![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/toismineshameless1.jpg\" "\\"toismineshameless1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nI\u2019ve found it just doesn\u2019t pay to crow too much about what I\u2019ve accomplished.<\/p>\n
Sure, I celebrate when things go well. But I\u2019ve found that talking too much about my achievements leads not only to criticism, but to disappointment.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always going to be someone who\u2019s done more or worked harder. And until they carve my name into the side of the moon, I see no reason in puffing myself up. The minute you get a big head is the same minute that reality smacks you and you realize that you aren\u2019t as cool as you think you are.<\/p>\n
So self-adulation is something I try to stay away from. But self promotion? That\u2019s a whole different story.<\/p>\n
If you take a look at the most successful (or talked about) people in any field, you\u2019ll almost always see someone incredibly talented in the art of self-promotion.<\/p>\n
Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad<\/em> books, mentioned at one point that he\u2019s a \u201cbestselling author\u201d and not a \u201cbest-writing author.\u201d Dean Karnazes, known as \u201cThe Ultramarathon Man<\/a>,\u201d is not the best athlete in his field, but he is by far the best at self-promotion.<\/p>\n The reason that self-promotion works and self-adulation doesn\u2019t is because self-promotion is the art of spreading ideas, concepts, and a greater vision. Self-adulation is just the promotion of accomplishments, deeds that have already been done.<\/p>\n When you promote ideas, you give people something to cheer for. You give people a cause to support. People, in many ways, are selfish. They promote the things that make them feel good. Your accomplishments aren\u2019t likely to make them feel good, but your ideas do.<\/p>\n Your ideas might inspire hope, thought, or action . . . but as a general rule, good ideas inspire something<\/em>.<\/p>\n People promote Chris Brogan because he makes them feel good. His ideas inspire thought and that warm fuzzy feeling we all get when we make a sincere connection.<\/p>\n On the other hand, you and I aren\u2019t going around bragging about how many books he\u2019s sold or how many speeches he\u2019s given. We don\u2019t care about that because it\u2019s the ideas that inspire . . . not the achievements.<\/p>\n 1. The first step is to be confident. If you aren\u2019t inspired by your actions or ideas, no one else will be either.<\/p>\n Look at Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest self-promoters in history. We loved him not just because he truly was<\/em> \u201cthe greatest,\u201d but also for his integrity and the boldness of his ideas.<\/p>\n If you think Ali\u2019s success was only about his athletic ability, compare your feelings about Ali to your feelings about Mike Tyson. Tyson\u2019s accomplishments were magnificent, but he never communicated a greater vision that made us cheer.<\/p>\n 2. The next step is to start spreading your ideas. You can\u2019t be wishy washy . . . you have to stand for something.<\/p>\n Make your vision as clear and as concise as possible. Brand yourself and your ideas as unique. (Remember, although few ideas are genuinely unique, your expression can<\/em> be.) Seth Godin does this exceptionally well.<\/p>\n 3. Once you have a platform, start your campaign. Use strong, descriptive language when explaining your ideas and plan of action. Build a tight and loyal community that believes in you, then inspire and empower them to take action.<\/p>\n Make it cool to be a fan, like Gary Vee did with his Vaynernation wristbands or like Lance Armstrong did with his yellow bracelets. Having a symbolic identifier like this is extremely powerful.<\/p>\n 4. Lastly, don\u2019t be afraid to talk about your ideas and spread the message. Just remember that it\u2019s not about your world . . . it\u2019s about how others can fit into it.<\/p>\n Creating buzz is essential, so reach out to power brokers and tell them why they should promote you. If they won\u2019t, create power brokers from within. Build others up until they have the power to build you up. This last part is something that Oprah excels at, and it\u2019s how she\u2019s built a billion-dollar empire.<\/p>\n If you implement this plan successfully, you\u2019ll probably<\/span> take some flak. People might label you over-confident or cocky.<\/p>\n That\u2019s good. Define yourself in such a way that people either love you or hate you.<\/p>\n There are fans out there for every self-promoter. Your task is to find them. That, and to make it easy for them to bring a friend.<\/p>\n Your ideas need you. If you have a vision, don\u2019t let anyone stand in your way.<\/p>\n I know it sounds a bit \u201cout there,\u201d but I firmly believe that ideas are living things. They need you to get over your self-adulation, to get out there, and to fight for them. Are you ready?<\/p>\n About the Author:<\/em><\/strong> Nathan Hangen is the co-founder of Beyond Blogging<\/a>, a resource that draws on some of the web\u2019s most successful bloggers to tell you the truth about what it takes to get to their level. He writes about social entrepreneurship at NathanHangen.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve found it just doesn\u2019t pay to crow too much about what I\u2019ve accomplished. Sure, I celebrate when things go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/toismineshameless1.jpg?fit=500%2C498&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoismine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}So what\u2019s the difference?<\/h3>\n
How to create a self-promotion platform<\/h3>\n
Your ideas need you<\/h3>\n