Marketing yourself and your business is a full-time job

I was asked recently about my marketing plan. I said that I believed we were marketing ourselves and our business at all times. If you think about this you will probably agree with this analysis of the marketing process.

What does marketing mean to you? When you give out your business card or talk to someone new, isn't that marketing? My definition of marketing is 'marketing is what you do when you are passionate about your work and want to share it with the world'. You can tell when people do not love what they do. You can talk to them for hours and they will never mention anything even remotely related to their business. They are doing a different kind of marketing - marketing for their competitors. Who would you prefer cleaning your teeth, changing your faucets, or writing your insurance policy - the person who really does not like what they do or the person who can't wait to do what they do?