Right around the time my sister Michele was getting married, my sister Bridget and I caught an episode of Martha Stewart, where she made a wedding cake.
And it was beautiful, with a barely robin egg blue fondant and tiny pearls of frosting and a gorgeous monogram.
And we looked at each other and said, "Oh. My. God. We'll bake Michele's wedding cake!"
I don't know what we were thinking. The cake involved dowels for goodness sake. And special pans. And fondant. And robin egg blue dye. And piping bags. And special tips for those piping bags.
And things we've never done before...like dowels and pans and dyeing fondant, piping bags with special tips, and decorating cakes.
It was sweet of us to think that we would be able to make our sister's wedding cake, just by the very nature of watching a single segment of Martha Stewart, most likely while terrifically hungover eating cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather.
Because Martha made baking that wedding cake look so damn easy.
And it was...for her.
Because she's made hundreds of cakes and thousands of cookies and grows her own asparagus.
Meaning, she has skills she's fine-tuned over years and years and years and years.
And conceivably, Bridget and I could've eventually made Michele's wedding cake if we decided to practice. And practice. And practice.
Marketing your own biz is a lot like thinking you can bake your sister's wedding cake. It takes more than watching Martha Stewart or a YouTube video or signing up for a course.
Good marketing takes practice.
And chances are, it won't be perfect at the beginning. But over time, as you get a sense of your market and your brand and your customers and you find your voice and what works, you'll get better at it.
See, marketing is a contact sport, not a concept. And it's best when you dig in and get your hands dirty.
So if you're a new entrepreneur thinking that your marketing should be at the same level as someone who's been doing it for years right out of the gate, chances are you'll run into some heartache and heartburn.
Give yourself the gift of practice so you can have the context, clarity, and confidence (my favorite combo!) to get your good work out into the world.
Because it's really fun to get better at something. Especially when it grows your business. That's really really really fun.
As always, I'm rooting for you!
