wanted a platform to help these writers get their voice out to those who needed to hear it.

While I knew I needed to benefit and make money from the project, it wasn’t all about me. I wasn’t trying to use these people to further my career. I was trying to use their voices to make a stronger project that would be useful for everyone involved.

And I think that’s the balance. It’s about bringing other people on board. Help elevate other people’s names along with your own. That way it’s no longer shameless self promoting. It’s shameless friendship and teamwork.

People love saying yes to that sort of thing.

[Blog image from Mopho.to]