Self promotion for wimps

It is hard to describe how much I loathe those lengthy sales letters with red ink and highlights and 22 testimonials of perky business owners who transformed their life or business by implementing a revolutionary "turn key system."

What infuriates me more is how despite my loathing and mockery of the format, I feel myself being lulled into buying whatever the horrible sales letter is selling.

I have talked about it with my friends  Havi Brooks and Nathan Bowers and we all agree there must be a way to sell useful things at the right price to people who need them without reverting to Vern the Car Dealer with greased-back hair and "a whopping deal for you."

So it was with great joy that I heard about a program that Havi developed with Naomi Dunford, perhaps the most hilarious copywriter/internet marketer/small business coach on the web entitled Self Promotion for Wimps.

Per their copy:

This is a 6 week power course for creative types, small business owners,and people who are (understandably) too busy freaking out to properly live their dreams.

Six weeks of learning, soothing, ass-kicking, fear erasing, question answering, and some other things that end with "ing".

It’s a course for people who want to get their business — sometimes referred to as "that thing that you’ve always wanted to do and maybe you might get paid a living wage for it someday but it’s not really, you know, a business business" — rocking and rolling.

It’s for people who are ready to clear out the crap that’s standing in the way of their awesome life and start having more fun and making some money doing it.

I cannot adequately convey to you how much this is needed.  For those of you who make plans and complete them, set high goals and knock them out of the park on a regular basis without a smidgen of self doubt, I bow to you.

For the rest of us, procrastination, demons, dirty self talk, lethargy and terror get in the way of realizing our dreams.  After awhile, it just becomes annoying, and it doesn’t have to be that way.

So if this course fit the bill for you, I highly encourage you to take it. As I told Naomi:

"I saw your program and it looks EXCELLENT!  If I weren’t scared out of
my mind, doubting my worth, shoving Oreos down my throat and feeling
not worthy writing my book, I would join you!!!"

I was only half-kidding.

Havi has a really unique take on procrastination and fear and has developed some ultra-cool tools for overcoming them.  Naomi is razor sharp, understands marketing inside and out and is terribly funny.  She also swears like a sailor, so make sure to hide your kids in the next room when participating in their calls.

They did develop an affiliate program, which I joined and you can use to get a special discount if you use my link.  Naomi says:  "Havi calls it a "partner" program because she’s a hippie."

If you want to sign up, EfCN readers get a $30 discount when you type the word "Pam" (no quotes) in the coupon field.  Check it out and sign up here.

But wait, there’s more!

Before I leave you, I think the "back story" of how Naomi and Havi joined forces is just as interesting as the program.

Some people tell you that to grow your business, you have to scour the web for "appropriate joint venture partners" that have a certain number of ezine subscribers, or Alexa ranking or press exposure.

In my experience, it is the exact opposite.  You trip over someone through a link on someone’s blog, or notice them on Twitter.  And you fall head over heels in love and will do just about anything to hang out and work together.

Such is how Naomi described meeting Havi. And how Havi described the meeting as "Non-gross marketing and my Canadian love child."

This is where the really cool partnerships happen, people, by having fun, real, deep conversations with people you like about things you care about.

If I weren’t so busy, I would be jealous.

Have a great weekend!