It’s amazing how many self-employed people hit the wall with their web sites.

Procrastination, delay, and stall become words of the day. Or week, or month(s).

It’s not the difficulty of setting up a shopping cart, or trouble deciding between two typefaces, or a hang-up with javascript  that’s putting the brakes on the site.

It really comes down to that deep inward cringe that so many of us who have a hard time with marketing and promotion feel, when we’re promoting ourselves.

If we’re artists, or in a service business, so often the thing we’re trying to sell to the world is the product of our own unique gifts, our innermost, most sacred self.

And often, although we may have studied and cultivated skills and techniques for years, that gift at its core is something that just “happens.” It’s our magic. Our own secret mojo, gifted at birth.

People in this predicament, including myself, seem to get hung up on three things. One is, how to put our magic into words. Just saying “I’m a web designer” or “I’m a business coach” doesn’t nearly cover it. But how in the heck do you articulate your own gift, the thing that makes what you do special—something that you don’t quite understand to begin with?

The second is, how do you convey it in “buyer-centered” terms?  Once you’re figured out the “who,” “what” and “how” of what you do; once you list the problems you solve and the results you provide—you’ve got to write about it. With marketing syntax. Persuasively.

And then there’s packaging and pricing. Do you break your services out into packages? Charge by the hour? By the project? How do you price it?

All of this is not only incredibly difficult, particularly when doing it for yourself, but it can also feel very risky. You’re putting a very intimate and often vulnerable part of yourself out there, in public, for anyone with a web browser to see. And, you’re asking people to connect with you, to want what you have to offer, and to buy it.

What if they think you’re stupid? What if no one wants it? What if no one comes? What if your old college roomie, now CEO of a megabucks corporation, reads your personal, sincere, non-business-speak little web site and thinks it’s the most ridiculous thing ever?

So many of my clients—and myself—get hung up somewhere along this path. “Oh, I don’t like writing,” so many clients have remarked. But it’s not really writing that they hate. It’s writing marketing copy about themselves that drives them half mad.

What can you do to get out of the swamp?

First, admit that it’s not the javascript, the font, or the shopping cart that’s hanging you up, but your own confusion and—yes—pain.

Then, ask for a little help.

Call a friend. Or two or three. As them to tell you what your magic is. Take notes.

Then, turn to a professional to help shape your notes into finished copy. Marketing guru Robert Middleton has an amazing array of marketing knowledge in his Marketing Club (first month free, with complete access to workbooks, articles, audio programs and coaching calls). If you need a detailed, step-by-step roadmap that covers everything from formulating what you do in buyer-centric terms to writing articles, promotional copy and emails, Robert is your man. I’ve been following and using his info for years, and I am an affiliate.

Mark Silver is an amazing business coach with a spirit-centered practice. He offers freebies, workbooks and classes that can put you in touch with your own inner “big picture” and ease the pain of trying to communicate it.

Work with your designer. Many web designers and web coaches, whether they know it or not, have become experts at helping clients over this hurdle. Give yours a call.

And finally, don’t get hung up on perfection. The web is a very fluid medium. What you write today, you can change tomorrow. So get something up now, even if it’s not perfect. Your clients will be glad you did. Really.

I’ve been hearing for a long time about the recession affecting other businesses, but it hasn’t really touched mine. Until now. Two different clients couldn’t stave off the wolf any longer. Consequence? Two big, fun, interesting projects suddenly fell through, along with a good chunk of income. Now my calendar is unexpectedly open, and I hear the wolf heading towards MY door.

What to do? My impulse is to leap into manic activity. Do something, anything. Hustle. Work. Move. I think it’s a relic of the post-Depression mentality of my parents and grandparents… to flip instantly into that desperation mindset that says “If you need money and are willing to work, you’ll do anything, anything at all, whatever it takes, just get yourself out there.” The mindset that says, keep pouring over those classified ad pages (but Grandpa, everything is online now!), keep making calls and pounding pavement (but Grandpa, we all have cellphones!), until you land a job. A work-for-wages job, that is.

But here’s a big difference: I’m not looking for a job. I’m an entrepreneur. And I’m determined to approach this situation intelligently, not merely to fall prey once more to an inherited reflex that’s not even based on my own personal experience… and is nearly a century old at that! So what can I do? What can you do? Here’s what I come up with.

