Confession: I Don’t Always Take My Own Advice

It’s confession time.  Hi, my name is Colleen and I am guilty of not [always] taking my own advice.  Wait, before you stone me, hear me out and listen to my excuse.  I often advise clients, family and friends that pick my brain on different ways to market their business and position/brand themselves.  A lot of the advisement that I give, I do not actually do myself.  I am pro marketing plans and strategy.  I am pro digital marketing.  I am pro succinct marketing messages.  I am pro everything that goes into creating a great marketing strategy and executing it.  However, my own strategy is slightly shotgun, which is exactly what I preach against.  Does that make me a hypocrite?  Probably.

Here is my excuse:

I am just plain, plum, too busy.  My brain is too full and consumed with coming up with the best ideas, strategies, graphics, layout, logos, etc for clients.  I put a lot of energy and thought into the work that I do for my clients.  As, I tell them, I consider myself to be a part of their team and everything I design, every idea I present, is thought out based on where they are trying to go with their business and what the market and my gut are telling me would be best.  There just is not a lot of brain power left to think and plot my own strategies and what is left is often picked out for my friends and family.  I do not mind one bit, helping friends and family, because I truly want to see them succeed as well.

At the end of the day, there just is not enough gas in the tank for me to plan, evaluate and execute a great strategy of my own.  I liken it to hairdressers that have magical hands and execute the best haircuts and hairstyles, but look like they have a bird’s nest sitting on their own head.  Yeah, it’s kind of like that for me.