The conventional practice is to let others promote you. It is more credible and appealing if someone says nice things about you rather than you indulging in self-promotion. We may find self-promotion repulsive sometimes, if done for personal aggrandizement or based on some ego trip. All that is true, and by all standards such motives are wrong.
In certain circumstances, however, self-promotion is a logical imperative. There are times when you just must advertise yourself or suffer in oblivion. A politician seeking elective office or anyone who is looking for mass endorsement is obliged to promote themselves, otherwise they get little or no attention.
Self-promotion is very important in our generation because we live in a very dynamic and intensely competitive global environment; you may have to shout hoarse to gain attention if you have something to sell. Even Jesus Christ declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life, nobody comes to the Father (God) except through me.” This emphatic statement announced the uniqueness of his earthly ministry. He declared his messiahship. He gave us a template. For ages, wise people have been using this template to sell themselves. Sometimes, people need to know who you are from your own mouth. You have to make a personal declaration sometimes, to get the required recognition
If you have something to offer, you better advertise yourself. A talented painter may remain in obscurity if they do not do an exhibition. Nobody can know you are a painter if you hide in a corner of the universe. It is through self-promotion or exhibition that some great inventors come into the limelight. That is why trade fairs and exhibitions are organised. One great exhibitionist of the 1970s was Muhammad Ali, the legendary heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
Ali used to boast, “I’m the greatest of all time,” just to draw fans to his fights. This was pure marketing and the sound bite of “The Greatest” was appropriate for such events. In many Bible passages, Jesus Himself said, “I’m the bread of life,” “I’m the good shepherd,” etc. God himself had declared, “I Am that I Am”. We see where the inspiration came from when people say, “I am this, I am that”, when they feel the need to be assertive. Sometimes, when people are upset, they say: “Do you know who I am?” It is a way of asserting their dignity not just self-promotion in this case.
Here, we are dealing with the positive aspects of self-promotion. If you have certain hidden attributes that can enhance you, promote them so that people may take notice. To promote oneself does no harm to anyone. Of course, some people may be envious or offended, as the case may be, because of what could be perceived as lack of modesty. For me, to undersell yourself is no evidence of humility.
While it is wrong to overestimate yourself in the quest for self-promotion, you don’t have to under-value yourself just so people may think you are humble. In fact, that is false humility. Self-promotion should ideally advertise things about you that most people don’t know in order to improve your market value or public esteem. It is not immoral, if your objective is to sell yourself to a target audience so as to gain some advantages, which you otherwise would have lost if people were not aware of your hidden qualities.
Don’t do yourself an injustice because of what people might say about you. The truth is that you can’t stop people from talking or thinking. Whatever you do or don’t do will still attract human reactions, negative or positive. That’s human beings for you. When Ali was criticised for boasting by saying, “I’m the greatest of all time (among boxers),” he retorted: “If you don’t say whom thou are, people won’t know whom thou are.” That’s true. There’re times you have to tell people something about yourself, in case they don’t know.
Again, let me use my case as an example. If I didn’t tell the editors of Sun Publishing Limited that I was a motivational speaker, they woould not have given me this column. They had always known me only as a journalist. I had to tell them about my other talents as a motivational writer, activist and life coach with supporting evidence before the editor-in-chief/managing director, and his editors recognised me as such.
However, before you begin to promote yourself, you should have something genuine to sell. You don’t go about selling falsehood. If you claim what you are not, that’s false claim. You then lose credibility immediately. If you hype yourself, you lose honour as well. The right thing to do is to be realistic, moderate and honourable in the way you go about promoting yourself.
Once you are fully convinced that you have something up your sleeves, go out there and advertise it. Let people know your full potential so that they could either help you develop it or invest in you. No man is an island. We all need someone to lift us up. You can’t climb without some help from someone out there. You rely on God to send helpers to you. People invest in vision, not needs. If people know that you have good ideas, money will flow to you. So, promote yourself.
Weekend Spice: The one reason for argument in a marriage is money
– Robert Kiyosaki
Oh folks stay, stay motivated.
•Ayodeji is an author, rights activist, pastor and life coach. He can be reached for mentoring and counselling on 09059243004 (SMS and WhatsApp only).