1. Retrench. In other words, cut down on expenses. Am I spending too much money or too much time on inessentials that can be cut? Money, no, not really. Time, yes. Staying focused requires constant vigilance on my part. I’m online all day for my work, and there are so many interesting tangents to explore. So for me, “retrenching” means staying focused on the goal.

2. Tap my networks. Remind people what problem I solve, who I solve it for, and that I have an opening. I don’t have a special offer yet, but per below, I think I should concoct one.

3. R&R. Think I’m kidding? Last year I listened to a wonderful audio program called “A Solution to Overwhelm” by business coach Mark Silver. He makes the point brilliantly that when we’re feeling overwhelmed and probably fearful, we’re simply “not being truly effective.” I think he’s right on.  I hate that screechy “spinning the wheels” sound, when you press on the accelerator as hard as you can, hoping crazily that this will get you out of the mud instead of digging you deeper. And not being able to help doing it, because it’s the only thing you can think to do.  Slowing down, tuning into inner guidance, seems counter-intuitive in a desperate situation. But paradoxically, it works.

I have also learned the very hard way that taking care of myself during stressful times is essential. It’s so tempting to neglect sleep, healthy meals, exercise and connection with family and friends while focusing on the “bigger picture. ” But I am here to remind myself and you that there is no bigger picture–in fact, no picture at all–without health. So here’s my commitment to handle my particular challenges in this area: I am going to keep going regularly to the pool, to qi gong class, and playing with our new Wii Fit. Oh yes, and meditating before bed to help ensure a restful sleep.

4. Catch up on deferred “maintenance”… accounting, tax prep, year-end accounting, cleaning up the office, revising the web site, etc. This kind of work can be a blessing, or a trap. I once relined all my kitchen cabinets with shelf paper while my partner and I were undergoing a mold disaster that culminating in our losing our home and most of our belongings. We joke about it now, “shelf paper” now being shorthand for useless busywork that gives the illusion of control, while distracting from the main focus. I have to be careful not to think that getting all the files filed is my main purpose in life.

5. Learn new skills. In my work of web development, learning new skills is continuous and essential. And I love it! Learning something new is exciting and engrossing. But does a particular challenge have a short-term payoff, or is it a long-term investment? Again, big picture.

6. Spend more time marketing/market smarter. I’m thinking that spending a little more time cultivating networks, particularly on Twitter, is a good idea now. I’m thinking about ads in local print media. Continuing to meet people at conferences and other events. Speaking to professional groups. Robert Middleton writes about how to effectively gain new clients by doing all this and more in his Infoguru marketing manual and in his  Action Plan Marketing Club which I just joined. (And yes, I am an affiliate!) Analyzing who my client base is, and how to expand it. We all have our own marketing lists…. so yeah, yeah, OK, it’s time to get to it. Systems, not shots in the dark!

7. Put together new products, new offers. There are at least three web sites and a handful of products that I haven’t had time to launch. They all need some work. And sometimes it’s hard to mobilize myself to take new risks in putting something out there. I’d rather learn more PHP, or organize my receipts for taxes. Yes, really. But it’s time to take some solid steps in this direction. For inspiration, I’m going to refer again to my favorite marketing and business coaches, who both have products aimed at planning projects and mobilizing oneself, Robert Middleton and Mark Silver.

8. Repackage existing products and services. Can I figure out a way to package my services, perhaps on a monthly basis? Something to sell that’s helpful and inexpensive? A “loss leader” special offer? For some reason, this is a tough one for me to think about. I keep going in circles. So I’m going to add one more item to the list.

9. Ask for help. I have a couple of trusted friends who know me well and are very creative thinkers about business and marketing. I’m going to ask them both for help thinking about new products and offers.

10. And finally, prioritize. Some people do this very rationally with lists and project management software and appointments with themselves in their daily calendars. Others do it more intuitively and develop the plans and progress charts as an afterthought, if at all. I’m somewhere in between. So I’m going to meditate, then list and distribute tasks according to time and urgency, and then check in with myself about this regularly to make sure I’m on a track that feels right.

That’s my list at the moment. I’d love to hear yours. What do you do when you hear the wolf howl?

I’ve tried them all. Time-management techniques like setting a goal and an intention for the day. Budgeting time by day or by week. Making appointments with myself. Relying on last-minute-itis. Calendars. Reminders. Tickler files. And on and on. None of them work for longer than a few weeks at most. And now I know why. I’m not enjoying what I do.

