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What Do You Do?

Written by: Esther Smith

Article Overview: New York has always been a career-oriented city. If one does not have a career, they will make one up rather than apologize for being a housewife, or home-maker. It’s only because I had a wonderful New York socialite for a mother-in-law that I ran smack into this. She wanted so much to expose me to her side of life. And loving her the way I did, I made myself fully pliable.

What Do You Do?

New York has always been a career-oriented city. If one does not have a career, they will make one up rather than apologize for being a housewife, or home-maker. It’s only because I had a wonderful New York socialite for a mother-in-law that I ran smack into this. She wanted so much to expose me to her side of life. And loving her the way I did, I made myself fully pliable.

She was entertained in lavish style and reciprocated in kind. And those being my ‘green’ years, I did everything I could to hide my terror at these functions. I felt incredible pressure to be ready with input on any subject.

New Yorkers seem to judge everyone by certain achievements -- their schooling, their career, or their business address. It’s been said there’s no place like it for vocational humiliation. And sooner or later -- the dreaded question is posed, “Where did you school?” or the fatal one, “What do you do?”

If you give the name of your High School or the fact that you don’t do anything at the moment, you may draw raised eyebrows or a soft, “ah-h”. These questions are a personal measurement; a quiet pass-fail test for future social gatherings. Do you have some interest, activity, or purpose in common with the interrogator?

Looking back on those times, I think I did a fair job of fluffing it. I had to accept that in certain surroundings, my identity would be tied to what I did, not in what I was.

Fast-forward several years and New York is now only a memory. Yet I bring with me those valuable lessons as I open new chapters. The Internet came into my life and while it’s been a cruel teacher, it certainly has been thorough. It’s ringing Anthem -- Lead, follow or get out of the fast lane!

The hardest part of entrepreneurship was in marketing me. It’s not much different than my story above because I am still judged by my achievements. The “What do you do?” question may be silent, but it’s still there. If you expect to lead you better have good reasons why someone should follow.

Marketing yourself on the Internet should not be a struggle, unless you make it so. Naturally it’s a lot more rewarding if your efforts result in clients calling you ready to work with you, and even better when these clients turn into worthwhile paychecks. Networking is a contact sport.

There are numerous ways to make your achievements visible. Start an Ezine or Newsletter to gain subscribers. Make your weekly or monthly output full of good tips and techniques. Set up a website and offer free items; there are plenty of these to choose from. Start a blog and get it syndicated so many, many people read it. Write Articles. Write an Ebook and give it away. Bottom line -- get your name out there over and over again.

What you do better, faster, cheaper and with higher quality than your counterpart, is where you will begin to stop following and start leading. Think of marketing as “giving something” instead of “trying to get something” and this mindset will result in word-of-mouth business. Surfers merely want to know that you understand their situation, and next, how you will help them.

Experiments done in 1927 by Bluma Zeigarnik showed us that we remember interrupted tasks the best. Who knew? The reason was simply that “the tension created by unfinished tasks helps us to remember”. Let’s offer an example of this.

You’re watching the news and you hear an announcement like, “Today, the borrower becomes the lender. More on that story later but first…” Don’t you find yourself glued to that broadcast, even knowing that they will air the rest of the story last? That’s an effective use of the Zeigarnik effect.

You can connect this principle with marketing, and you should. The “interrupted task” is your advertisement that is incomplete. Because we dislike things to be incomplete, readers will satisfy their curiosity for the “rest of the story” by inquiring. But be aware, people will be fooled once, but not twice. Be sure you fulfill your teaser.

Today, I write my own paycheck. What do you do?

© 2007 Esther Smith

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Article Tags: achievements, Bluma Zeigarnik, New York



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