Make Marketing Suck Less

The Downside Of Being Known for Your Work (And What to do About It)

Once upon a time I got curious and asked a question in the Rebel Rising Facebook group, would you rather be famous or make an impact?

Now take a moment and think about how you would answer this question.

The results in the facebook group were overwhelming. People wanted to make an impact and no one wanted to be famous.

And no one said both famous and make an impact. In fact, most people didn't want fame. They didn't want to be known.

But here's the paradox of that. If you want to make an impact on many people, you've got to be known by many people and if you're known by many people, well then you're famous.

Now, you might not be Kim Kardashian, famous or Oprah famous, but if a group of people knows your name, you have got a bit of notoriety going for you, then you are famous.

For instance, I'd bet money, most of you know who Seth Godin is. But ask outside or a little bubble of the Internet, our little bubble of the business world, and most people don't have a mother love and clue who that guy is.

Yet, he still is famous within this circle. If you're known for your work, you will be famous too.

So let's talk about the downsides of being known for your work, what to do about it, and remember what the definite upside is of being known for your work.

Before we dive in to today's show, I wanted to let you know that I have opened up spots to work with me, one on one in the first quarter of 2019 so that we can create your 3 Word Rebellion and all the messaging that you need that will help you reach millions, impact millions and make you millions in your business.

If 2019 is your year to dominate with your message, be fully booked out with clients and get paid for speaking gigs, then, we should talk because you don't have to struggle to figure out what your message is. Go to DrMichelleMazur.com/book-now to schedule your chat.

Now, let's get on with the show. This episode of the podcast was inspired by an email I received from Paul Jarvis. For me Jarvis is emails are a must read every Sunday, but this email caught my attention because he was talking about all the drawbacks of being known and there were four that really resonated with me.

Tune Into the Audio:

Four Drawbacks of Being Known for Your Work

The first one is that having any type of political views or opinions is bad.

This was reinforced when I was on Instagram and I was looking at Marie Forleo's Instagram feed and she said something about Dr. Ford and the Kavanaugh confirmation

Overwhelmingly, the comments she was getting ere about, “hey, you're a business owner. This is going to hurt your business, stay in your own lane. You don't have a right to an opinion.”

It really blew me away that this woman chose to take a stand, state her beliefs and so many people lashed out at her and when you're known, this type of thing happens.

I will also say there were many, many, many, many comments in support of her stance as well.

The second idea that Paul Jarvis presented was that if you make a typo or a mistake, everyone is going to tell you about it.

And as someone who is prone to typos and her own work, because my Ph.D. Is in communication, not grammar, I always get to hear about it when I make a typo.

For some people if you make a Typo, they say, oh, well I can't trust you anymore.

For me when I see a typo in somebody's work, I just think it makes him more human.

The third thing Paul talked about in his article is that people feel the need to give you unsolicited feedback.

If they feel like they have some ownership over you and your business and which is kinda cool because in some ways they're bought in.

All of the sudden you will get emails about how your pricing is too expensive or too cheap or you shouldn't name things a certain way or you shouldn't use a swear word or whatever else.

I think I've seen all of those in my business.

The final point he made that really resonated with me is that people will tell you shouldn't sell your products or service because that makes you a sellout.

And it took me a while to get over this one.

I would say only in the past year have I personally gotten comfortable with talking about what I do, how I serve, and how you can work with me on a regular basis.

If you struggle with this one, know that it is okay to sell your products or service because that is the money that fuels your business. It fuels your life. It allows you to support causes that you care about.

I'd love to know what your biggest worry is about being known. So feel free to hit me up in the Rebel Rising Facebook group and tell me about it.

Now that we've talked about some of the biggest worries that we have about being famous, being known for our work, let's prepare ourselves for when our name is known by a group of people.

Create Boundaries & A Plan for the Downside of Fame

To prepare yourself, you need boundaries and you need a plan.

Before we talk about what that can look like, I want you to get clear and rumble with how you handle negativity, criticism, crappy comments, because for each of us, this can be different.

For one person, somebody gets a negative comment and it feels like it just bounces right off of them, and they're raring to go.

For other people, it can make them want to curl up in a corner, in the fetal position and just cry. For me, it personally kind of ticks me off and I want to debate them because I'm a debater.

I would guess for the best vast majority of us, it makes us ruminate and causes us to lose time in our business.

Once you know how you respond to criticism and negativity, you can create a plan for that.

Here is my current plan and yours might look a little bit different.

The first thing I do when I get an email or a comment, I asked myself, are they really trying to be helpful? Do they have my best intention in mind? Do they want to help me?

If the answer is yes, then I will read the email and I will see if there's something that I can learn from that email. Usually that type of email I will always respond to because if there's something good in it that I can learn from than I am so grateful to hear that.

However, if I answer no to that question of are they actually trying to be helpful, my next step is to remind myself that their feedback is more a reflection on them than on me.

Because feedback always comes from our lens, from our perspective, even when it is helpful feedback.

Then I will unsubscribe them from my list, delete them from my group and take an action because that person is clearly not right for my community.

Then just delete the email and move on with my day to the best that I can. I tend to ruminate so…

Some of my clients who have large followings have their VA's manage their inbox for them and manage the comments they get on social media so that they don't have to see the negativity.

Next year I'm planning to have my team manage my inbox so that I don't have to see the typos. They can handle that and everything else and I'll only focus on responding to things that need my attention.

Your action step, create your own plan for dealing with the downside of fame.

The Incredible Upside of Being Known for Your Work

Don't let being known and the consequences of being known, stop you from an attaining the incredible upside of being known for your work.

John Gottman, who is a university professor and a researcher, he studies married couples and in his studies, he has found that for every one negative thing a person says, it takes five positive ones to counteract it. No wonder the downside, the negativity stings so much.

So guess what? You are going to get so much wonderful feedback for your work. You are going to get emails, tweets, Instagram posts that show how much you impact people for the good.

The last time I did a Webinar, I got a flood of positive comments into my inbox. And the good stuff shows up for me regularly.

One day I was having a terrible day and an email popped into my inbox that said, “I just wanted to let you know, in case no one told you today, that you're making an impact. You're making an impact on me.”

That's the truth. You are making a difference for people. People are talking about your contribution.

What I want you to do is keep a file of all of those love notes. Keep a Google Doc of client results.

When you feel like crap or someone says something shitty to you, go to that file, and read those comments.

Remember who you are and how your work is helping peopl, because if you're a rebel on the rise, fame is the side effect of your impact.

Make a plan for how you want to handle it so that you can let the goodness in and make a difference to the people who really need you.