Networking

The Mess of Messaging

My good friend, mentor, and one of the coolest guys on the planet, Rick Tamlyn, has a saying: “Your Mess is your message.” Let me write that with a pause in the correct spot. “Your Mess, is your message.”

In the spirit of the aforesaid, I had to do some looking at the mental mess I had made for myself around the Founders Dinner that I am hosting at the end of March. The mess jumbled and confused in my mind was based on fear and hesitancy. Fear of the unknown, fear that I was not good enough to pull this thing off. Why would someone pay to attend this thing? With little ol’ me? What if it doesn’t work somehow, what if I don’t get the spots filled? And on, and on, and on. Someone once said that it’s safer to doubt than take action. Well, we all like safety. I stayed in that safety zone. My doubt gave in to hesitation about marketing this little event. Hesitation is not the way to sell something. You don’t see a good salesperson say to you in the store, “I mean, you can buy that tv, I guess, uh, you know, if you want to.” They say, “hey you should buy this tv even if you have 3 just like it because you clearly need one more, it’s the newest one! Look what it does!”

I took a step back and observed my mental mess, and, hence, message. I didn’t like what I saw. I had to take myself back in time to when I started this process. When the idea was fresh and I was talking with my business partner, Kayla, about it over lunch. I was excited! This was going to be a dinner where people could talk openly and feel a sense that others were listening to what they had to say. This was going to be a dinner where great food and laughter presented an alternative to bland food and elevator pitches at mingling networking events. The kind that always have left me rather humorless. And when I don’t have humor about something, you know it’s bad.

I took myself back to that mess, and, hence, that message. That’s the mess I need to work with again. That’s the message to put out into the universe. Not this mess of doubt and fear and hesitation, that won’t bring me anything but empty spots at my table.

So, I am inviting 8 business owners to this event. Hence, Founders. I invite you to talk about your messes in your business and life in general. Those become your messages. What kind of mess is it? Happy? Full of ideas that are tangled up? Or is it a mess of confusion and fear, jumbled like all the zillions of wires behind your computer desk that you haven’t untangled because it’s a pain. That’s why you should come with little ol’ me to this event. To talk about the messages we can make from the messes of life and business. Here is the eventbrite link, I’ll see you there on March 31.

Dave Bahr is the founder of In-Sightful living. He works as an advocate for persons with disabilities and a usability specialist. Schedule a Call with Dave here.

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