You’ve probably noticed I love myth busting when it comes to the popular myths within internet marketing or online selling and product creation, whatever you want to call it.
Those myths are to do with dashing things off and getting them out there super quick and doing so without ever speaking to another human being.
Now, first of all there’s nothing wrong with doing things quickly so long as you also do them extremely well. And yes, I firmly do believe that money does love speed, but not at the expense of quality.
So, this week, for example, I had to finish very close page edits of a book. And that required intense concentration because if there were any mistakes, they would be committed to print until that particular printed edition ran out.
We’re not talking ebook here, we’re talking an actual physically publishe,d printed book. And that does make you concentrate a little bit harder.
But I do think the same attention to detail should be brought to whatever you produce online.
Now I absolutely hold my hand up, I will occasionally make typos and mistakes, but I do try to proof-read and copy edit and go through everything I do, because it I find it very jarring when I spot a mistake and I suspect you do as well.
So don’t ever feel that you have to dash something off at great speed like all those other people tell you to do, and do so at the expense of your personal standards and quality.
I hope you maintain high standards in the time that it takes you. And if that’s possibly a little slower than some people advocate, that’s absolutely fine.
You can always go back and edit something that you’ve put out there. If it is a digital product, you can revise, edit, and put the revised edition out there. That is a choice you get.
So please just keep that caveat in mind, that we don’t all have to sink into this morass of ‘just get it out there,’ and to heck with whatever quality you are aiming for.
My second point is that this thing about never talking to people is really weird because that there’s almost an emphasis on this idea that you don’t have to talk to another human being, that you can just hide behind your keyboard forever.
This is so not true.
Part of this week’s work involved a book launch that I helped to organise, and that involves talking to people. And actually, it became so quick and easy to organise the minute I picked up the phone.
I put people in touch, organised the venue, and within a few hours the whole thing was set up. Of course there were more details to attend to, but essentially picking up the phone was far quicker than sending out what feel like cold emails.
They’re not cold in in the technical sense because I know everyone involved. But I am more and more just picking up the phone and calling people because first of all, most people are like, oh my goodness, you actually speak to me, which in this day and age is odd.
And second of all, they can hear your voice and they can relate to you so much better which is partly why I record these posts as well with all the blips included.
I don’t edit these, I just put them out there so you can kind of hear what I sound like as a human being.
As part of this book launch, of course, I had to turn up and talk to people, and that was great because it meant that I organised another book simply by talking to a particular editor.
And I also managed to speak to someone that I hope will write the foreword for yet another book.
That wouldn’t happen unless I actually walked up to people, connected with them and made a relationship.
So please don’t imagine that everything should happen online.
It doesn’t have to.
In fact, the best things sometimes happen offline. And if you find it difficult to network with people, pick up the phone.
I’m going to try and share some hints and tips about that to make things a little easier for you. Until then, have a great day and remember: don’t buy into those myths out there.
Want to hear the unexpurgated recorded version of this?
Listen in here:
