March 6th, 2009
by Lorrie Thomas
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you
become by achieving your goals
~ Zig Ziglar
I am in serious marketing self diagnosis mode. The process to brand and build Web Marketing Therapy has certainly been a path to achieve a professional goal (teaching professionals how to critically THINK about how to use web marketing to boost business) but it has also been an unexpected self-exploration, actualization, and life purpose process as well.
Zig Ziglar’s quote about “what you become by achieving your goals” helped put my Web Marketing Therapy business building process in serious perspective and landed me on my own marketing therapy couch for self-diagnosis.
I have been so entrenched in the details (the crucial details) of the website launch and it wasn’t until I went on a LONG OVERDUE walk this afternoon that I had non-geeky, creative space to reflect on the process of launching this website, what I learned about myself, and who I have become in the process.
The Process
A few years ago, I had an “a-ha” moment. The “a-ha” was although I did web marketing work, my “real” profession was teaching professionals how to communicate better and build/improve relationships. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like therapy to me! 
I taught professionals how to communicate the power of their work, their value, educate their current/prospective customers, how to talk to web partners/vendors/contractors about needs, share expectations, understand, ask clarifying questions and understand one another. All of this helped build relationships and connections. The better we communicate, the better web marketing worked. The root to strong relationships and communication is UNDERSTANDING. Years ago, I bought the domain www.webmarketingtherapy.com, just to have it. When I was rebuilding my first company site, www.lorriethomas.com, I was speaking with the man behind my lorriethomas.com site plan, Simon Erich at Site Goals about this “marketing therapy” concept I had. And HE GOT IT…. Simon may not know this, but it was his belief in my concept that helped solidify my confidence to seriously take on the WMT business, branding and building process that is now our “wild web woman” agency! Looking back at what was once a mere ”idea” turned real-deal business, I have SUCH an appreciation for the complexity of web projects, the power of having the RIGHT people on your team and the personal stake that goes into building web solutions.
What I Learned about Myself
I learned a ton about my personal and professional nature in this web-business-building process:
1. I am a total perfectionist (I can feel the heads nodding as they read this)
2. I wish I lived in the days of 1960’s advertising where people who had overflow of ideas like mine got big offices and two martini lunches. (I get “well that’s going to cost you $____) Buzz kill!
3. My primary driver (more than anything) on this process was the desire to give my team a site that was THEIRS – a shared vision, brand, name and professional development platform…no more “me” It’s now Wild Web Women ”we”. Doing it for me didn’t matter as much as I thought it would, I was more motivated to not let my team down by not delivering on this vision. Talk is cheap!!!
4. I am VERY DEMANDING. I know what I want and I am scary good at asking for it. I may be called a BITCH, but I think that stands for Being In Total Control of Her Marketing thankyouverymuch!
5. I don’t settle. If I had settled, we wouldn’t have the logo we have, the site, the team, clients, partners or collateral. I push because I know what the professionals I partner with are capable of, I respect myself and I owe it to the people I serve and the professionals I plan to help for the rest of my professional career to be my own case study with web marketing.
6. I am doing the right thing. The overwhelming support as we received from friends, colleagues and respected professionals in the web marketing world as built Web Marketing Therapy gave me support in my weak ”is this all worth it?” moments. Yes, it is worth it.
7. Sharing value, values and having a voice have been critical to this project. Sharing my story, WHY I was building WMT, my professional passion & purpose and using my voice (on the blog, in interviews, commenting on other blogs) have gotten us to where we are today.
8. I may be tough, but I am fair. Respect is recriprocal.
I become a lean, mean, wild web marketing woman in the process of building the WMT business! Seriously, though….I have become a humble, grateful professional in the process of achieving my marketing goals.
1. I am willing to trust other professionals to assist me in making things happen
2. I am scary self-aware of my faults, fears and failures
3. I accept that things do not always go as planned
4. I have a professional faith that I never had before
5. I have become more passionate about my profession than I ever imagined I could
6. I do not have all the answers
7. I am nothing without the right people
8. Success was not built in a day
9. It is only though hard work do we get where we want to go – there are no shortcuts
10. FUN is what helps us FUNCTION
Ziggy Zig is correct that What we get by achieving your goals is not as important as what we
become by achieving our goals. I “got” a logo, website, blog, t-shirts, media plugs, speaking gigs and some cool web shoutouts, but who I became in the process is something that money cannot buy.
And I cannot wait to teach you all about my experience to help you with your web marketing it on this wild website!
P.S. Like my friend Ana Maria says……I am no longer dreaming my dream….The dream is dreaming me!
Web Marketing Therapy Related Links:
- Web Marketing Goals for 2009
- Web Marketing Inspiration
- What Do You Stand For? Does Your Marketing Reflect This?
- Claim Your Entreprenurial Independence!!!
Keith T.
(March 6th, 2009 at 1:53 pm)
Great blog post and it really shows the passion you have for this project and your team. This is a very exciting time for you and all the WWW and I think everyone who knows what you’ve gone thru to get here is pretty stoked for you right about now
Simon Erich
(March 6th, 2009 at 3:11 pm)
Great post Lorrie, thanks for being an inspiration and visionary. One of the things that we realized early on with the type of business that we do is that we help people build their dreams. We craft visions and help set them in motion, wherever that may lead. This may seem like an over-inflated sense of purpose in what we do but it’s projects like yours that reinforce that truth.
Now let’s unleash a little Web Marketing Therapy on the world of dysfunctional websites! Looking forward to launch… which is imminent.
Emilia Doerr
(March 6th, 2009 at 4:13 pm)
If anyone is capable of dreaming a dream on top of a dream – it’s you!