So I said to Richard Dennis, my very first writing mentor, "Yes, but who is my market? -- Who am I writing for? -- Who am I supposed to  be 'targeting'?"

"Your market is whomever you attract", came the cryptic response.

Sorry?  Come again? 

Why are you speaking in tongue??

And then he proceeded to teach me about the 4 quadrants of marketing:

1. they don't know you, they don't know your product
2. they don't know you, they do know your product
3. they do know you, they don't know your product
4. they know you and they know your product

Now which of these do you suppose we might have the best results in?

Why is that?

The upside of it is this -- to attract the business, the relationships, those who will buzz about who we are, we have to become what is attractive to that which we want to attract. 

How's that for circular thinking?

So no matter whether you're:

• Writing Articles
• Referral Marketing
• Building Websites
• Networking with friends
• Blogging
• etc ...

Whatever it is you're doing to "Become the GoTo Guy", to build your network and ultimately your business ...

No matter what you're selling, sharing, spreading around ... call it what you will ...

You always want to be promoting and developing yourself in the process.

Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive.  And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.  ~Harold Whitman

Remember, people buy from and join people that they know, like and trust.

There's just no way around this simple truth.