Make Marketing Suck Less

Dr. Michelle Mazur (00:00): Have you ever had the experience of a friend telling you about this huge opportunity they just landed, and you're thrilled for them, you are genuinely happy for them. And yet, there's this little niggling voice in your head that whispers, "Should be me." And really, it's a both and situation. You can genuinely be excited for someone else, and still feel that tinge of envy, that knowingness that you want an opportunity like that too.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (00:39): Because it's so easy to see someone land a TEDx talk and think, "Oh, should have been me." Or they land a book deal. And you think, "Oh gosh, I would love to have a book deal. Should have been me." Or they get a Forbes feature and you think, "Oh, it should be me." We see the happy ending and compare our messy middles with it. Our brains are actually hardwired to do that.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (01:06): But what about what we don't see? The bits that come before the Instagram worthy end goal? That's what I want to dive into on this episode with a podcast that includes an invitation to talk about this messy middle of building a business and achieving success. All right, let's dive in.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (01:42): You're listening to the Rebel Uprising podcast. This podcast is dedicated to helping passionate business owners become recognized leaders who make more money and impact the world by turning their messy, complicated ideas into thriving thought leadership businesses. I'm your host, Dr. Michelle Mazur, and I'll be your no BS guide in the art of building a business that gets noticed.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (02:08): Each week, I share strategies, tools, and insights on how to turn your complicated ideas into great messaging and solid business structures. Are you ready to create an uprising in your industry? Let's do this.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (02:24): One of my all time favorite Ted Talks is Derek Sivers' How to Start a Movement. In this talk, he shows a video of what he calls a "lone nut" dancing at the Sasquatch Music Festival. And this guy is dancing like nobody else is watching. And then someone joins him almost instantaneously. And before you know it, he is surrounded by tons of dancers dancing in the exact same way. What we don't see here is that, eh, that's not exactly how it went down. That guy dancing, letting his freak flag fly? He was dancing alone for a good five minutes before someone else joined in. Five minutes is like 100 years in festival minutes, right?

Dr. Michelle Mazur (03:19): The dude wasn't looking around, hoping other people will join or even paying attention to anyone else. He just kept dancing. And eventually, he's surrounded by people dancing just like him. He inspired a movement, but that's the rub. We see the movement. We don't see the dancing by ourselves for a very long time. We don't see all the work that goes into creating a movement. We don't see or talk about the loneliness, the rejection, the showing up to do the work when no one pays attention, the bits of envy that happen when you see someone who is less qualified get opportunities that you are perfect for. And we also feel that frustration when people just don't get our work.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (04:16): What we don't see is these people showing up to advocate for their work day in and day out. We don't see the rejected TEDx pitches, we just see the TEDx talk. We don't see the rejected book proposals, we just see the announcement of the book deal. We don't hear all of the potential clients saying no to our work. We just see the, "Oh, my gosh. Look at all the clients that I have," and our brains are hardwired to compare where we are at the moment, our messy middle, to someone else's end game that they share on social media.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (05:00): In Brené Brown's new book, Atlas of the Heart, I was blown away when she wrote that research shows our brains are hardwired to compare. It's our brain's natural state, our brain's natural function, and we can't control. Our brain sees somebody else doing something cool, and it's going to compare us to that person.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (05:29): So all of that, "Stay in your lane and don't compare yourself," it's nearly impossible to do. But what we can control, what Brené Brown talks in her book about, is we can control the response. We can control how we react to the comparison.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (05:49): Now for years, and I've talked about this before on the pod, I had an unhealthy comparisonitis relationship with Donald Miller, the Building a StoryBrand guide. When anyone ever recommended his book as "the book" on messaging, the book that you absolutely had to get, that little ting of envy would come up. And I would think to myself, "That should be my book. It should be the 3 Word Rebellion." My coach can attest that we had to do a metric ton of work to help me move past this unhelpful thought this unhelpful comparison and really own the power of my own work and see it for its uniqueness.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (06:36): At the end of the day, I realized that my people aren't his people at all. His work isn't for the rebels, the misfits, the mavericks, and the innovators. That's not who Building a StoryBrand is for, but that's exactly who the 3 Word Rebellion is for. And honestly, that is definitely one of my many "should have been me" moments, but I believe it's important to shine a light on those conversations that we're having with ourselves, the messy middle on the work that happens when no one is watching or applauding, or heck, even liking our posts on social media.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (07:16): And that's why I'm facilitating a community conversation starting on March 7th, and it's called That Should Have Been Me: A project exploring the messy middle of achieving success. The purpose of this project is to shine a spotlight on the time when no one is dancing with you. The journey is we don't post on Instagram when we're trying to advocate for our work or get other people to buy in, or even to take an idea that's in our head and distill it into something that is valuable to others and profitable to our businesses.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (07:55): I want to empower and inspire you to keep advocating for your work, to keep refining that message until it resonates, to show up with an imperfect message and to take more bold risks and to make more bold asks. And I want to help you feel less alone, less defeated, and less frustrated while you're trying to gather your people and break through with your message. Because we all share that aloneness and frustration, and we should be talking about it with each other.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (08:32): So, this project is for the misfits, the rebels, the mavericks, and anyone who doesn't feel like they fit in, in the online business world. It's time for us to band together so we can lift each other up and impact more people with our work, and we can do it together.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (08:52): So if you're thinking, "Oh, Michelle, this sounds great. Sign me up." You can go to DrMichelleMazur.com/Me to join the community. There's no cost whatsoever, and you'll get all of the details about how it's going to go down, starting on March 7th. But if you want to hear a few more details about the project before you decide, here we go.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (09:14): So, goals of this project. The online community is designed to achieve three things. Number one, demystify how business owners keep their motivation high and keep showing up even when it feels like nobody's paying attention. Number two, share stories and ideas around what it takes to get buy in, and the action these business owners took to get more people on board with their message. And number three, teach you how to get other people to become champions and advocates for your work.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (09:51): So, how the project happens is it is a one month community project. It's Monday through Fridays, and I will have 20 guests. And each day, you'll receive an email from me about a business owner who is actively advocating for their work and doing what it takes to get it out to a wider audience. Now, these emails will be short and there will also be a private podcast feed. So, these are five to seven minute chats. I really want you to think about this like having conversation over coffee with another business owner, just a little inspiration and chutzpah to your day with. So, you'll be able to hear these guests on your private podcast feed, or you can just read about them in your email.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (10:48): And then since community is so important in talking about this, we'll be coming together. So, I plan on having kickoff happy hour call the week that we start, and we'll also have a final wrap up call. Plus, there will be an opportunity for you to discuss what each guest is talking about, discuss their stories, discuss your takeaways on Instagram. I'm going to have a specific Instagram post on my account and a hashtag so you can share your own experiences and be a part of this community. I'd love to have you participate in this conversation.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (11:30): Once again, the link to sign up is DrMichelleMazur.com/Me. That's just ME. Me, DrMichelleMazur.com/Me. Let's talk about the messy middle. Let's have a real conversation, and let's band together so we can lift each other up and impact more people with our work.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (11:59): Thank you for listening all the way to the end of the show. Your support means the world to me. Did you know the Rebel Uprising podcast has a quiz that can help you pinpoint the number one way to build an audience of super fans, while staying true to your unique personality? We do, and it's called What's Your Rebel Roadmap for Exponential Impact and Influence?, and you can take it at TheRebelQuiz.com.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (12:22): If you're loving the podcast, do us a favor. Rate and leave us a quick five star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. It helps more people like you find the show. Until next week, remember: your ideas matter. And now, get back out there and cause an uprising in your industry. You got this.