The first and easiest step to marketing yourself is to actually like what you are doing and invest your energy into that aspect of your life. The other four steps are to go back to step one.
Yes, you can now stop reading this blog as I am a firm believer in the fact that there are no easy steps to anything. I do however believe in doing work that is meaningful and fulfilling to you and that is effortless. You will attract people who can resonate with your work. That may sound too easy and thus you will not give it the full attention it deserves and miss the point of what you came here to do.
This is something I had done for the better part of thirty years. My focus through college was to graduate and get a "good" job where I could make a lot of money. In sales you could make your hours as long as you were productive, ie. selling at your quota level or above.
So I choose this for my profession. I never asked myself if it was what I wanted to do. More on this later. I did well at sales but poorly at creating a life that I wanted. My focus was money and so that is what I created. And when money wasn't fulfilling me I started to as the question, "what do I want to do"? It took several years of asking that question over and over but I kept coming back to the same conclusion, I wanted to help people.
On some level, I was doing this in my sales jobs and the last one I had was when I was truly investing in myself and helping others at the same time. And as a result, I was selling more and earning more.
It finally dawned on me that through my efforts to understand more about myself I was also simultaneously better at helping others. And through my efforts, others were taking notice.
I had peers reach out to me to support them in their customer retention. I had past clients recommending me to their friends looking for the same assistance. I had bosses positioning me to support higher-level clients and prospects.
I didn't achieve any of this through a book, a course,or a step by step marketing program. I achieved this by having fun and focusing on who I was and what I wanted to offer others.
I share this with you so that you too can go out and be the person you have always wanted to be. Excel at a job because it is exciting to you not because it will make your boss happy and earn you more money. Those things only have sustainability if you like who you are and you understand why you do what you do.
P.S. I have also learned to employ this methodology in my personal life with my wife and daughter and I feel a sense of connectedness that is beyond what I thought possible.
I will leave you with this thought: Sometimes "doing" nothing is the biggest thing you can do to get noticed.