Tales From the Trenches, vol. 6

Self promotion and marketing is anathema to me. I am not natural at it. I am uncomfortable with it and when I do promote myself, especially to potential new clients, I feel awkward. My wife and business partner, Valerie Koob, pushes me, but I really don’t want to do it.

When it comes to selling, I am great with big concepts, strategies, even individual pieces of music, but I can’t seem to get the basics of selling myself.

Forbes Magazine contributor Susannah Breslin writes,” To be a successful freelancer, you have to offer a hero story. More often than not, people are not buying your product. They are buying your story.” This resonates with me.

So, what’s my story?

I’m really good at a lot of things. Not great, really good. I’m a really good bass player, composer and multi-instrumentalist. I’m a pretty good carpenter. I’m genuinely funny. My sense of humor has helped me stay married all this time. I’m really good at knowing my faults too. Not great, really good. I’m a really good teacher and mentor. I like to teach my clients how to purchase good music. When I was at Elias, I always got the interns, and the interns got an education.

Am I great at anything? I’m great at being a team player. I’m great at knowing my ego is “musician big” and I know how to keep it in check. I’m great at caring. For years I’ve been caring about my clients’ projects and their success. Imagine my surprise when I had a client say to me once, “Did you even listen to the voiceover? You’re a musician, you probably didn’t even turn it on.” I was flabbergasted – in my business, the voiceover is the lead instrument!

So, in this therapy session of a blog, I have tried to “sell” myself as thoughtfully as possible. This is my story.

What’s your story?