Go to Your Edge and Push Past It | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.

AdvancingWomen.com talks quite a bit about putting yourself out there, recognizing the edge of your comfort zone and reaching deep inside yourself to summon all your resources and move beyond it to the next level.  It is not a single act, it is an ongoing process, like exercise to become more fit. So we are in complete agreement with author  John Jantsch who posted this excellent advice on pushing past your edge:

“There is a thread that runs through most Eastern spiritual practices, such as Yoga or meditation, that urges the practitioner to go to the edge of comfort and push just past it before returning. The idea behind this is that the place you push to becomes your new edge for the next time.

Personally I think this notion applies very well to the small business and marketer.

One of the best practices you can adopt in growing your business is to continually look to marketing strategies and tactics that make you uncomfortable and then add them to the mix. Since marketing doesn’t always come naturally to most small business owners this indeed can take intentional practice. The thing though about moving beyond your edge is that you don’t really need to know exactly how you are going to do it, you simply need to commit to doing it and breath.

Here are a few suggestions that you might consider.

• Contact a local organization and offer to provide a workshop on something you are passionate about.
• Contact an industry publication, including blogs, and offer to write a killer guest editorial or post
• Contact an industry rockstar or journalist and request an interview for your podcast or blog
• Contact a high profile talk show and pitch your killer trend story
• Pull out a blank sheet of paper and create a list of goals that take your breath away

None of this is that hard by the way. It’s simply a decision. You can’t phone marketing in and expect to grow, you’ve got to go deeper and deeper, day by day, and push beyond your comfort edge.”

For more, see John Jantsch , Entrepreneur, Marketing Coach