The logjam of fear…

Sounds like a theme park ride.

But when I’m working with clients I find a number of them have great ideas, motivation and a steller work ethic…

…but they never seem to get anything tangible out into the marketplace

Commonly this is to do with FEAR – fear of whether their product or service is ‘good enough’, fear or what others might think, or just plain old fear of….something.

This is not a ‘silly’ thing or something you can ‘man up’ (or woman up) against.

Fear is legitimate.

It’s real and while it might not be the same fear as our ancestors felt when fighting a sabre-tooth tiger, it can be just as paralysing when it comes to running your online business.

So one of the things I try to do when I’m working with a client in this position is to find out exactly WHERE the logjam of fear is, and what’s causing it.

Most times it’s simple enough to find.

It’s simply where the work STOPS.

So for example if I’m working with a client who is bringing a product to the marketplace, he might work well on creating the product, might be extremely skilled at managing the freelancers who are creating his sales page or graphics…

…but stops dead in the water when it comes to contacting JV partners or potential affiliates.

This might be because he finds it acutely embarrassing asking other marketers to promote his product, might feel like it’s ‘begging’ or quite simply might feel that his product isn’t worth it.

The solution here is quite easy.

We just hire an affiliate manager.

Either someone on a flat fee or commission who can do all the contacting on his behalf.

Logjam sorted – things begin to move again.

Another example would be someone who seems to be working well until it’s time to build a personal branding blog. The intention is to introduce them as a marketer, share their opinions and what they stand for, publish some photos and basically tie the marketer into his message.

If the flow stops here and the excuses start maybe it’s because the marketer is reluctant to put himself out there and be scrutinised. Maybe the thought of sharing photos and opinions isn’t one that sits well with this particular marketer.

Again we need to free up the logjam and in this case the solution might be  to use a pen name, maybe some stock photographs instead of his own face or use the company as the brand rather than the person.

AND find exactly WHAT the issue is

If it’s a self-confidence thing about his appearance that can be worked on.

If he has a full-time job and afraid their boss or co-workers will find the blog then work on a solution for that scenario.

If he feels he’s simply not good enough to have a valid opinion then work on the self-confidence side of things

The main idea is simple though – work through what you’ve been doing (or your client has been doing) and find out where the work STOPS.

Find out where the progress halts and that’s your logjam.

From there on finding a solution can be remarkably easy.

It’s finding the bloody thing in the first place that can be tricky because most people make excuses (me included) about why things aren’t moving forwards and they’re not always easy to see past to find the truth.

But if you find out WHERE the work stops, you can move on to finding out WHY and fixing it.

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