Pivoting myself, not the product

The good thing about Twitter—annoying as it is with all its pretend preachers—is that it’s easy to find peers who are struggling with the same thing as you, and you end up learning more from their own struggles than some millionaire success story or a pseudonymous account with a few 100k following.

@dagorenouf was one such recent Twitter friend. He talked about how he struggled with his product, and thought the product itself needed to pivot. But upon further reflection he realised the real problem was marketing, and that it was he himself who needed pivoting, from developer to marketer. His business is now growing.

As much as I recognise that I’m more introverted by nature, that perhaps my strengths are not in marketing and selling, and how it’s important to play to one’s strengths, I also see that it’s not all or nothing. I’m not aiming to eliminate 100% of customer interactions. I’m not trying to not have to talk to anyone forever and ever more. In fact, what many extroverts fail to realise is that, actually introverts can be social, just in a narrower context.

For example, async and remote/online interactions are actually fine for me. I can do it all day typing away and chatting with folks on Twitter. In my own ‘weird’ perspective, I see myself as actually interacting with text on a website/app, not humans. It’s when it gets face-to-face (in real life, phone or video) that it gets more draining, as most introverts do. So doing sales/customer support over email are fine. I can only speak for myself though.

My main personal barrier is selling and self-promotion. That’s where I’m coming from when I ask about “marketing for introverts”. And circling back to my point about how it’s not all or nothing, I also recognise how I can try to do both – play to my strengths, AND try to change my mindset about marketing.

I need to pivot myself, from a developer/maker to a marketer.

But it doesn’t have to feel like I’m ‘selling out’, or trying to be someone I’m not. That’s the main lesson I’m drawing from reading personal struggles from folks like @dagorenouf.

That realisation, gives me hope.

Pivot thyself, not product.