Becoming A Pimp

*Disclaimer - I do *not* involve myself with any form of prostitution, nor do I, at any time, plan on doing so.

I would hope that, unless you've just stumbled upon this article with no foreknowledge of who I am or what I am, you know that I'm not going to write about how I am literally working towards becoming a proprietor of people who illicitly sell their bodies for money. However, one can't be too careful in this day and age so I thought it best to declare it up front.

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Anyone who knows me on a personal level could tell you that I'm generally not someone who is quick to pat himself on his back. They would also tell you that I probably wouldn't make a great salesman. For someone that holds a part-time job at a retail establishment, I even have a difficult time persuading patrons to sign up for the credit card we offer, if only because my experience and views on credit cards stir up an unpleasant guilt. My whole outlook on life is one of "You do you, and I'll do me." There are only a handful of things I ever tried to coax someone into, and out of that handful, perhaps one of them has ever been for my personal gain.

When I started to write, I knew the road to getting people to read my book would be an agonizing trek of being someone I'm not. Whether it was agents whom I had to convince that my book was worth taking a chance with, or readers whom I had to convince that my book was worth spending a few bucks on if I self-published, it was going to require a heavy amount of me "pimping" myself and my work. You always hear these amazing stories of authors/actors/sports stars/etc who are well known today, tell their stories of how they became recognized in their early days. They involve an incredible amount of hard work, yes, but it also usually involves an Irish-leprechaun's-rabbit-with-a-four-leafed-clover-stuck-in-it's-foot-found-at-the-end-of-a-rainbow-with-a-pot-of-gold - grade stroke of luck. For the rest of us who don't necessarily get that kind of break, there's a bit more hard work involved.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not complaining and I certainly didn't start writing to get rich. What I'm saying is that I recognize that in order to do what I love, and if I want to make a livable career out of it, I will have to put forth the effort to get myself to that point. My book was recently published on Amazon, and I have come to realize that, if I want people to read my work, I'm going to have to learn to be comfortable outside my comfort zone. I'm going to have to learn to try and persuade people just to take a look at it. I'm going to have to become that salesman to catch those dreams.

Thankfully, we live in an age where much of the "pimping" can be done through social media and electronic interactions rather than face-to-face, thanks to the internet. It's taken some of that pressure off of trying to convince total strangers to look at a book written by someone completely unheard of. Life change is hard, and so is changing who you are to who you need to be. Over time, my pimping skills will increase and I'll start to get the hang of being confident in my abilities. Until then, I'll be thankful I wasn't born 20 years earlier where I would have to interact with any potential buyers in person.