Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters [Paperback]

Ideas, tips, and strategies are packaged in an easy-to-read book. I love the fact that those featured don't just talk about success, they go out and grab it. Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters is motivational and fun and doesn't make a person feel guilty for what they haven't done. Instead it inspires them to do something every day to further their goals.

At first I didn't like the title because I hate self promotion. I look at the most effective promotion as building relationships. Once I started reading the various chapters I realized the title is actually misleading because every person in the book preaches relationship building. Networking, referrals, branding, Internet marketing, direct mail, media, and more or covered in depth and well by some of the top people out there. I highly recommend this practical resource for anyone regardless of their business or product.

In fact, the same can be said of the content in these two books as well as in Allen's Confessions of Shameless Internet Promoters. And that is precisely the key point: because each of us receives each day (on average) about 3,000 (or is it 30,000?) "messages" of various kinds, it is more difficult now than ever before to penetrate all the noise and all the clutter. We now live in what Tom Davenport and John Beck call "the attention economy." The most valuable currency is gaining the interest and attention of others and then, over time, earning their respect and trust.

As a result, we should feel no shame when aggressively promoting ourselves if we do so with honesty and integrity; people buy from other people, not from companies. Nor should we feel any shame when aggressively promoting a product or service if it is of sufficient quality, fills a legitimate need, is priced fairly, and delivers substantial value. To those who complain that women seem "brazen" when doing so, I say "Get over it."

In this volume, Allen introduces each of the 13 chapters with her own thoughts about the given subject (e.g. "You Cannot Not Market" and "Building Your Unique Brand Recognition") and then several of the 68 guest contributors share their own thoughts, feelings, experiences, advice, etc. Inevitably, the value of individual segments will be determined almost entirely by the specific deeds and interests of each reader. All of the contributors' comments are worth sharing but not all of them are immediately relevant to each reader's circumstances. However, I think the entire book should be read and then re-read. Circumstances change, frequently without warning. We may need tomorrow or next week what we do not need today. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu observes that every battle is won or lost before it is fought. There is much to be said for "shameless" preparation.

For many, Chapter One ("An Introduction to Shameless Self Promotion") may well be the most valuable portion of the book because it provides all manner of reassurances that shameless self promotion really is legitimate, indeed imperative in today's marketplace IF (huge "if") it is conducted with honesty and integrity as well as tenacity. Allen provides a brief quotation on the title page of each chapter. For Chapter One, "If you don't blow your own horn someone else will use it as a spittoon." (Anonymous) Brief contributions by five marketing "gurus" -- Jeffrey Storie, Mark Victor Hansen, Don Taylor, Dana Burke, and Rick Segel -- then follow.

While reading this book, I frequently made connections between it and another book I read recently, Phillip McGraw's Self Matters: Creating Your Life from Inside Out. Directly or indirectly, Allen and most of her 68 contributors assert that effective promotion of one's self is wholly dependent upon having a strong sense of self-confidence and self-worth. Stated another way, the effectiveness of self promotion in the external world is wholly dependent on creating and then nourishing a healthy inner self. I agree with McGraw that self not only matters, it is all that we have. It does much more than identify us: it defines us. If we do not value it, why should anyone else?

Ignore the overheated words and phrases. Read all the lines but also read between them. Absorb and digest what Allen and her associates have to say. Then re-read at least the first chapter. This book has much of value to say about both self and promotion: the health of the former determines the effectiveness of the latter.

Many of those who begin reading this book looking for specific strategies and tactics will indeed find them but also something else of much greater value: a better understanding of themselves and, especially, of what may have delayed, diminished or even prevented their success in life until now. Who knows? You may be among them. Most of us are.