My grandmother grilled me today.
Thing is, compared to most other Zimbabweans I’m extremely uncultured. In my culture when you greet an elder there is a certain customary greeting you have to go through.
It’s a sign of respect.
It bothered grandma when I couldn’t do any of the customary greetings to my elders ( don’t ask… it’s a Shona thing ). So she sat down with me in the lounge and asked me why I didn’t know.
Admittedly my childhood was way more sheltered than most people’s.
I only started having real friends when I was 11 years old.
Before that I always went straight home after school.
So I never had the “social” and “cultural” exposure most kids had. My biological mom passed away when I was 8 and dad spent a lot of time at work. So for the most part it was Hector the maid and I. The only social circle I had for the most part was Nick, Hector and I. So there wasn’t much to learn because there weren’t scenarios where I needed it.
We rarely got visitors so I never had to learn or practice any of the cultural greetings.
When I explained that to grandma she understood what I meant.
Even the slightly butchered ( though acceptable ) way I speak the mother tongue shows how disconnected I am from my culture. But it’s not THAT bad. People get what I mean.
Granny then asked me to “try” one of the greetings.
To perform one of the greetings you simply clap your hands and greet the elders. The thing is, there’s a certain way to do it. And guess what happened when I demonstrated it…
I shocked grandma by actually knowing how it’s done.
This is when I realised the truth.
It’s not that I don’t know my culture. I’m just so scared of being laughed at and ridiculed if I happen to get it wrong… that I’m much more comfortable NOT doing it in the first place. Can’t screw up if I don’t try right?
WRONG.
The honest truth is, I miss every shot I don’t take. And each time I don’t take the chance to practice is a shot I got wrong.
It’s an irrational fear that stops me.
Back when I was in primary school the usual “game” for my classmates was to make fun of how little I knew about my culture. I was the cultural butt-monkey of every joke in class and those scars still run deep.
I hated being made fun of back then and I hate it even now.
And it’s this same fear that holds many back when they have to execute an email campaign.
I’m sure you know what I mean.
That cold fear that grips you before you hit “send” on your latest email.
The fear of being laughed by your subscribers. The fear of getting the emails wrong and screwing up. The fear of offending someone and losing them as a subscriber.
I should know.
Those fears creep up on me every now and then. I’m human too y’know. Even I use the loo…
And back when I began writing emails the fear was much worse.
But I had to plough forward and get it over with.
The only real way you can screw up a campaign is by not trying at all.
But, if you want to kickstart your next killer email campaign. Or… if you want a kickass email autoresponder sequence to “indoctrinate” new subscribers into your camp of thinking.
And if you want me to give you a guiding hand from the creation of the emails to the implementation, so you can push through that barrier of fear… then go ahead and book a free strategy session with me right now.
Go enter your details here:
https://jaymakoni.com/work-with-me
… and I’ll get back to you shortly
Till the next wave of madness… Vae Victis
Jay
“On with the show”