The Art Of Learning To Sell Ourselves

Why we shouldn’t show everything we can do

a woman in a long black coat holds a precious stone out while her other hand is in one of her many pockets, futuristic, sleek art — by DALL·E

The Same Mistake

Many companies make this mistake when they grow: they feel they need to offer more products rather than focus their efforts on making their existing service even better. We don’t need our internet provider to sell us showers or washing machines; we would be happy with our connection becoming ever faster and more reliable.

Similarly, we make the same mistake as individuals when we sell ourselves to the world by describing the many areas in which we have expertise. Especially when our skills are diverse, displaying them as an advert can be exceedingly counterproductive. This is hard to accept because the diversity of our experience and knowledge is what makes us valuable. The problem is that marketing — and everything is marketing — is not about selling the best products but about the buyers believing they couldn’t have made a better choice.

Too Many Tacos

Recently, I went to a taqueria with a bunch of friends. Most of us had an episode of paralysis by analysis. There were so many tacos to choose from, and they all sounded delicious. One of our friends didn’t struggle: she settled for the first item on the menu. She didn’t even read the rest of the list. She knew what she liked and liked what…