Why playing hooky from church can be good.

Several years ago, I was visiting my parents. They were living in Brookline, Massachusetts at the time—a really cool neighborhood right on the T line, with all kinds of people living there

Hasidic Jews, Russians, Boston liberals in rumpled khakis.

That sort of thing.

Anyway, this particular morning was Easter Sunday. My dad was out of town, and my mom had planned on attending services.

No longer a churchgoer, I’d planned on going for a run instead.

My mom surprised me by revealing she wasn’t feeling really motivated to get all dressed up and go to church.

“Well, today, let’s make our own church,” I said.

She thought it sounded like a good idea. So my mom played hooky from real church that day, we put on our walking shoes, and took to the streets.

That crisp April morning, we decided to hold services en route, simply by saying hello to every person we passed.

We talked as we walked, of course. But every time someone walked past us, we looked ‘em in the eyes and greeted them warmly.

At the end of our unofficial “services,” I felt great. AND like I was actively, if simply, participating in the neighborhood spirit.

Which is one of my favorite things.

I used to do this, by myself, when I lived on a hippie island outside Seattle after grad school.

Walking was as my main mode of transport. And I loved it! I made a habit of waving at every driver who passed me as I walked up the hill from my house to main street.

And more often than not, they waved back.

I share this because one of the students in my Write Your Website production lab asked a question that has me thinking of these stories.

She said, “I’ve been given so much marketing advice that these voices bark at me when I try to write anything, and so I stop. What do I do?”

I’ve been thinking about this, and I realized that marketing can become a “thing.” Just like church can sometimes become a “thing”. Intimate relationships, exercise, work, eating can become a “thing,” too.

And that “thing” is routine.

It’s something you do because it’s a value you hold. Which starts out right…

…But you are kinda just going through the motions.

The spirit, the joie de vivre, the inspiration and being present has just totally drained out of it.

You KNOW that marketing your business will help it grow.

But along the way, you’ve had all the joy of serving and sharing your ideas with others beaten out of you.

That’s totally normal by the way. It happens to me all the time! The best thing to do, I’ve found, is to keep moving forward. (And sometimes, it’s to stop).

That said, here’s what I told my student: play hooky from church. Pretend you’ve forgotten everything you’ve learned about what makes “effective marketing”… and just set an intention to serve one person who’s hanging on your every word… and write from THAT place.

There are people out there who are hanging on your every word, by the way.

They are HUNGRY for your message. They are stuck without it, in fact.

And the more you can shake off all the BS and marketing bullhorn language and just be human with her, the more you’ll win. The more SHE’LL feel like you see her. Like you get her. Like she CAN have what she wants.

And all THAT means that YOU will have her attention. Her trust. And her ear.

I recently met one of my mentorship clients in person. She hugged me hard and thanked me for helping her “realize that I didn’t have to BS people in my marketing to get clients—and showing me how to do it.”

She shared with me that she’d studied with another copywriter and marketing teacher, and instead of helping, it took her—as she described it “down the wrong path.” She said that she’d been trying to persuade people using techniques that didn’t feel aligned with her values (she describes herself as “heart-centered”). She told me I’d helped her come home to herself—AND promote her work in a way that won her business.

Wow.

So maybe, you don’t need to practice marketing techniques right now. Maybe you just need to play hooky from marketing church for awhile.

Give yourself permission to take to the streets and simply say “hello” to the people who cross your path.

Speaking of playing hooky from marketing church… I hosted an event to get your marketing mojo working last week, where I asked 12 of my friends and colleagues to share their tips and tools for building an audience and reaching out to new potential clients. It’s the “Sleaze-Free Marketing Event”. Although the event is over, you can still get access to all the transcripts and recordings for a special price for the next few days. Learn more at: www.sleazefreemarketing.com.

Mighty thanks to Ferran flickr photostream for the stop sign