I’m facing a professional dilemma.

 

Seriously…

 

It’s about “chasing notoriety” (AKA self-promotion).

 

Here’s the dilemma in a nutshell:

 

I have zero interest in becoming famous. But I am interested in becoming well enough known that people can find me to help them achieve their professional goals, whether that is by way of sales-, content-, or feature-writing or by way of teaching public speaking skills to panicky presenters.

 

But, how do I become well enough known without the risk of becoming overly prominent/too much sought after?

 

Prominence requires far more effort/money than I’m able (or willing) to invest

 

So, if I pull out all the stops, and really invest in promoting myself, I may find myself with a 40-hour a week job, something I don’t want. I’m semi-retired, and want to stay that way, no matter how much I love doing what I do!

 

My goal is to work about ten hours a week.  Just ten hours at $100/hour or more.

 

And I have several irons in the fire (as a writer and as a public speaking coach), any one of which could achieve that goal.

 

So, do I advertise  — and I mean really advertise myself, truly for the first time ever — or do I continue to stand by to see what fate has in store for me?

 

I’ve written a PPT presentation for live public speaking events, and Lisa is working on producing a trailer video for my new book, STAGE COACH: My Prescription for Panicky Presenters. These are to launch my newest venture as a public speaking author/coach.

 

If the video succeeds, I will almost immediately have the hours I need to satisfy my desire to make a positive difference in people’s lives while keeping my savings growing some every month.

 

Right now, I’m hemorrhaging savings because AI has caused people to try to get decent stuff written without using pro writers. AI isn’t well enough developed yet (and may never be) to write sales copy that converts prospects into customers, but early adopters don’t know that, and AI is being touted across the Internet as THE ANSWER for non-writers to succeed as content and copy producers.

 

Alas, AI is shooting them in the foot left and right, and causing them headaches that a real writer usually takes care of without them being any the wiser (vetting the accuracy of Internet and other-based information, connecting in a genuine way, etc.), so it will be a while before they come back to pros like me to do their writing for them.

 

So, for this reason, I had to segue to live and virtual public speaking coaching, something AI will have a helluva time replacing in the near future. I’m ready for it, and ready to do it. I’m absolutely confident of my ability to help panicky presenters re-think public presentations in a way that will greatly alleviate their stagefright.

 

But again, I don’t want to be working more than about 15 hours a week (five of them on the back end, behind the scenes). I want to be easily findable but not so well-known/famous that things can get out of hand.

 

As an introvert, a little interaction goes a long way with me.  I can handle ten hours of it per week, but probably not a lot more. Heck, I’m still recovering from two weeks of pretty much non-stop interaction with very dear, much-loved friends in New Zealand! I’m simply not designed for extensive human access!

 

So, that’s my dilemma.  I’m playing my next steps by ear, hoping to find the right balance that will work for me and serve people who need what I can offer them by way of writing and coaching.

 

All I want to do is help people.

 

I’m with George Eliot: ” “What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other?”

 

That’s MY goal!