Dear Entrepreneur — If you don’t promote yourself, nobody will

One of my biggest discoveries about entrepreneurship is that entrepreneurs aren’t actually selling a product.

The entrepreneur IS the product.

So to sell a product, you actually have to sell yourself first.

And if you do it the right way, it doesn’t have to feel sale-sy at all.

---

To avoid coming off as too self-promotional, I use a test called the “Thank You” test.

With this test, you ask yourself, “Could you imagine someone thanking you for making this post?”

If yes, post.

If not, add more insight and learnings to the post until someone could “thank you” for it.

An easy example is celebration posts.

Instead of only celebrating, I’ve found it’s helpful to include learnings so that others can try to replicate your success as well.

---

I discuss the mental roadblocks stopping entrepreneurs from marketing themselves to the degree they need to in my latest article.

Article highlights include:

1. Why people don’t want to follow companies - they want to follow YOU
2. The toughest criticism I’ve received (and how I handled it)
3. Why marketing should only be done in places where people actively seek it out

Link here:
https://michaellin.substack.com/p/dear-entrepreneur-if-you-dont-promote