Free Workshop on Branding and Marketing yourself as a developer

Here’s a funny piece of data from the survey I sent out last week:

• 91% of developers feel that marketing is important
• But only 13% bought a book to learn marketing

A lot of developers correctly identify that marketing is important. Marketing lets people know about us. And in turn, they would (hopefully) buy our products or engage our services.

But very few developers actually learn to market themselves properly. Only 13% bought a book to learn about marketing. (And of this 13%… some people think learning React is a form of marketing…).

When I asked what they would do if they lost their jobs today. Most developers would:

1. Cry 😢
2. Shore up their technical skills (by learning React or Angular or other stuff)
3. Apply to more jobs and PRAY it they get a job

Freelancers would do the same things:

1. Cry 😢
2. Shore up their technical skills
3. Somehow try to find more freelance clients (probably from Upwork and other freelancing sites).

Would you do the same?

If your answer is yes, congratulations, you’re effectively doing THE SAME THING AS 90% of the other developers are doing on the planet.

Which essentially means you’re not standing out. There’s nothing special about you compared to 90% of the other developers out there.

I know it hurts. But it’s the truth.

I’m not here to babysit you. I’m here to share the truth with you and what you can do about it.

Continue reading if you want to be in a better position 2 years from now. Otherwise, delete this email and pretend you never heard anything.

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Still with me?

Good.

You need to learn to market yourself in a way that actually works.

Marketing yourself in a way that works

Most people have a deep misconception about marketing.

They think (deep down in their hearts) that Marketing is about standing out. Which means:

1. They have to shamelessly brag about their skills (even though they don’t feel they’re good enough).
2. They have to fake it to make it.
3. They need SOME SORT OF attention that portrays them positively in other people’s eyes.
4. Find SOME WEIRD WAY to differentiate themselves from all the other programmers out there…

If you adopt this approach, it’s understandable why you don’t like marketing.

1. It’s fake.
2. It’s sleazy.
3. It’s inauthentic.
4. It’s uncomfortable.
5. You want something from others, so you have a hidden agenda.
6. It’s hard to look at others in the eyes when you have a hidden agenda.

But Marketing is NOT about standing out.

Marketing is NOT about being fake. It’s NOT about having a hidden agenda (which you want to believe that nobody knows, but everyone can smell your bullshit from a mile away…).

You don’t have to fool anyone when you market yourself. You don’t have to sell snake oil.

In fact, you shouldn’t.

You can be yourself. You can speak your truth. You can be authentic.

Marketing (when done right) is powerful.

• It inspires people
• It creates trust
• It helps people

When you do Marketing correctly, you automatically stand out. Standing out is a by-product.

• People may hire you
• People may pay you more
• People may remember you
• People may respect you more
• People may recognise the value of your work

Get out of the spiral of stuckness

Here’s the major frustration for most developers (both hired and employed):

• Companies (and clients) treat you like a resource (not a human). They want more work done in less time, in less money.
• You are overworked and burned out.
• You don’t have time to invest in yourself (both technically and marketing yourself).

Even when you dedicate SO MUCH time and energy towards your employer (and clients), there’s no such thing as job security.

• Companies can FIRE you in a heartbeat and not even care about your wellbeing.
• Clients can REFUSE to pay you (I heard some stories about clients not paying people because of the coronavirus…).

So you’re stuck.

You cannot do anything to help you switch to a better job. You cannot do anything to help you get better clients.

It’s tough.

There doesn’t seem to be a way out: Except for waving some kind of magic wand and wishing people would know what you’re capable of, so they trust you with good work, so you can go and do a good job and eventually wow them and impress them.

You can pray.

But that prayer doesn’t come true.

You’re stuck in the spiral of stuckness.

• You don’t have time because got so much to do
• You cannot skill up
• You cannot find better jobs / better clients.
• You don’t know how to put yourself out there.
• You don’t know how to get people to value you more.
• So you keep doing what your current boss and clients ask you to do, which is more work, and you have even lesser time.

It’s a vicious cycle, this one.

But it doesn’t have to be like this. You don’t have to be stuck in this vicious cycle all the time.

There’s a way out.

We need better employers and better clients.

There’s a strategy to get better employers and better clients. The strategy is simple. But it’s not going to be easy.

You got to build your personal brand. You got to market yourself so others remember you and know what you’re worth.

Building Your Developer Brand

Most people get Branding and Marketing backward. Trust me, I know because I came from a business school. They teach bullshit about Marketing and Branding. Even when it works, all that applies to “middle management” and “bigger companies” who have the budget.

What about you and I, who have $0 to throw away for Marketing?

• We need a different definition of Branding. (One that works).
• We need a different definition of Marketing. (Again, one that works).

We also need a way to market ourselves in a REAL way. Where we can be ourselves, where we can talk about what we actually care about, where we actually can do good work.

(Marketing doesn’t work the way schools teach us to. If they worked, we would all be swimming in the money by now).

So what works?

I’m gonna cover this in a FREE workshop.

Details For the (FREE) Workshop

I’m holding a 2-Hour workshop about Branding and Marketing. It’s called “Build Your Developer Brand”. I made this for you. It’s FREE to join. I’m not charging any money.

There’s no catch. I want to help you learn to market yourself.

In this workshop, we will cover:

• How to market yourself without shamelessly bragging about how awesome you are (because nobody would believe you anyway).
• How to brand yourself without worrying about logo, slogan, design, colours, typography, business cards, and all those non-essential stuff (and what’s actually important).
• How to strategically market AND brand yourself so you’re in a much better position (compared to where you are) in two years.

Details for the workshop:

• Duration: 2 Hours.
• Time: Friday, 17th April, 1pm Singapore Time.
• Location: Online Via Zoom. I’ll release the link closer to date.

Times in other timezones:

• PST: 16th April, 10pm
• EST: 17th April, 1am
• GMT: 17th April, 6am
• AEST: 17th April, 3pm

Leave your name and email here to sign up for the workshop.

Don’t worry if you cannot make it. I’ll send you a replay as long as you register for the workshop. Just leave your name + email here to register.

At the end of the workshop, I’m gonna give you two more things. One of them is free (and it’s awesome). The other is paid (if you choose to take it up; it’s even more awesome).

Questions?

I’m super excited to help you position yourself in a better place. If you have questions, feel free to contact me. I read every email and I try to respond to as many as I can.