I’ve got a huge project going on right now. It’s for a client I adore, who is doing something worthwhile in the world, and pays well. And yet each day I spend more time “working up to working” than I do on the actual nuts and bolts of the project. And why? Because it’s boring. Excruciatingly, mind-numbingly, boring.

Here’s the chain of foolishness that ensues: my biggest-paying gig right now is boring. I procrastinate doing it. Yet all the while I feel so much pressure—gotta get it done—that nothing much else gets done either because “I don’t have time.”

So my books aren’t balanced, my letters not sent, other projects getting dangerously deferred, my office a mess… and this project’s not moving ahead very fast either. AND I’m stressed. And feeling crummy and ashamed. And reading news/writing blogs/playing games to try to get back in the groove, or get “warmed up.” But not taking time truly off, either, to exercise, rest, work in the garden, visit with friends.

And the problem? It’s not news addiction, or game addiction, or procrastination. It’s that I felt trapped into doing a job I don’t enjoy. And now, I’ve simply lost the muscles I used to have that allowed me to force myself to do things anyway.

These muscles worked for years. Years of working in offices. Years of school, and graduate school (you can’t get a doctorate without having a pretty strong “do it anyway” muscle). And now? Nothing, zero, nada. Total flab.

I don’t know why this ability is failing me now. But I do know that the answer isn’t to force myself harder. Or find the latest time-management technique or trick. It’s to revamp my work schedule so that I’m doing more of what I enjoy, and less of what I hate. Will I ever be a person with a pristinely cleared desk and all the items on my to-do list ticked off? Nope! But the goal is to be functional, not perfect. And that I can manage, if I like most of what I do.

How about you. Is it really time management we need, or is it choice management?

Note. I wrote the first draft for this post over a year ago. Since then, I’ve made choices that bring me a lot more satisfaction in my work. Do I still procrastinate? Sometimes, but not often. And I’m not bored! How about you? Are you bored? How do you handle procrastination?

When I wrote my MA thesis, back in the late 80s, the computer lab in my department had just been opened and stocked with a handful of Macintosh computers. They were grayish-colored plastic boxes with tiny black-and-white displays about 6” by 8” or so, just big enough to see half a page of manuscript. Each one was equipped with a screensaver called “Stars.” The display was nothing more than tiny moving points of light radiating out from the center of a dark screen… almost exactly like the displays on the U.S.S. Enterprise “Next Gen” just before entering warp. When I was the first one to step into the pitch-dark lab on a weekend morning, and all the computers were running “Stars”… well, I felt like the world was hurling into the future, and I was part of it. No screen-saver since has been quite so exciting.

Writing a thesis can be tedious work, though. Another student showed me something else I’d never seen before… a computer game called “Tiles.” It was a series of squares, alphabetical, I think. You had to slide the letters into alphabetical order by maneuvering them in careful sequence to take advantage of the one blank spot on the board.

And this is how, while learning the wondrous advantages of a computer over a typewriter for writing, I concurrently discovered the Procrastination Mode of computer use: playing basically boring games which offered just enough challenge to keep the mind off the problems at hand.

Over the years the games have gotten prettier and slightly more complex, though no less silly, repetitive or pointless. At any given moment, my procrastination aid of choice has been Tetris, Weltris, Solarian, Columns, Brickle, Qbert, Tritryst, Pegleg, Luxor, Bedazzled, Gooball, Jewel Quest….

And when I have a job I’m bored with, or intimidated by, or I’m depressed, upset or out of sorts, it’s SO tempting to play just one round. Just one! I promise!

Of course I’ve tried not playing during work hours. And not playing at all. This year I had a “Game-Free January.” Of course I then became addicted to global news, learned to use a new RSS reader, and spent over an hour a day keeping up with my favorite blogs. Another habit.

So what to do? Sure, I could deinstall my games. Forbid myself news. But then I ask myself, what fun would that be? I love the action, the color, the tests of skill and concentration. The mini-mental vacation. No games? I might as well be in a cubicle! No news? Isn’t feeling connected that the whole point of the Internet? I might as well cut off my hand to stop scratching an itch!

Denial isn’t really an option. The only thing that works for me is to be conscious. Of when I want to play, or read. Of  why, how much, what I’m really feeling, what I’m avoiding. It’s a juggling act: being mostly present, but allowing little bits of respite along the way.

How about you? How do you procrastinate, and more importantly, how do you stop procrastinating?