You Don't Get Off the Island by Walking
My son is new to baseball. He's been playing soccer for a few years and he's not the most coordinated child. Before his first game last week we told him. "You don't have to swing at every pitch."
Sure enough, he got up, swung once, swung twice, swung a third time and he sat back down.
After the game, I said to him again, "You don't have to swing at every pitch that comes."
"I know," he said.
Walking home from the game we ran into a neighbor Rob who played in college. We were talking about the game and reiterated to our son that he could be more choosy in his swings. Rob bent down and looked Wendell in the eye.
"It's okay bud," Rob said. "Nobody gets off the island by walking."
And that's good wisdom to me as a mom and a writer. It's pertinent to a lot of us who are creative, or have our own businesses. It's hard to put yourself out there for your book, your product, your store or sometimes even your career. I know marketing and tooting my own horn is really out of my comfort zone. But if we don't take a chance, we'll basically get nowhere.
Sales of my iPhone app, Sleeping with the Laundry have been slow. But it's not that it's not good. It's gotten rave reviews. But it's that the world is busy, there are over 185,000 apps on the store. You've got to make some noise if you want to be heard. So, taking a little wisdom from my son. I'm getting back to basics. I'm looking at my marketing plan and working the plan this week, this day. Swing by swing. What are your ideas for marketing your book, store or product?
Sure enough, he got up, swung once, swung twice, swung a third time and he sat back down.
After the game, I said to him again, "You don't have to swing at every pitch that comes."
"I know," he said.
Walking home from the game we ran into a neighbor Rob who played in college. We were talking about the game and reiterated to our son that he could be more choosy in his swings. Rob bent down and looked Wendell in the eye.
"It's okay bud," Rob said. "Nobody gets off the island by walking."
And that's good wisdom to me as a mom and a writer. It's pertinent to a lot of us who are creative, or have our own businesses. It's hard to put yourself out there for your book, your product, your store or sometimes even your career. I know marketing and tooting my own horn is really out of my comfort zone. But if we don't take a chance, we'll basically get nowhere.
Sales of my iPhone app, Sleeping with the Laundry have been slow. But it's not that it's not good. It's gotten rave reviews. But it's that the world is busy, there are over 185,000 apps on the store. You've got to make some noise if you want to be heard. So, taking a little wisdom from my son. I'm getting back to basics. I'm looking at my marketing plan and working the plan this week, this day. Swing by swing. What are your ideas for marketing your book, store or product?
Margee
ReplyDeleteThis post is really full of wisdom. I think about the journey of an entrepreneur. We look at people who've achieved so much and forget that we all started in the same spot. We start by praying for our dreams to be realities and then we take a leap of faith (a researched leap of faith) towards the dream that's in our hearts. The journey usually doesn't look like what we imagined, but we keep pressing towards the goal. My husband and I have taken big risks in business. One of his fave things to tell people when they ask how business is going is, "I just keep swinging the bat." If we just keep swinging the bat, we get stronger and wiser and eventually we know we will knock it out the park. Much success to you on your journey ahead.