I spent a chunk of time this afternoon doing maintenance work on my search engine advertising campaigns. I was pleased with how comfortable I was darting around the campaign management site, making adjustments to ad copy, URL links, keywords and click through bids. Yet I couldn’t feel grateful for the level of understanding I now have for this technology without remembering how intimidated I felt when I first stepped onto the scene. It was two years ago and I had just hung out my shingle as a wedding officiant. My instincts told me that having a high-ranking search presence would contribute to my success, so reluctantly I followed through.
I felt like an idiot as I poked around Google and Yahoo. I’d just spent 20 years in the world of direct mail marketing yet I didn’t have a clue how to deal with the online stuff. I’m usually pretty courageous when it comes to jumping into new territory, but there was something about this terrain that terrorized me. I even did something I rarely do—read the directions—and that made me panic even more. I couldn’t understand what I was reading. It was all over my head.
I was determined to get beyond my fears so that I could learn to manage my own ad campaigns. I took a step back and recognized that this whole search engine business is a relatively new science. I allowed myself to see that all the other entrepreneurs out there advertising on the search engines were once just as clueless as I was then. I told myself that if they could figure it out, so could I. I gave myself some study time where I visited the material over several sittings so that I didn’t get overwhelmed thinking I had to understand it all at once. I got more familiar with the information with each visit and within a few days I put my ads up.
My search engine advertising has done rather well for me. I’ve presided over weddings for couples here in San Francisco who found me in places that have ranged from Shanghai, China to Boone, North Carolina. All it took was determination, a belief in myself and the willingness to do the work required.
This is no different from any sight you set for yourself. Is there anything hanging out there in your consciousness that you’re yearning to tackle, yet taking it on comes with some level of intimidation? If so, then bring to your mind an image of someone else who had done what you want to do now. If they can do it, why can’t you?
Digging for Meaning 