Paul Jarvis - Everything I Know

By Justine Musk

I have a confession to make. As delighted as I am to write this foreword, Im handing it in later than I said I would. I could rustle up some excuse (a serious case of strep-throat-complicated-by-crap-I-breathed-in-at-Burning-Man) or plead the Flaky Artist Defense, which god knows Ive done before, but truth is its just downright unprofessional of me. It feels more so because Im handing it in to Paul Jarvis, who is the ultimate pro. The dude is so fast that hes responding to your email before youve even sent it.

By the time I stumbled across Paul, he had figured out his story, which is a slightly more poetic way of saying that he knew who he was (online) and what he was doing (online). This was good for me, because I myself did not. I had been blogging on LiveJournal for several years. I moved to wordpress.com thinking it was wordpress.org or not understanding the difference between them. After mutilating a template or four, I knew enough to develop a proper case of what Marie Forleo calls website shame. I needed a doctor, stat.

Paul s story is, like all the best stories, baked into his product. He markets himself through his work. It tells his story for him. After months of investigating the designs of various websites, I came back to the first blog that had visually resonated with me. It belonged to one Danielle LaPorte. A closer examination revealed the name of its maker. In the spirit of a writer who would like to be a rock star, but lacked actual musical talent, I went to Paul with the idea that I wanted my blog to feel like an album cover. When I found out that Paul was in a band, I figured that he was my guy. (Eventually my blog would have a black-and-white header of me posing topless, albeit tastefully, with a yellow ball python. His name was Angelo.)

Once we d unveiled my new website, an interesting thing happened. Having a stronger visual sense of who I was (online) and what I stood for my brand worked its way into my writing. I grew bolder. I began to steer my subject matter away from what Id been talking about to what I really wanted to talk about. My traffic increased. I became better known.

Although website design is something Paul does, it is not his real business. He s in the creativity and self-discovery business. Hes in the finding-your-voice business. He understands that we want to do great work, that theres a story struggling to speak through us, not just about who we are, but about who our clients or customers or readers want to be and how we can best help them become that. He doesnt try to tell it for us. He asks questions and provides advice, tools and insights to unlock our story and let it flow.

That s why this book doesnt claim to be a blueprint for success. Just like you cant express your unique value when youre copying someone elses website, you cant develop a stand-out brand and play to your own strengths and values if youre copying someone elses marketing, tactics and strategy. We all have our heroes, our role models, the people we look up to, but as Paul himself points out, we have to treat them as starting points that launch us more deeply into ourselves. Instead of trying to be more like them, we have to take note of those places where we cant be and then jump into those places, and build out from there. We leave the borrowed blueprints behind, and rely instead on our inner strengths, our deeper wisdom. Thats how we come to be original.

Easier said than done.

Im often struck by the way people will toss off the advice to just be yourself without acknowledging that this is a slippery and complicated mission. It requires a vulnerability that our culture has trained us to avoid, so much so that we construct an entire false self to protect our tender souls. In order to just be yourself, you have to crack apart that persona and expose the meat of who you are. You need the skills, and enough mastery of your craft, to project that truth of self in your work. When the gap between who you are and the projection of who you are (your personal brand) is as narrow as possible, you ring true. We call you authentic, and are that much more likely to engage with you or do business with you.

Which is why the best stories don t play off, and market to, our sense of inadequacy, but inspire us into a bigger, truer version of ourselves a greater sense of the possible. You empower your clients by casting them as the hero of the story instead of you or the product or service that you wish to sell them (that would supposedly sweep in and solve all their problems). You cast yourself as the mentor. Your role is to provide the hero with advice, tools, gifts and insights to aid them in their quest for self-actualization.

That s what Paul does. Thats who he is. Like any good mentor, hes been there and done that, and hes brought back a few things to teach us.

So I wish you all the best with your own story, and I m glad that this book, this foreword, is a part of it.

May you truly be yourself. May you be yourself on purpose. May your story be epic, your voice be true, and your business be badass. Paul Jarvis would tell you to settle for nothing less.

Its good advice. I think you should take it.